“And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Luke 1:41-43)
The
more I have read this passage, the more I have been struck by its portrayal of
the character of true humility. If you struggle with pride, as sometimes I do,
these verses come right at you and clearly spell out for you just what true
humility looks like.
You
know what? There are subtle moments when I want to be preoccupied with myself.
When my mind tells me, people ought to recognise and acknowledge my
accomplishments. When I am tempted to rehearse all my successes and show people
that I am worth something. You see, pride is an orientation that wrongly
assumes that everything should revolve around us. Elizabeth’s words in these
verses give us a good example of a truly humble disposition.
When Elizabeth was visited by her younger
cousin Mary, she was six months pregnant. When she heard the greeting of Mary, we are
told that the baby leaped in her womb, and filled with the Spirit, she spoke
these words in our text: “Blessed are you
among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” Do you see the humility
of Elizabeth? An angel came to her husband months earlier and told him that she
would be the mother of the forerunner of the Messiah. That in the person of her
son, the great prophecies of the Old Testament were going to be fulfilled.
But when Mary shows up by her doorstep, Elizabeth
has nothing to say about herself. Just this: “Blessed are you among women.” She could have said,
‘Mary, let me tell you how I'm going to be used of the Lord!’ But for
Elizabeth, it’s all about Jesus. ‘Blessed are you among women, Mary, because
you’re going to bear the Messiah. You’re going to be the mother of my Lord.’
Elizabeth is not envious of her younger
cousin who has been chosen by God to bear the Messiah. She does not think of
herself – older, more mature and perhaps more godly, as the one who should have
been given this honour to give birth to the Messiah. No. She is content with
providence’s gift to her, and she is happy for Mary. And
it struck me, as I was reading this passage, that Elizabeth’s son was just like
her. You remember John the Baptist’s word? “He must increase; I must decrease.”
(John 3:). John learnt humility from his mother. The self-denial, and the focus
on Christ that is latter displayed in the ministry of John is evident in the
heart of Elizabeth!
My friends, we could learn something from
that. For so many of us “it’s all about me…all about mine…let me tell you about
me…let me tell you what I’ve done.” Not with Elizabeth. All the focus is on
Jesus. All the encouragement is to Mary, who is going to be the one to bear the
Messiah. What an example of humility she is to us. The Bible’s answer to our
fallen self-obsession is a great work of grace in the gospel that creates a
worshipful fixation and focus upon God.
Amen!
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