The Baby Jumped for Joy

Scripture: Luke 1:39-45 (NLT)

³⁹ A few days later Mary hurried to the hill country of Judea, to the town ⁴⁰ where Zechariah lived. She entered the house and greeted Elizabeth. ⁴¹ At the sound of Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth’s child leaped within her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

42 Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, “God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed. 43 Why am I so honored, that the mother of my Lord should visit me? 44 When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy. 45 You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said.”

Devotion:

            This scripture passage gives us a peek into the future of the two children of these two mothers. Mary, we are told, took off a few days after the angel announced to her that she was pregnant to see Elizabeth. She came see her older relative because of the words spoken to her by the angel who had declared that Elizabeth too was with child. Both Elizabeth and her child were overjoyed at her visit. Indeed, Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and began to prophesy concerning Mary’s child.

            Elizabeth’s prophesy made clear that God had indeed blessed Mary. Elizabeth proclaimed that the child within Mary was her Lord. Thus, indicating the true blessing that had happened to Mary. Even the child within Elizabeth’s womb leapt for joy at the sound of Mary’s voice. The Holy Spirit was truly upon these two women as they met together. The faith of both women was very great as is indicated by their conversation.

            So, what are we to make of this story of Elizabeth and Mary? First, we can see that our God is a faithful God. He should be praised because He has remembered the promise given to the Adam and Eve in the garden and repeated in later prophesies that God would come to be with His people. God remembers His promises and keeps them.

            Second, God blesses any who are full of faith. It does not matter whether we are rich or poor. We can be in good or ill health and God will still bless us because God loves all who call upon him. We should be filled with joy because our Lord cares so much for us. If Elizabeth’s child jumped for joy within her. We should, to the best of our ability, jump for joy this Christmas season because Jesus comes to us as the babe in the manger.

            This story should move us then to praise our God who sent John the Baptist to prepare the way for Jesus. The two boys met and knew each other even before their birth. We can rejoice at the meeting of these two faithful women. Let us now pray that our joy may be full as we await the coming Savior.

Prayer:

            Lord God Almighty, we praise you for your gifts to us. Most especially we praise you for your Son that you sent 2,000 years ago to save us from our sins. Teach us to wait patiently for His return. Fill us with your unspeakable joy as we ponder the words of the Christmas story this year. May we say with the hymn writer, “What child IS this?”