When Herod was king of Judea, there was a Jewish priest named Zechariah. He was a member of the priestly order of Abijah, and his wife, Elizabeth, was also from the priestly line of Aaron. Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous in God’s eyes, careful to obey all of the Lord’s commandments and regulations. They had no children because Elizabeth was unable to conceive, and they were both very old. Soon afterward his wife, Elizabeth, became pregnant and went into seclusion for five months. “How kind the Lord is!” she exclaimed. “He has taken away my disgrace of having no children.” A few days later Mary hurried to the hill country of Judea, to the town where Zechariah lived. She entered the house and greeted Elizabeth. At the sound of Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth’s child leaped within her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, “God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed. Why am I so honored, that the mother of my Lord should visit me? When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy. You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said.”
Luke 1:5-7,24-25,39-45

Dear God, maybe this comment is more about Mary that it is Elizabeth, and I’m going to hold off on Mary and Joseph until they end of this series (they’re obviously the best parents in the Bible, after all), but it is so nice that you have her Elizabeth and Zechariah. You gave her a safe place. And the angel told her about Elizabeth being pregnant so she’d know that Elizabeth will understand what’s going on. Elizabeth will believe you. She’ll believe you because she’s living in the midst of her own miracle.

For those first seven or eight months of conceiving and pregnancy before Mary arrived, I wonder what Elizabeth’s communications with Zechariah were like. Did Zechariah write down what Gabriel told him for her to see? I’m sure he did. Did they talk about it, with Zechariah writing his part down? I’m sure they did. Did they pray to you? Did they dream of what this would look like? Were they filled with hope and joy? Did they mistakenly dream of power and might for their child? I’m sure they never imagined him living in the wilderness, wearing animal skins, eating bugs, and eventually being beheaded. No, they didn’t need to know that about him. As with me, you kept them on a need-to-know basis. They needed to know their child’s relationship and connection to the Messiah. They needed to know to not cut his hair (I still don’t know why that was a thing except to maybe help John the Baptist [JTB] have a constant reminder that he was set apart for you). Knowing what they knew helped prepare them to raise this boy, but it also gave Elizabeth the intuition and sensitivity to the Holy Spirit that she needed to recognize what you were doing through Mary.

A few days later Mary hurried to the hill country of Judaea, to the town where Zechariah lived. She entered the house and greeted Elizabeth. At the sound of Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth’s child leaped within her. Elizabeth was filled wit the Holy Spirit. Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, “God has blessed you above all women, and y our child is blessed.”

What a great affirmation for Mary! I’m sure she was scared. She knew the angel mentioned Elizabeth so she “hurried” to Zechariah’s house. But now, how will she tell Elizabeth what is happening with her? How will she explain? Well, she didn’t have to. What a gift. You used Elizabeth’s motherhood of JTB to grow her in a new way and make her available to Mary in a way she never would have been before.

Father, you certainly stretch me through my children. You love others through me because of what you have taught me as a father. You have taught me lessons I’d have never otherwise learned. You continue to show me new aspects of who you are through them. And just as Zechariah and Elizabeth had no idea what JTB’s and Jesus’s futures looked like, I have no idea what the futures of my children or even my wife and me will look like. But you have shown me what I need to know for today. You have given me good work to do today. Help me to have eyes that see and ears that hear. Make me slow to speak and discerning.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen