Elizabeth's Story

(Part 3 of 5 advent stories)

Elizabeth’s Story

Luke said the baby leaped. Well, he did it with a good kick! He was six months at the time. I don’t think it was a coincidence that he “leaped” at Mary’s greeting. I know now about the Holy Spirit, and if any child was filled with the Spirit, it was my son John. I am sure the Holy Spirit was responsible for the greeting I gave Mary:

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? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.

Mary had sent me no word of her coming, and even then when she visited, I wasn’t sure if she was pregnant. It was good to have her companionship those final three months, since my husband couldn’t talk. You don’t know how frustrating it is to not even hear “Yes, dear” for months, especially considering what had happened.

I became pregnant! I was not a young woman. I had not been able to bear children when young, and then, at an age when women are past their child bearing years, that is when I conceived. And my husband can’t speak!

I knew that this miraculous conception was indeed an act of the Lord. That much my husband communicated, but that was about it. It wasn’t until he received back his speech back that I got the full story. But when Mary came I started to put some of the puzzle pieces together.

She told me about her visit by an angel. She would conceive the Messiah. I would have thought she was crazy, if what had happened to me had not occurred. My own pregnancy (I had not told Mary or anyone), Zechariah’s muteness and strange behavior, and then that very greeting I gave – surely God was at work. By the time John was born and Zechariah spoke his words, I knew that my son would be the Elijah to prepare the way for the Lord, the Messiah.

How good it was to have Mary. We were good for each other. Who else would have believed either of our stories? That concerned Mary. How would she tell her parents and Joseph? Even so, she seemed peaceful. She didn’t know how, but she had a child-like trust that it would all work out.

How different from my husband. When Mary told about the angel’s visit, his eyes opened wide and he stared at her with intent interest. But when she told the response she gave to the news that she would become miraculously pregnant, he seemed agitated. I found out why later on, but even if he had been able to speak, I don’t know if he would have told the whole story about his own response to that same angel. Please! My husband questions the veracity of an angel! I shouldn’t be surprised. His favorite words to me had always been, “Are you sure?”

I shouldn’t be hard on him. He was a good husband. I can’t speak for myself, but Luke was on target when he described Zechariah as righteous before God. As much as anyone, he did his best to follow God’s laws and not just because he was a priest. He was truly devoted to the Lord.

And he certainly doted over me during the pregnancy. He had always treated me properly, but then he was very attentive to me. Actually, overly attentive, but he meant well. After Mary came, he backed off a little, and seemed more reserved. Perhaps he still worried about his own response to the angel, but I think his thoughts were more about the child to come. I know I thought about it a lot.

Parents, you know what it is like to contemplate what your first child will be like, what he will become. But do you know what it is to contemplate a child whose conception is miraculous and was announced by an angel? And then to learn of a similar event happening to your cousin? And even to prophesy about things you know nothing of?

You know, I went into hiding for five months so no one would know of the pregnancy. Some of it was because I wanted to make sure the pregnancy would go okay. I had been somewhat ashamed for never bearing a child, and to announce I was pregnant and then lose the child would have been humiliating. But too, I wanted time to think, to contemplate what it all meant. There is joy in such anticipation but also fear. It can be a heavy burden to bear a gift from God. I felt a great responsibility to have a healthy pregnancy, and an even greater one to raise him properly. Mary and I talked about this. She and I were the only ones who could really understand each other.

It was at the circumcision ceremony, when my husband made clear that John would be his name, that his voice returned and he spoke those glorious words about God’s salvation and the role our son would play. He will prepare the way for the Lord by getting people to change their hearts. It is easy enough to make hearts feel things – feel warm or inspired or angry. It is hard to make a permanent change in them.

And you? Christmas inspires, maybe even brings a measure of peace and hope; but tell me, has it changed your heart? Has it changed your heart to trust in God? Mary already had that child-like trust; my husband and I had to learn it. The first hearts that needed to be prepared for the Lord were our own.

Whose hearts will be next? And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you (Ezekiel 36:26).