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Mary Visits Elizabeth


Luke 1:39-55

Good News Translation (GNT)

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39  Soon afterward Mary got ready and hurried off
   to a town in the hill country of Judea.
40  She went into Zechariah's house and greeted
   Elizabeth.
41  When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the
   baby moved within her.
   Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit
42  and said in a loud voice, "You are the most
   blessed of all women, and blessed is the child
   you will bear!
43  Why should this great thing happen to me,
   that my Lord's mother comes to visit me?
44  For as soon as I heard your greeting, the baby
   within me jumped with gladness.
45  How happy you are to believe that the Lord's
   message to you will come true!"

   Mary's Song of Praise
46  Mary said,
         "My heart praises the Lord;
47          my soul is glad because of God my
           Saviour,
48           for he has remembered me, his lowly
            servant! From now on all people will call
            me happy,
49           because of the great things the
            Mighty God has done for me. His name
            is holy;
50           from one generation to another he
            shows mercy to those who honor him.
51           He has stretched out his mighty arm and
            scattered the proud with all their plans.
52           He has brought down mighty kings from
            their thrones, and lifted up the lowly.
53           He has filled the hungry with good
            things, and sent the rich away with
            empty hands.
54           He has kept the promise he made to our
            ancestors, and has come to the help of
            his servant Israel.
55           He has remembered to show mercy to
            Abraham and to all his descendants
            forever!"


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Commentary taken from
'The Applied New Testament Commentary'
(Kingsway)

Mary Visits Elizabeth

    Luke 1:39-45
Then the angel told Mary about Elizabeth's pregnancy.
Elizabeth was a relative of Mary on the side of Mary's mother.
Let Mary not doubt.

If God could give an old barren woman like Elizabeth a child, He could also give a virgin a child (Genesis 18:10-14; Mark 10:27).

Mary Visits Elizabeth
When Mary heard about Elizabeth's pregnancy, she went to visit her at her home in Judah (the province of Judea) south of Jerusalem.

When Elizabeth saw Mary, the Holy Spirit filled her and she knew at once that Mary would be the mother of the Messiah, the Saviour.
She called Mary the mother of my Lord (verse 43).
As a sign that what the angel had told Mary was indeed true, Elizabeth's baby leaped in her womb.
Then Elizabeth blessed Mary for believing God would fulfill His word to her.

Mary's Song
When Mary heard Elizabeth's words, she began to praise God for choosing her, an ordinary village woman, to be the mother of the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God
(see 1 Corinthians 1:26-29).

No woman has ever received a greater honour.
She called God her Saviour, because through His Son in her womb, He would save all who believe in Him (1 Timothy 2:3).

Then Mary praised God for His mercy to His servant Israel, that is, the Jewish nation (verses 54-55).
In particular, she praised Him for His mercy in fulfilling, through her son Jesus, the promise He had given to Abraham and his descendants (Genesis 17:7; 22:17).
Abraham was the father of the Jewish nation.
God always shows mercy to those that fear Him (verse 50).
He casts down the proud and exalts the humble (verses 51-52).
God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble (Proverbs 3:34; James 4:6).
He helps the poor, but turns the rich away empty (verse 53).

And now, through Mary, God was going to show His greatest mercy, His greatest love to the world, by sending His own Son into the world to save men.
How can Mary not praise such a God?
How can we, too, not praise Him?



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