Luke 1:5-17                                                                                                                            

Our readings today include the narrative found in Luke’s gospel of the account of the miraculous births of both John the Baptist and Jesus the Messiah. For our purpose, let us consider the plight of Elizabeth, the wife of Zacharias, both of whom were no doubt lamenting the bareness of her womb. Being steeped in the holy scriptures, Elizabeth might well have expressed her anxiety in the lines of the psalmist: “Lord, all my desire if before You, and my sighing is not hidden from You….My loved ones and my friends stand aloof …and my relatives stand afar off” (Psalm 38:9,11). But on the hopeful side, both would have embraced the longstanding words of Malachi who had prophesied “Behold, I send My messenger, and he shall prepare the way before Me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple, even the Messager of the covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming, says the Lord of hosts” (Malachi 3:1 NKJV).

It should be noted that the prophecy quoted here, by use of upper and lower-case caps, comprehends two different messengers.  The first is John the Baptist, born of natural means but sent by God. He would be the forerunner of “the Messenger of the convent who will suddenly come to His temple.” How could Elizabeth have possibly imagined that at her age she would become a mother in the first place, and then to be the mother of the forerunner of the Messiah? But this would all come about by a dramatic revelation in the temple where faithful Zacharias, confronted by the angel Gabriel would hear him declare: “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name, John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth”  (Luke 1:13-14).

As this marvelous angelic message was conveyed to Elizabeth, suddenly the joy bells would begin ringing in her soul, notwithstanding the incredibility of this revelation to both husband and wife. All the prayers and sighing of past years for a child to bless their home were answered and assuaged. As the months passed for her in seclusion, suddenly one day there was a knock on their door and there stood a young relative who would greet her joyfully. The moment Mary opened her mouth, Elizabeth suddenly felt a great leap in her womb, and she would exclaim, “Why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy” (Luke 1:43 –44).

The elements of joy, gladness, and rejoicing resound throughout the whole of the narratives of these two mothers-to-be in Luke’s account of the Nativity. Not the least of which would be the angelic messenger to the shepherds on a Judean hillside as they heard the glad proclamation: “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people” (Luke 2:10). Is it any wonder that the rousing first words of one of our favorite Christmas carols sung in Advent are those penned by Isaac Watts: “Joy to the world! The Lord is come; Let earth receive her King. Let every heart prepare Him room, And heaven and nature sing.”