The Mother of John the Baptist (Luke 1:5-7, 38-45)

There is only one person called Elizabeth in the Bible and her story is told in different stages by Luke in the first chapter of his Gospel. He begins with her marriage to Zechariah the priest (1:5-7), perhaps several decades before; then he describes the conception of John (1:24-25); third, he recounts the visit of Mary (1:39-45); and fourth he tells about the birth of John (1:57-61). What makes the story of Elizabeth important is her connection to Jesus Christ.

1. Her background revealed

In the first passage, Luke mentions three details about Elisabeth. He refers to her family tree, to her husband, and to her character. Perhaps we may be puzzled as to why Luke tells us about her ancestry when he identifies her as a daughter of Aaron. I would suggest that this indicates she treated with respect the faith of her forefathers and was therefore careful to preserve that faith, which she did by marrying a priest, also a descendant of Aaron. She had the eye of her soul on covenant blessings because she valued the privileges and promises of God. We live in a day that despises the past. It is the case that the past has many aspects that we should change or even forget, but we must be careful not to forget the practices and ideas of our forefathers that came from God. Our duty, and it should also be our delight, is to pass them on. I suspect that is what Luke is telling us when he informs us that Elizabeth was a daughter of Aaron.

She had been married for a long time to Zechariah and Luke paints a beautiful picture of their life together when he says that they were 'both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord.' Their marriage was marked by concord (harmony), comprehensive obedience of the Lord, and consistent obedience of his requirements. They had a happy relationship with one another because they both put the Lord first in their individual lives and in their lives together. This aged couple had known for a long time the secret of domestic bliss; it is to put the Lord first. They never left the Lord out of a decision and both of them were determined to do always what God required.

We would expect that such a couple would know God's blessing in many ways. No doubt, they did. Yet there was one feature that they had not known, and that was she had no children. She could have made this cloud fill her sky, but she did not. Instead she submitted to the Lord's will and proceeded to serve him. It is an interesting question to ask ourselves: 'What is filling our sky?' Is it something that the Lord has given to others but denied to us? The 'something' could be anything. Such matters such as lack of intelligence, wealth, career and connections can fill our sky and make us discontent and bitter because we somehow imagine that God has denied us a particular blessing. Elizabeth's story tells us that not letting our cloud hide the blessings from God and the duties we owe God will eventually result in a great blessing from God, even at times ones that are beyond the ability of humans to imagine. She lived up to her name, which means ‘God is faithful’. That was how she regarded him even when there were details in life that she could not understand.

2.  Her burden removed (1:34-35)

In these two verses, Luke records the response of Elizabeth to her unexpected conception. She chose to hide the fact that she was expecting a child. We might be surprised by her reaction and instead would have assumed that she would announce this blessing to the world. So why did she make this response? I would suggest two answers and I think they tell us how to respond to any blessings that God gives us.

First, her response reveals her humility. Elizabeth realised that this blessing gave her two choices. She could either draw attention to herself or not. She chose the latter. Even although she had the promises about the child that the Gabriel had given to her husband, promises that were guaranteed, she still did not draw attention to herself. It is a humble person who chooses to act in such a manner. Many a blessing is lost because we become proud of having it.

As Spurgeon noted when speaking about Elizabeth, ‘Those who are most holy are most humble; you will always find those two things go together. Elizabeth was the older woman, but, inasmuch as Mary was more highly favoured than she was, she asked, “Whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should some to me?” Genuine Christians do not exalt themselves above their fellow-believers, but they have a self-depreciatory spirit, and each one esteems others better than himself.’

Second, her response shows her honesty. All she had at the time was the prospect of delivering a child. She would have been aware of the dangers facing mothers at that time and location and of the many potential mishaps along the way. She preferred not to claim a birth until the birth had happened, even although God had partially fulfilled his promise. I would suggest that her response is a challenge to all the boasting that is linked to much contemporary Christianity. Professing Christians have made foolish claims about the onset of movements and congregations, and it has only taken the passing of a few months to show that nothing important happened.

Elizabeth was wise to wait. There would be plenty opportunities later for speaking about what had happened. Meanwhile it was her role to keep quiet about the secret. After all, she did not want to become an attraction. We can imagine the headlines: 'Come and see a pregnant old woman who claims that her son will be a great preacher!' Such a scenario would take the glory away from God, and he would not have approved. She preferred to hide herself until the time came when the only valid deduction would be to praise God.

In addition to those two reasons for her silence, we can also observe another feature of her situation, a feature that is common among the people God uses, and that is her fragility. The promised Saviour had to have his forerunner. Now the mother of the forerunner has been identified. If something happens to her, the sequence of events in the preparation for the coming of Jesus will be disrupted. How fragile it all was! Yet leaving his people in fragile situations is a frequent response of the Lord.

3.  Her blessing

On being told that she would be the mother of the Saviour Mary's response was to go with haste to her older relatives, Zechariah and Elizabeth, who lived about an hundred miles to the south. Did she already know about the imminent birth of John and realised that there was a certain sense that she and them were sharing privileged fellowship? It is likely that she did and wanted to inform them that the next stage in the Lord's plan had been revealed. Imagine what would have happened if she had not gone to see them. They would have remained ignorant about an important detail, and all because one who knew more had not bothered to share her personal blessing. Like Mary we have a responsibility to share appropriately what the Lord has revealed to us.

Mary knew that she would soon face problems. There was the real possibility of scandal and rejection because who would believe her claim that she was pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit? She needed strength and sympathy as she prepared for these difficult days and she knew that she would find them in the heart of her relative Elizabeth. There is little strength and no sympathy in solitude and therefore it is not a sign of wisdom to prepare for events in a solitary manner.

There is another aspect to Mary's response that should be noted and that was the respect that she was willing to show great respect to older believers. She wanted to have fellowship with those who were without her age group. It is generally supposed that Mary was a teenager but she wanted to meet with those who were old enough to be her grandparents. The gospel breaks down many social barriers and one of them is the age gaps that are sadly prominent in society.

Grace in her speech

At the same time, it was the case that Elizabeth was ready to receive a blessing from another believer. When Mary arrived, there was instantaneous recognition within Elizabeth. Her blessing linked in with Mary's and there was mutual enjoyment. Of course, they were enjoying a unique form of fellowship in that what was happening to them was connected to the birth of Jesus. Still the lesson for us is to be ready to receive a spiritual blessing from another believer.

Believers talking together about the things of God can be a great witness. John Bunyan writes about the period in his life when he was self-righteous. In the course of his daily work he came across several women sitting together and he overheard them speaking about the new birth. ‘Their talk ... was about a new birth, the work of God on their hearts, also how they were convinced of their miserable state by nature. They talked how God had visited their souls with his love in the Lord Jesus, and with what words and promises they had been refreshed, comforted, and supported against the temptations of the devil.’ Their demeanour impressed him. ‘Methought, they spake as if joy did make them speak. They spake with such pleasantness of Scripture language, and with such appearance of grace in all they said, that they were to me, as if I had found a new world; as if they were “people that dwelt alone, and were not to be reckoned among their neighbours.”’

Grace in her womb

In this incident we see one of the biggest mysteries of spiritual experience. Of course, the Christian faith contains many features that are impossible to explain fully. We can think of the doctrine of the Trinity (three persons) or the doctrine of the person of Christ (two natures). These are doctrines connected to God that are outside of us and we may appreciate that deep mysteries are inevitable with regard to who he is. Yet there are also mysteries within us with regard to our experience of salvation. Why does a person develop a spiritual interest in the gospel and why does he or she do so at a particular time? We will accept that no-one is too old to be converted, but likely it is harder for us to accept that no-one is too young.

John the Baptist may have been the youngest ever person to be regenerated by God. It is possible that others have been regenerated in the womb of their mothers. There have been many examples of children showing faith in Jesus from the moment of conscious expression, and such may have been reborn before they were born. Yet of John it is explicitly said that he recognised Jesus when each of them was in his mother’s womb. It is important to note that the Holy Spirit has explained what happened on this occasion because he enabled Elizabeth to share it with Mary. Under divine inspiration, Luke the doctor says that the baby leaped in Elizabeth’s womb (a true medical fact, that other women have experienced during pregnancy); under divine inspiration he also records the reason why John leaped – he leaped for joy because he was in the presence of his Saviour.

Calvin explains what our understanding should be: ‘It is natural that sudden joy, on the part of a pregnant woman, should cause a motion of the child in her womb; but Luke intended to express an extraordinary occurrence. No good purpose would be served by involving ourselves in intricate questions, if the child was aware of the presence of Christ, or felt an emotion of piety: it is enough for us that the babe started by a secret movement of the Spirit.’

Grace on her tongue

Elizabeth, we can say, spoke about herself, about her relative and about her Lord. She does not say much about herself except to acknowledge that the visit was an underserved privilege. In her culture, normally the privileged person would be the younger one because of her having the opportunity of spending time with the older. But Elizabeth realises that the norm is not the case here, that it is a great privilege for her to be brought into the presence of the Lord. She herself was the recipient of great blessing in that she was the mother of the forerunner of the Messiah. But she did not use her status in the way we use rungs in a ladder. She was willing to be nobody when in the presence of the unborn Christ. They say that parental traits can be repeated in their children. It is striking that the man who said in connection with Jesus, ‘He must increase and I must decrease,’ was the son of Elizabeth. John would have seen humility at his mother’s knees.

Then she spoke about her Lord. Elisabeth has remarkable insight into the person of Jesus. She recognises that he is divine (‘my Lord’) and human (‘the fruit of your womb’). And she wants him to be blessed, and since only a divine being can provide such a blessing it means that she is praying here for the future increase of the fame of Jesus. Yet she says this about one who is going to be born into a poor family, in circumstances that would suggest little influence on others. Grace on her tongue expressed her desire for Jesus to be honoured as highly as divinely possible.

Third, she spoke about Mary herself. Elizabeth recognised that Mary had been given the greatest honour possible to a woman, that of being the mother of the Messiah. With Mary’s pregnancy the promise given in the Garden of Eden about the seed of the woman was fulfilled (Gen. 3:). Yet this honour was not for her exaltation above other women – she was only blessed among them. In fact, to be the mother of Jesus was not the greatest blessing that God gave to Mary – a greater blessing that she received was the forgiveness of her sins and her membership of God’s family.

Further, Elizabeth spoke about Mary’s faith (v. 45). It is possible to translate this verse in two ways. One is to say that Mary believed that the Lord would fulfil what he had promised; the other is that her faith is blessed because God will fulfil the promises he made. The second option has the benefit of not making Mary’s faith the focus of Elisabeth’s words. Instead Mary becomes an example of faith to others. After all, she had to struggle initially with what she had been told by the angel. But the struggle was followed by surrender to God and she became his willing servant. Because she had become this person of faith, Mary could appreciate the next comment of Elizabeth that the Lord would fulfil all that he had promised to her.

Two applications

The first application is that we never know what great things God has in store for us. Elizabeth had no idea what would be included in her life. She had been given great blessings such as a happy marriage and a devout lifestyle. Perhaps she imagined that is how it was going to be until she left this world. We can be the same at times. Contentment is a good thing, but contentment that does not include the possibility of God doing something is sinful. We should be ready for unexpected requirements from God.

The second application is that Jesus must be central in our conversation. One reason for this is our own spiritual benefits and the other reason is that we do not know who is over-hearing us and may be blessed through us. Such conversation is real evidence that our faith is in Jesus.