The Women of Christmas Elizabeth

December 01, 2013

By John Partridge Script re! " #e 1

How many of you visited with family or friends this week during Thanksgiving? Did you tell stories? Often times, when family and friends gather together, we tell about our year and about our lives by telling stories. know we did. !e told stories about our kids, about our "hur"hes, about ourselves, and all sorts of things. Have you ever wat"hed as one #erson started a story and then, before they "ould finish, someone else interru#ted and in"luded more details that the first story teller had missed or forgotten? Today we are beginning a series of messages that are, essentially, that sort of interru#tion. !e have all heard the $hristmas story a do%ens, if not hundreds of times, and yet, there are #arts of the story that we often ski# over. There are "hara"ters in the story that we ra"e #ast and never think mu"h about but if we #ause for a few moments and go ba"k and take a "loser look, we dis"over something ama%ing. !e ra"ed #ast these "hara"ters &who were often women' so that we "ould talk about (ing Herod, or the wise men, or the baby Jesus and all the time we were ski##ing #ast #eo#le whose stories make the whole story dee#er, ri"her and more meaningful. Today, let us #ause and take a "loser look at )li%abeth, the relative of *ary. !e find )li%abeth in the first "ha#ter of +uke where we hear this, $" #e 1%
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In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah his wife !li"abeth was also a descendant of Aaron# $%oth of them were upright in the sight of &od, observing all the 'ord(s commandments and regulations blamelessly# )%ut they had no children, because !li"abeth was barren and they were both well along in years# +nce when Zechariah(s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before &od, ,he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the 'ord and burn incense# -. And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside# /hen an angel of the 'ord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense# -01hen Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear# -2%ut the angel said to him3 45o not be afraid, Zechariah your prayer has been heard# 6our wife !li"abeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John# -7He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, -5 for he will be great in the sight of the 'ord# He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy 8pirit even from birth# -$9any of the people of Israel will he bring back to the 'ord their &od# -)And he will go on before the 'ord, in the spirit and power of !lijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous:to make ready a people prepared for the 'ord#4
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Zechariah asked the angel, 4How can I be sure of this; I am an old man and my wife is well along in years#4 /he angel answered, 4I am &abriel# I stand in the presence of &od, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news# 0.And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their proper time#4 9eanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple# 001hen he came out, he could not speak to them# /hey reali"ed he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak# 1hen his time of service was completed, he returned home# 07After this his wife !li"abeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion# 054/he 'ord has done this for me,4 she said# 4In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people#4
Mary Visits Elizabeth
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At that time 9ary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, 7.where she entered Zechariah(s home and greeted !li"abeth# 7-1hen !li"abeth heard 9ary(s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and !li"abeth was filled with the Holy 8pirit# 70In a loud voice she e<claimed3 4%lessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear= 72%ut why am I so favored, that the mother of my 'ord should come to me; 77As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy# 75%lessed is she who has believed that what the 'ord has said to her will be accomplished=4
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9ary stayed with !li"abeth for about three months and then returned home#

The Birth of John the Baptist

1hen it was time for !li"abeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son# 5*Her neighbors and relatives heard that the 'ord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy# 5, +n the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, $.but his mother spoke up and said, 4>o= He is to be called John#4 $/hey said to her, 4/here is no one among your relatives who has that name#4 $0 /hen they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child# $2He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone(s astonishment he wrote, 4His name is John#4 $7Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue was loosed, and he began to speak, praising &od# $5/he neighbors were all filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things# $$ !veryone who heard this wondered about it, asking, 41hat then is this child going to be;4 ?or the 'ord(s hand was with him# And the child grew and became strong in spirit and he lived in the desert until he appeared publicly to Israel# The name .)li%abeth/ "omes from the Hebrew word 0helisebah1 whi"h means 02od is my oath.1 )ven in this detail, we begin to see the heritage of this faithful woman. n order to "hoose a name like this, )li%abeth1s #arents must have been either very traditional or faithful believers who 3
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followed the laws of *oses and the traditions of the Jewish system of worshi#. n fa"t, )li%abeth was a des"endant of the family line of 4aron. !hat does that mean to you and me? 4aron was the first High Priest of srael, the family of 4aron was the #riestly line, and so although not a #riest herself, )li%abeth was from a #riestly family, her husband 5e"hariah was a #riest and all of the men in her family would have been #riests. 5e"hariah was one of the #riests who took their turn ea"h year working in the Tem#le for about two weeks and also during "ertain high holy days. 6or a #riest to marry a woman of the #riestly line, who would have been a daughter of a #riest, was "onsidered to be a s#e"ial honor. 5e"hariah and )li%abeth were faithful followers of 2od. !e know that they didn1t do it for show or to kee# u# a##earan"es, be"ause our s"ri#ture tells us that they observed all of the "ommandments and regulations blamelessly. By differentiating between the "ommandments and the regulations, "ommentators believe that we are being told that this righteous "ou#le obeyed both the laws of *oses and the rules that were set u# by the e7isting tem#le authorities, what we would understand as the tea"hings and inter#retations of the "hur"h. n any way that they "ould be, 5e"hariah and )li%abeth were faithful and obedient to 2od. But des#ite their faithfulness, life was not all rosy for )li%abeth and her husband 5e"hariah be"ause they had no "hildren. !hile it may not be a big deal today, for a Jewish wife to be "hildless was "onsidered to be a great disgra"e. 8ome thought that "hildlessness was a #unishment from 2od for sinfulness so this was es#e"ially #roblemati" for a #riestly family. Be"ause she had no "hildren, )li%abeth was #robably on the re"eiving end of ridi"ule and dis"rimination from other women in her "ommunity. Being barren was suffi"ient reason under the law to grant a divor"e. 8o bad was the so"ial stigma, that 9a"hel told her husband Ja"ob, .&ive me children, or I@ll die=/ But being #regnant "hanged all that. !hen she learns of her #regnan"y, )li%abeth says that 2od has, .taken away my disgrace among the people#A )ven so, for five months she hid herself from #ubli" view. )ven knowing that she was #regnant, )li%abeth "hose not to a##ear in #ubli" until the eviden"e of her "hild was so advan"ed, so a##arent to anyone on the street, that no one "ould doubt that this woman who was .well along in yearsA &the (ing James version says, .well stricken in years#A' was obviously #regnant. $uriously, this turned out to be to her advantage. 6irst, sin"e )li%abeth was well #ast the normal age for bearing "hildren, everyone knew that 2od was doing something ama%ing and that he had blessed )li%abeth with a mira"le. 8e"ond, be"ause of the stories of the Old Testament s"ri#tures "on"erning Hannah and 9a"hel and 8arah, a woman who had "hildren late in life was regarded as having been singled out by 2od and that her "hild was intended by 2od for a s#e"ial #ur#ose. 4lthough )li%abeth had suffered from the whis#ers and gossi# and hurtful words of her village for many, many years, she now was elevated to a #osition of honor that was greater than her family line and her husband1s o""u#ation "ould ever have lifted her. 9es#e"t and honor for )li%abeth may well have sur#assed that of her husband by this time, but 2od wasn1t done with her yet. 4fter *ary "on"eives through the Holy 8#irit, she goes to visit )li%abeth. *ary goes to 0hide out1 for a time, away from #ubli" s"rutiny, by living with her relative. (ing James says that *ary and )li%abeth are 0"ousins,1 but the word that is used in the original language only suggests that they are distantly related. !hen John meets Jesus at his ba#tism, they seem to be strangers to one other. !hen *ary "omes to visit, )li%abeth is the first human being to #ro#hesy the immanent arrival of the *essiah. !hen she sees *ary, she is filled by the Holy 8#irit, her baby lea#s within her and )li%abeth says, :

4%lessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear= 72%ut why am I so favored, that the mother of my 'ord should come to me; 4nd still 2od was not done. )ver sin"e 5e"hariah had doubted the messenger of the +ord 2od, he had been stru"k dumb and had been unable to s#eak and so, even though it was traditional for the father to name the "hild, )li%abeth does. +uke des"ribes the life and ministry of Jesus as a ministry of reversal. The "oming of Jesus "hanges sin to righteousness, "ondemnation to forgiveness, death to life. +uke begins that story by telling of the reversal of )li%abeth, a woman of great faith whose life was transformed, from barren to fruitful, from "ursed to blessed, from last to first, and from death, to life. )li%abeth be"omes the first #erson to tell of the arrival of the *essiah, the first #erson on earth to "all Jesus, .+ord,/ and among the first on earth to reali%e that 2od was doing something that would "hange the world forever. Our lives have been "hanged forever be"ause of one faithful, obedient, and blameless woman, ,named )li%abeth.

<ou have been reading a message #resented at Johnsville 2ra"e and 8team $orners =nited *ethodist $hur"hes on the date noted at the to# of the first #age. 9ev. John Partridge is the #astor of the Johnsville Parish. Du#li"ation of this message is a #art of our *edia ministry, if you have re"eived a blessing in this way, we would love to hear from you. +etters and donations in su##ort of the *edia ministry or any of our other #ro>e"ts may be sent to Johnsville 2ra"e =*$ or 8team $orners =*$ at P.O. Bo7 3?@, 8hau"k, Ohio ;::;A. <ou may subs"ribe to these messages, in #rint or ele"troni" formats, by writing to the address noted, or by "onta"ting us at subs"ribeB>ohnsvillegra"e.org. 4ll 8"ri#ture referen"es are from the Cew nternational Dersion unless otherwise noted.