PrintChristmas 2002 Meditation: Redeemed through Our Savior's Pre-natal Recognition
Now in those days Mary arose and went with haste to a town in the hilly region of Judah. She entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. As Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, it happened that the baby in her womb leaped, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and with a loud cry she called out and said, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why has this happened to me, namely, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For look, as the sound of your greeting came into my ears, the baby in my womb leaped in joy. Moreover, blessed is the woman who believed that the things spoken to her from the Lord would be completed." Luke 1.39-42 (author's translation)
As we prepare to celebrate Christmas once more, we have landed upon this fascinating, somewhat puzzling episode belonging to the Christmas story, to the history of our salvation.
We agree, I trust, that no event connected with the Bible's Christmas story is superfluous, a waste of the Holy Spirit's breath. Thank God that the significance of an event for our redemption does not depend on our familiarity with the story. Nor on the capacities of Hallmark's art department. When it comes to Christmas sentiments, Hallmark can do wonders with a manger and some magi, but still hasn't figured out what to do with a leaping preborn baby or slaughtered two-year old boys--events both of which belong to the biblical Christmas story!
We also agree, I trust, that every story connected with the Bible's Christmas aims ultimately to reveal to us something of the person and work of Jesus Christ for our salvation. The cast of characters--and their qualities--is wide-ranging: incredulous Zechariah leads the way, followed by perplexed Joseph and pondering Mary, crowned with stunned shepherds and radiant angels. But each of them points us to what God has done for us in Jesus Christ, by a circuitous route perhaps, despite human weakness, to be sure.
Perhaps the most surprising feature of the episode narrated in our Scripture passage written above is that our incarnate Savior's redeeming work began already before He was born!
The facts of the story appear so simple; yet, I've not heard many people, let alone preachers, speak of them. You don't suppose, do you, that here we've encountered "a woman thing"-you know, the kind of intimate experience known only to women who have felt their offspring move in the womb?
Two women, one married, the other not, had become surprisingly pregnant. For each the pathway to pregnancy was paved with divine revelation, miracle-power, and vocation. Twice over, Gabriel had been sent to inform two prospective parents (Zechariah, father of John, and Mary, mother of Jesus) about what (whom) to expect, and to instruct them about their children's adult careers. The Nazirite John, whose mission would be to lead Israel in a joyful revival (Luke 1.14-17), would thereby prepare the way of the Nazarene Jesus, whose vocation would be to rule over Israel from David's throne forever (Luke 1.32b-33). These pregnancies were the breathtaking interventions of a God whose modus operandi throughout biblical history had been one of bringing the dead to life, of creating something from nothing-first Adam, then Abraham, later Israel, and now Elizabeth's baby John and Mary's baby Jesus.
More than just blood relatives, these women were also faith sisters. By faith Elizabeth had understood, and declared, the meaning of her pregnancy: "Thus the Lord has done to me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my disgrace among people" (Luke 1.25). By faith Mary had accepted her pregnancy as her divine calling: "Look, I am the Lord's bondservant. May it happen to me according to your word" (Luke 1.38).
Mary, the Galilean from Nazareth, has now come to visit Elizabeth, in the hill country of Judah south of Galilee. Mary announces her arrival with the customary greeting, and at that very moment, a crackling series of pre-Christmas miracles fills the moment: "As Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, it happened that the baby in her womb leaped, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and with a loud cry she called out and said...."
Elizabeth-the-mother becomes, through the bridging instrument of the Holy Spirit, Elizabeth-the-prophetess: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why has this happened to me, namely, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For look, as the sound of your greeting came into my ears, the baby in my womb leaped in joy. Moreover, blessed is the woman who believed that the things spoken to her from the Lord would be completed."
"The baby in her womb leaped."
No, this was not "a woman thing." Because what happened here did not happen between two women as women; yes, Elizabeth did tell Mary about the leaping of her baby, but not as one mother to another.
How do we know?, you ask. The text holds several clues, of which we'll identify two.
The first clue appears from the ways in which the Holy Spirit describes the leaping, first through Doctor Luke, then through Prophetess Elizabeth. Luke gives us this sequence of events: leaping, followed by filling, followed by prophesying. Elizabeth gives us this sequence of interpretations: beatitudes pronounced, followed by submission declared, followed by the leaping explained. For Luke, the leaping baby begins the sequence of events being narrated; for Elizabeth, the leaping baby--her leaping baby--occupies the background of events being interpreted. She speaks in blessing and confession and interpretation not first as mother of John, but as servant of Christ.
The second clue lies in Elizabeth's explanation of her baby's leaping: "the baby in my womb leaped in joy." Many a pregnant mother has felt her child jump, kick, and squirm in the womb. Indeed, that is "a woman's thing." But not this. Filled with the Holy Spirit, Elizabeth explains to Mary the redemptive significance of what she (Elizabeth) had just experienced: by leaping in joy, her way-in-the-wilderness-preparing son had just borne his first testimony to the One who would come after him. Before either baby is born, John gives testimony to Jesus as the One sent from God. His pre-natal leaping is more a faith response than a fetal reflex. His leaping is a recognition, a confession, for he leaped in joy.
But for whose benefit was this pre-natal testimony?
The immediate context suggests that we should begin with Mary, the mother of our Lord. Elizabeth's words of blessing, along with her confession of amazement, crowned with her interpretation of John's movement, provided Mary with gracious confirmation that the baby she was carrying was indeed the Lord Himself. The Word of the Lord, spoken by the angel Gabriel, was being realized in her very own womb.
Naturally, all of this provided Elizabeth herself with similar confirmation concerning her own son and his divine mission.
But let us not ignore the benefit of this forerunner's pre-natal testimony for the Son of God Himself. The Incarnate Word is joyfully recognized and acknowledged simply for being among us. By this moment in salvation history, He had emptied Himself to take on the form of an obedient, pre-natal, enwombed servant. Precisely there, in that place, at that moment, He is recognized and acknowledged for the first time in history as Son of God and son of man. Months later, such testimony would be followed by that of angels, shepherds, magi, and Jerusalem believers Simeon and Anna. But here, in the womb, this last prophet of the old covenant, John, successor of Elijah, enjoys the intimate privilege of wordless witness to the Chief Prophet of the new covenant, Jesus Christ, successor of Elisha.
If we did not know Him as the Son of God, we would be unable to see this as part of His suffering, part of His humiliation, for us and our sins. And yet, precisely because by grace we know Him as the Son of God, we behold Him here, in his pre-natal unseen bodily form, as the fullness of Deity (Col. 2.9). What glory (for us) amid shame (for Him)! What innocence (His) surrounded by guilt (ours)! What power incarnated as weakness.
At that moment in salvation history, leaping in joy was the best John could do in the presence of his Savior, Jesus Christ. After he was born, he grew up to prepare the way for Jesus, preaching in the wilderness, suffering persecution in prison, finally dying an innocent death. John's Savior followed him, which means: Jesus walked the path made straight, walked it all the way to death; and all mankind has seen the salvation of the Lord.
John's joyful leap in the womb must give way to the church's joyful life in the world. For now that Jesus Christ has lived, died, risen, and ascended, now that His Spirit has come upon the church, believers can do greater works than John could do. As the servant who was always leading the way for his Master, John was oriented by the incomplete past reaching toward the future he would not live to see. But we are servants who follow the Master, disciples oriented by the finished past which serves to guarantee the perfected future. Christ's already completed work of redemption is the fountain of our joyful living in this sad world. Christ's still-being-completed work of redemption encourages our faithful living amid so many broken promises. And Christ's yet-to-be-completed work of redemption stimulates our hopeful living as a testimony to Him in a culture surrendering to hopelessness.