Amazed Aunt (Elizabeth) (Luke 1.39-45)

Sermon by: Robert Austell; December 10, 2017 - Luke 1:39-45; Psalm 139:13-16

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::: Scripture and Music ::
My Soul Cries Out (aka Canticle of the Turning) (Cooney)
Holy Spirit (Townend/Gettys)
Go Tell it On the Mountain [children's choir] (arr. Austell)
Canon in D [Maddie Buchmann, piano] (Pachelbel)
Joy to the World [arr. Austell]

:: Sermon Manuscript (pdf) ::
This "manuscript" represents an early draft of the sermon. Some weeks the spoken version varies more than others from the early manuscript. Nevertheless, if you'd prefer to read than to listen, this is provided  for that purpose.

Today is the second Sunday of Advent, this “season” in church life when we prepare for and anticipate the celebration of Christ’s coming. We are spending this Advent season with the relatives of Jesus, who themselves were anticipating his birth.

Last week we looked at Zacharias and Elizabeth, Jesus’ uncle and aunt. Zacharias received a message from God through the angel-messenger Gabriel. He and Elizabeth, old and unable to have children, were going to have a baby who would be a great and Spirit-anointed prophet like Elijah, raised up to call God’s people back to Himself. As a sign that God was at work, Zacharias was caused to be mute, unable to speak until the baby was born. We looked last week at how he spent the time of waiting for the birth in silence and Elizabeth spent it (by choice) in solitude. And we talked about the spiritual benefits to us of setting aside time to be silent and alone before God. In fact, this past Wednesday night at our twice-a-month dinner church, we re-read part of that passage and some at the tables took a vow of silence during our dinner to experience some of the benefits of silence and listening. Several reported that when they knew they wouldn’t be speaking or about to speak, it freed up their minds to listen more attentively to those around them, and perhaps to God as well.

This week we jump forward in Luke 1 to a visit between Mary, who would be the mother of Jesus, and the same Elizabeth. Both are now pregnant with miracle babies and we will look at the story of them seeing each other, each pregnant for the first time. What I’d like to focus on is what happens when the Holy Spirit, God’s Spirit shows up.

Moved by the Spirit (vv.39-41)

The passage picks up with Mary going “in a hurry” to visit Elizabeth in the hill country. She had received her own news of a miraculous birth (we’ll revisit that on Christmas Eve) and went to visit her older relative. The part I want to highlight here is what happened when Elizabeth heard her voice. The baby kicked inside Elizabeth’s womb (literally “leaped”) and we read that “Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.” (v. 41) Now babies will kick in response to voices or noises, but the implication here is that something more was going on. I think it is no accident of storytelling or in what happened that the two things happen together. The baby kicks and the Holy Spirit fills Elizabeth. In more modern terms we might say that she (and her baby) were “moved by the Spirit.”

That God would already be involved with the forming of his future prophet John in utero is so vividly spoken to by Psalm 139: “For you formed my inward parts; you wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” Indeed as the Psalm says that “in your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them” (v. 16), the angel-messenger had already told Zacharias and Elizabeth that their baby would become a great and anointed prophet of Israel. And he would, indeed, grow up as John the Baptist to prepare God’s people for the coming of the Messiah, who would be Mary’s child, Jesus.

Joining with the Spirit (vv. 42-45)

I also want to highlight what happened next after Elizabeth was moved by the Spirit. She JOINED WITH the Spirit in response. She could have just held her stomach and said, “Oh, the baby kicked.” But there was more going on and she was tuned in to it. Rather, she CRIED OUT WITH A LOUD VOICE, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!” (v. 42) Indeed, this was some of the same Spirit and message John the Baptist would one day have as an adult. It’s like Elizabeth got a dose of it herself in that moment. Mary was newly pregnant and we have no indication that she had yet shared the nature of her own miracle baby with Elizabeth. Rather, moved by and tuned into God’s Spirit, Elizabeth not only declares blessing on Mary and her baby, but then asks, “How has it happened to me that the mother of my Lord would come to me?” I can think of no other explanation for her question than that she recognizes the nature of Mary’s pregnancy and the identity of Mary’s unborn child. He will be “Lord.” She explains that her baby didn’t just kick, but leaped “for joy” and she blesses Mary for believing what the Lord has spoken to Mary.

Earlier in Luke 1, when Mary gets her angel-message, she is told about Elizabeth’s miraculous birth, but we are not told that Elizabeth had heard about Mary. Buy even if Mary had sent word of the message given to her, Elizabeth is no less responding to and joining with the Holy Spirit in affirming Mary and her baby and God’s power at work. What I want you to hear is that both these women heard God’s message, were moved by the Spirit, and joined their hearts and lives to what God was doing.

When the Spirit Moves

Last week I affirmed that God is speaking and acting all the time. We looked at the examples of Zacharias and Elizabeth for how silence and solitude can help us hear and see God at work. This week’s story builds on that. Elizabeth has been tuned-in, listening to God’s message through the angel and waiting responsively and obediently for what would come next. When Mary came and the Holy Spirit moved, Elizabeth was responsive and ready. She joined in the joy of the moment (along with her baby!) and gave witness to what God was doing and was about to do.

So last week I challenged YOU to carve out some time for silence and solitude in this busy season. Today we are challenged about WHAT THEN? What if you actually hear or see God at work? Have you ever been moved by the Spirit? Have you ever seen or heard something and realized, “God is here; God is at work?” Elizabeth’s example is precisely this: don’t write it off as indigestion, funny circumstance, or strange coincidence; rather, JOIN IN. What is God saying? What is God doing? If you are listening and waiting and God stirs you; JOIN IN! It reminds me of this familiar question: God, what are you doing and how can I be a part?

Are you unsure whether it’s God speaking, acting, and moving? Is that little voice you hear just your own… or a parent’s… or a negative voice? Here’s how you know – check it against God’s message in scripture. God is not in the habit of contradicting Himself. Without belaboring it, that’s what Elizabeth did. She weighed what she was experiencing, feeling, and witnessing against the very clear message she had received about her baby and his purpose. In our case, we have this Bible, which God has inspired and spoken. What is God doing and stirring in you? Is it of God? Read this and see if it sounds like God. Read this and see if it’s the kind of thing God IS in the habit of doing… welcoming, forgiving, healing, restoring, reconciling, helping, saving. Still not sure? Check with some trusted, mature believers. Or come talk with me – that’s what I’m here for! And that’s how discerning God’s will works. I often go to the elders of the church when I am discerning something. Or I go to trusted pastor friends or mentors in faith.

Taken together, last week’s text and this one offer us a powerful challenge: God speaks and acts all the time. Set aside time and space to be still and listen that you might join in what God is doing. And take a cue from baby John, still in his mother’s womb: doing so brings great joy! Amen.