GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
LUKE 1:56-57
56 Mary remained with her about three months, and returned to her home. 57 When the time came for Elizabeth to be delivered, she gave birth to a son.
I trust that we should read these verses chronologically; that is to say, that Mary left Elizabeth before Elizabeth gave birth to John. The verb tenses are all that same (aorist), stating fact after fact without any further hint about when or how long each action took. When Mary departed, she would have been in her own third month, and approaching her fourth. That means that she wasn’t showing her pregnancy yet, but that it would become evident very soon. Lenski judges “that Mary hastens home because she wanted to avoid the people who would soon throng to the house of Elisabeth” (p. 94).
We shouldn’t lose sight of the miracle that was taking place. As Mary departs, it’s easy to forget that Elizabeth was also giving birth to a special child in an otherwise impossible pregnancy. Jesus’ birth was coming, but John was now delivered! There are no complications mentioned; no special circumstances like that of Caesar. And yet what a moment this birth was! This forerunner of the Messiah was born. The proclamation of the gospel of the forgiveness of sins was no longer a matter of “someday, someday….” It was now only a matter of, “As soon as John grows up.” An infancy, a few years as toddler, as child, as teen, and as twenty-something. Then it would begin.
So it was fitting for Mary to depart. She could cherish her own child until Jesus and John came of age. God was going to give Mary thirty years to love and raise her son, a little over three years to hear him preach and teach, and just three days of grieving before he would rise from the dead.
The actions of these women in these verses show their faith at work. They did the tasks God gave them to do, and they did them while praising God and giving him glory for their labor and their joy. These are examples for us to follow, giving God glory for whatever work we do today. “Give thanks to him and praise his name” (Psalm 100:4).
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Archives by Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel: http://www.wlchapel.org/worship/daily-devotion/
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota