Hello Everyone,
This is part three of the story of Christmas.
Now Mary is pregnant with Jesus and Elizabeth is pregnant with John. For those of you who don't know, John and Jesus' lives will be intertwined through out all of John's time on earth and most of Jesus. I believe John is the one who ultimately baptizes Jesus and John gets his head cut of by the king because he tell the king that the king was doing something wrong.
OK, back to the story. Mary decides that since she and Elizabeth are cousins that she's going to pay Elizabeth a visit and she does. Here's something that strikes me as interesting. It seems like several people must have known about what was going on with Mary and more than one believed her because when she rolls into Zach's house, Elizabeth says, "Your are most blessed of all women and the child you bear will be very blessed. I know you are Jesus mother, why did you come to visit me. As soon as you said hello, John started moving around. You are very blessed because you believed that God will accomplish what he said he would." We can learn something from this and I may have already pointed it out. Mary was very blessed because she trusted God. God is a gentlemen. I believe that if Mary had told God she didn't want to be Jesus' mom, he would have passed her by and found someone else. Now we don't have any record of this in the bible, but it's possible that Mary was not the first person God approached about this. I can't prove that one way or the other.
But what we do know is that Mary had faith in God. We also know that Joseph had faith in God. So the Lord was putting Jesus in a house where his parents both had faith. It is truly an amazing thing when people come together in agreement and stand in faith together.
So after Elizabeth talks to Mary, the anointing comes in Mary and she sings this song:
My soul glorifies God and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior
For he is mindful of how humble I am (side note, this is the second place in the bible where someone called themselves humble. Moses wrote that he was the most humble man ever to walk the earth.)
From now on all the nations will call me blessed
For the Lord Almighty has done great things for me
His mercy extends to those that fear him from generation to generation
He has performed mighty deeds
He has scattered the proud
He has brought down kings
But has lifted up the humble
He has filled the hungry with good things
But sent the rich away empty
He has helped Israel, remembering to be merciful
To Abraham and his descendants for ever
After this, Mary hung out with Elizabeth for three months and then she went back to Joseph's place. You have to feel for Joseph a little. Not only did he not get to go on a honeymoon with Mary but pretty quick after they get married, she takes a three month vacation to Elizabeth's house. I bet Joseph had to stay home because he was a carpenter and had a business to run and her his new wife takes off and leaves for three months.
So let me close out what happened to Elizabeth and Zach. Elizabeth finally gives birth to John and her neighbors and relatives all come over to celebrate and throw a big party. That seems a little strange to me. I can remember when we brought each of our kids home from the hospital. I don't remember my ex-wife or I ever wanting to have a party. As a matter of fact, we both wanted the opposite. We both wanted to sleep. If someone woke the baby up, it sort of made us mad but anyway, that's what happened. We know that Zach didn't wake John up because he still couldn't speak. Remember, God had shut his mouth.
So eight days after his birth, when Zach and Elizabeth had not named the baby yet, the friends and family decided they were going to name the baby Zach after his father. That's pretty pushy if you ask me. First they come over and party like it's New Year's Eve then they get impatient about naming the kid and try to do it themselves.
Well, Elizabeth is having no part of it because she knows that the baby's name is John and she tells them this. Unfortunately, no one in the crowd likes the idea and they tell her it is a stupid idea. Have you ever had family trying to tell you what to do or trying to live their lives through you? Well this is a bible record of it happening. Anyway, they don't like her answer so they ask Zach. This sort of reminds me of when a child asks one parent for something and gets told no so the child goes and asks the other parent. Zach takes a writing tablet and with a written note, tells everyone that the boy's name is John. As soon as he did that, God allowed him to talk and Zach started praising God. Now the crowd was really in awe and they all started talking about it. Word spread through the grapevine about the story and everyone wondered what John would amount to.
Luke 1:39 to Luke 2:5
To be continued....
The Minion
This is part three of the story of Christmas.
Now Mary is pregnant with Jesus and Elizabeth is pregnant with John. For those of you who don't know, John and Jesus' lives will be intertwined through out all of John's time on earth and most of Jesus. I believe John is the one who ultimately baptizes Jesus and John gets his head cut of by the king because he tell the king that the king was doing something wrong.
OK, back to the story. Mary decides that since she and Elizabeth are cousins that she's going to pay Elizabeth a visit and she does. Here's something that strikes me as interesting. It seems like several people must have known about what was going on with Mary and more than one believed her because when she rolls into Zach's house, Elizabeth says, "Your are most blessed of all women and the child you bear will be very blessed. I know you are Jesus mother, why did you come to visit me. As soon as you said hello, John started moving around. You are very blessed because you believed that God will accomplish what he said he would." We can learn something from this and I may have already pointed it out. Mary was very blessed because she trusted God. God is a gentlemen. I believe that if Mary had told God she didn't want to be Jesus' mom, he would have passed her by and found someone else. Now we don't have any record of this in the bible, but it's possible that Mary was not the first person God approached about this. I can't prove that one way or the other.
But what we do know is that Mary had faith in God. We also know that Joseph had faith in God. So the Lord was putting Jesus in a house where his parents both had faith. It is truly an amazing thing when people come together in agreement and stand in faith together.
So after Elizabeth talks to Mary, the anointing comes in Mary and she sings this song:
My soul glorifies God and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior
For he is mindful of how humble I am (side note, this is the second place in the bible where someone called themselves humble. Moses wrote that he was the most humble man ever to walk the earth.)
From now on all the nations will call me blessed
For the Lord Almighty has done great things for me
His mercy extends to those that fear him from generation to generation
He has performed mighty deeds
He has scattered the proud
He has brought down kings
But has lifted up the humble
He has filled the hungry with good things
But sent the rich away empty
He has helped Israel, remembering to be merciful
To Abraham and his descendants for ever
After this, Mary hung out with Elizabeth for three months and then she went back to Joseph's place. You have to feel for Joseph a little. Not only did he not get to go on a honeymoon with Mary but pretty quick after they get married, she takes a three month vacation to Elizabeth's house. I bet Joseph had to stay home because he was a carpenter and had a business to run and her his new wife takes off and leaves for three months.
So let me close out what happened to Elizabeth and Zach. Elizabeth finally gives birth to John and her neighbors and relatives all come over to celebrate and throw a big party. That seems a little strange to me. I can remember when we brought each of our kids home from the hospital. I don't remember my ex-wife or I ever wanting to have a party. As a matter of fact, we both wanted the opposite. We both wanted to sleep. If someone woke the baby up, it sort of made us mad but anyway, that's what happened. We know that Zach didn't wake John up because he still couldn't speak. Remember, God had shut his mouth.
So eight days after his birth, when Zach and Elizabeth had not named the baby yet, the friends and family decided they were going to name the baby Zach after his father. That's pretty pushy if you ask me. First they come over and party like it's New Year's Eve then they get impatient about naming the kid and try to do it themselves.
Well, Elizabeth is having no part of it because she knows that the baby's name is John and she tells them this. Unfortunately, no one in the crowd likes the idea and they tell her it is a stupid idea. Have you ever had family trying to tell you what to do or trying to live their lives through you? Well this is a bible record of it happening. Anyway, they don't like her answer so they ask Zach. This sort of reminds me of when a child asks one parent for something and gets told no so the child goes and asks the other parent. Zach takes a writing tablet and with a written note, tells everyone that the boy's name is John. As soon as he did that, God allowed him to talk and Zach started praising God. Now the crowd was really in awe and they all started talking about it. Word spread through the grapevine about the story and everyone wondered what John would amount to.
Luke 1:39 to Luke 2:5
To be continued....
The Minion
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