Luke 1:26-56
Can you imagine these two women? Mary is a young teenager who is pledged to be married and is a virgin. We don’t think too much in this day and age about young people becoming pregnant prior to marriage. But in Mary’s time that just was not done. It was against all of the cultural mores of the time. And it was not concerned a proper thing for a Jew to do either. Her pregnancy was against both the culture and the religion of the time since it was out of wedlock.
When she was told she was going to have a son and that the Holy Spirit was going to impregnate her, she did not yell and scream. Mary asked how this was going to happen. She was told, and she then accepted God’s will for her. She know that she would disgrace her husband…if he would have her. God helped her with that situation. But she purely and simply said, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.”
Elizabeth was a much older woman who had been barren throughout her marriage to Zechariah. She had been embarrassed and disgraced because she did not have a child. And lo and behold, she was pregnant as well. Mary went to Elizabeth who recognized Mary’s special stature among women. And then I would guess they had many good long chats over the three month period Mary was with Elizabeth. They were both blessed with special sons.
These are true women of God. We would all do well to follow the examples which they have so admirably set for us.
Carol
Bible Breath: Let it be / As God has said
