THE EARLY YEARS

WHEN A BABY LEAPS!

At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, 
where she entered Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth.  When Elizabeth 
heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with 
the Holy Spirit.  In a loud voice she exclaimed: "Blessed are you among women, 
and blessed is the child you will bear!  But why am I so favored, that the mother 
of my Lord should come to me?  As soon as the sound of your greeting reached 
my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.  Blessed is she who has believed 
that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!"   (Lk. 1:39-45).

God is a God of surprises!  Mary must have pondered the many surprises of God as 
she journeyed from Nazareth to Judea to the village where her older cousin Elizabeth 
lived.  Exactly how would she become pregnant?  How would her child be different from 
other children?  What would her son, being the long-awaited Messiah, mean for her 
individually and for the Jews as a nation?  And, of course, the question that she must 
have asked over and over again—"Why me?"

I suspect Mary had a big lump in her throat as she knocked on the door at Zechariah 
and Elizabeth's house.  Would Elizabeth recognize her?  How would she break the 
news about the angel's visit?  What if Elizabeth really wasn't pregnant?

Luke tells us that as Mary entered the house she met Elizabeth.  No sooner had the 
word "Shalom," that Jewish greeting meaning "peace," left her lips than Elizabeth began 
to cry out in a LOUD voice.  Surprise!  Surprise!  Surprise!  Surely, Mary must have 
been surprised by the words that she heard next, "Blessed are you among women, 
and blessed is the child you will bear!  But why am I so favored, that the mother 
of my Lord should come to me?  As soon as the sound of your greeting reached 
my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.  Blessed is she who has believed 
that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!"  

If Mary didn't have enough to ponder, she sure did now; especially that part about the 
"mother of my Lord!"  Yes, her child would be called the Messiah; but LORD?  And what 
about that comment that Elizabeth's baby had leaped for joy? Can you imagine 
Elizabeth grabbing her stomach as she shouts with a loud voice about Mary and her 
pregnancy?  Mary was probably thinking, "Just don't have the baby right here and now!"

Mary's stay with Elizabeth would provide needed reassurance for this young Jewish 
teenager.  But far from all the surprises being over, Mary's journey of surprises was just 
beginning; and, if you're a Christian, so is yours!

See you next week!