December 19, 2021 “It’s Christmas! Mary, Did You Know?” Pastor Jacqueline Hines

 

Can you believe it? Two pregnant women are featured in Luke’s gospel. So, really, it’s four people in all who are the main characters. Mary with Jesus in her womb and her cousin Elizabeth with John the Baptist in the womb. Mary, soon to be known as the mother of Jesus, was in a hurry to get to see Elizabeth We can only wonder why Luke notes that she went with “haste” into the hill country, a specific area known to the locals…just, as today, newcomers have to learn the little names for our local areas. Being pregnant, could it have been that Mary was in a hurry because she needed to make a pit stop as pregnant women are prone to do when the baby is sitting on her bladder. Or, she may have wanted to complete her trip before it got dark, for it is so much easier to travel in the daytime when you can best see where you are going and when there are fewer shadowy figures lurking. It could also be that Mary was moving, as the hymn says, “at the impulse of God’s love.” Mary very well could also have been driven by a mission of the Holy Spirit.

When Mary arrived at Zechariah’s house, for it was the man who had ownership, Luke says she greeted Elizabeth who was pregnant with John the Baptist. Suddenly the baby jumped! Surely, the Spirit was in the house, in tune with Mary’s voice. It had to be that the Spirit was moving in their lives and in their minds, as well as their bodies. It doesn’t get better than that. The baby jumped in the womb.

My cousin had several children and she recalls the babies jumping around in the womb. Once, she even saw little fingers stretching through her belly from the inside out. Babies are something else!

After the baby leapt in Elizabeth’s womb, Luke mentions a very interesting thing that happened. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. And whatever that meant for her, she spoke these words – and not very softly, but loudly - under the influence of the Spirit she said: ⁴² “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. ⁴³And why has this happened to me that the mother of my Lord comes to me? ⁴⁴For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. ⁴⁵And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.”

How did Elizabeth know the baby was leaping, and how did she know the baby was leaping for joy? We can safely answer by saying, “A mother knows. A mother knows. A mother feels.” A mother knows the sounds of peace and contentment expressed by her child. A mother knows the sounds of distress or hunger. A mother knows. A father can have the same sensitivity as well. Parents know. Parents learn to love and understand their children. Even when they don’t have all the words to express themselves, a parent knows some things. God gives them capabilities.

Luke has a whirlwind of activity to inspire us. He tells us that Mary is in a hurry traveling in the hills. She greets Elizabeth. The baby leaps for joy. Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit. The words she speaks are reverent words. They are blessings. Elizabeth spoke under the influence of the Holy Spirit.

Perhaps some of us here have drunk some alcohol and found ourselves doing and saying things under the influence of that spirit of alcohol. You may have witnessed someone else doing or saying something while they were under the influence that they might not have done or said otherwise.

So it is for Christians under the influence of the Holy Spirit. We may do or say something in extraordinary ways that we could not have done or said under ordinary circumstances.

When we are under the influence of the Holy Spirit we are a blessing. Being a blessing means that God is honored in special way, that something happens that indicates God has shown special favor. Being a blessing means that something extraordinarily sacred has occurred, that God is being glorified, as the song says, God is doing something, healing someone, saving someone, right now!!

As far as I’m concerned, everything about life is extraordinary and beyond our comprehension, but the declaration of blessings on someone or something is God’s way of blessing us over and above what we could begin to think or even imagine.

Elizabeth blessed Mary three times. First, she says blessed are you among women. Second, she says and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Third she says blessed is the one who believes that God will do what God said God would do. She gave a threefold blessing. Three is a number used in the bible to indicate unity and wholeness. We may bless something or someone once with our words, once out of courtesy, twice out of duty, but three times suggests we are blessing someone or something because we are all in, we are doing so wholeheartedly, we are united with the purposes of God. After three, we are emphasizing what God is emphasizing. There remains little doubt that we are under the influence of the Holy Spirit.

God help us to be so filled with the Holy Spirit that we can say to each other “you are blessed.” Or, we can act reverently and respectfully as if we know that God has touched someone’s life and they are very special to God and can be to us. God help us to be so filled with the Holy Spirit that we can exhibit an attitude toward one another or have the attitude toward one another that is under the influence of that Holy Spirit that says: you are blessed, blessed is the fruit you bear, and you’re blessed if you believe God is going to make good the promises that God said and will do what God said God would do.

There are so many blessings in the bible. There are some curses too. Sometimes we humans use curse words, we curse people out, we curse rather than bless. Thank God for the Christmas season. All around the world we remind each other to bless one another.

As Mary was in a hurry to get to her Cousin Elizabeth’s house, perhaps she knew she would be blessed. She understood, more than anything that her God was in the blessing business and took every opportunity to bless. Let’s all be in a hurry to be blessed. Perhaps Mary had no doubt that she would also be a blessing because God uses any and all of us to bless in ways that are great or small. Let’s all be in a hurry to be a blessing to others.  Amen.