The Bouncing Baby

Luke 1:39–56 NLT

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.” Mary responded, “Oh, how my soul praises the Lord. How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior! For he took notice of his lowly servant girl, and from now on all generations will call me blessed. For the Mighty One is holy, and he has done great things for me. He shows mercy from generation to generation to all who fear him. His mighty arm has done tremendous things! He has scattered the proud and haughty ones. He has brought down princes from their thrones and exalted the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away with empty hands. He has helped his servant Israel and remembered to be merciful. For he made this promise to our ancestors, to Abraham and his children forever.” Mary stayed with Elizabeth about three months and then went back to her own home.

Introduction: Song: Jump for Joy

Lyrics:

[Verse 1] Fare thee well land of cotton Cotton lisle is out of style Honey chile, jump for Joy Don't you grieve, little Eve All the hounds I do believe Have been killed Ain't ya thrilled? Jump for Joy [Bridge] Have you seen pastures groovy? Green Pastures was just a technicolor movie [Verse 2] When you stomp up to heaven and you meet old Saint Pete Tell that boy "Jump for joy" Step right in Give Pete some skin and jump for Joy

I just wanted to share that because of the phrase, “He Jumped for Joy...”

Jesus has come in an unexpected way.

Already in Luke’s Gospel we have two unique birth announcements.

The 1st is that John the Baptist will be born to Elizabeth who is barren. Reminds us of the story of Hannah, and before Hannah Sarah - Two sermons ago.

Then there is Jesus who is announced to Mary to be born of her, even though she is a virgin.

What is not too unexpected is their lineage...

John to a pious family, a priestly family, which means that both he (and his relative Jesus) could trace their lineage to Aaron, the brother of Moses and first priest of Israel

1. John the Baptist was not just a preacher; he stood in the tradition of the prophets by proclaiming the word of God through the anointing of the Holy Spirit. In Luke 1:17, the angel Gabriel says to John’s father Zechariah, “He [John] will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. … He [John] will go before him [Jesus] in the spirit and power of Elijah” (Luke 1:14–17).

Contrast Mary is blessed along those terms - opposite.

• Temple Virgin???? “female slave.”

• Levitical heritage (relative of Elisabeth and Zechariah), but also line of David.

• Humble by social status - Because of Herod and Kings before...

A new non-Davidic dynasty, the Hasmoneans, had assumed the Jewish throne, later to be replaced by Herod the Great. Herod, who was not Jewish, was so paranoid about his questionable parentage that he burned all the public genealogies of the Jews, thinking that he would appear more legitimate if no one else could trace their roots. He was especially afraid of those who were descendants of the royal Davidic line. - Erin Zimmerman of CBN.

• Despite all of this she is called blessed

• Blessing is not the posession of Material wealth, but a state of happiness based on the Good given by God.

The New Bible Dictionary, Third Edition Blessed

Weymouth’s New Testament suggests: ‘People who are blessed may outwardly be much to be pitied, but from the higher and therefore truer standpoint they are to be envied, congratulated, and imitated.’

When these two pregnant women meet what is the result???

The Spirit of Joy Points Us to Jesus.

1. Elizabeth is about six months pregnant, and Mary hasn’t told anyone what has happened yet. Upon hearing Mary’s voice..

-John leaps within his mother’s womb, the Holy Spirit prompting John, - -Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit and speaks the truth.

Remembring Cindy feeling one of our children in her womb and say. Hey feel this. Or laying my head on her belly and listening to the heart beat. - Oh what joy and anticipation.

But this is different as we get no sense at all in the text that anyone knows as of yet that Mary is pregnant - Everything is done by the filling of the Holy Spirit - The Bouncing Baby and Elizabeth’s proclamation of Blessing.

This then is a fulfillment of Luke 1:15 - What this means is The Holy Spirit is empowering John while in the Womb to Joyfully Point people to Jesus.

Fourth-century church leader Ambrose wrote in his commentary on Luke, “Elizabeth is the first to hear Mary’s voice, but John is the first to be aware of grace. She hears with the ears of the body, but he leaps for joy at the meaning of the mystery. She is aware of Mary’s presence, but he is aware of the Lord’s: a woman aware of a woman’s presence, the forerunner aware of the pledge of our salvation. The women speak of the grace they have received while the children are active in secret, unfolding the mystery of love with the help of their mothers, who prophesy by the spirit of their sons” (“The Visitation: Mary Visits Elizabeth,” Catholic Exchange, May 31, 2018, https://catholicexchange.com/visitation-mary-visits-elizabeth).

Again from a Biblical point of view this really elevates the unborn as humans that can be used by God to participate in his Kingdom.

Jeremiah 1:5 says, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” While we shouldn’t apply this to mean that every person is called to be a prophet, it does point to a God who puts his calling into the hearts of people from the womb; he doesn’t wait until they reach adulthood. His work begins when their life begins—in the womb.

Now the unborn can not think, or do theology, or even comprehend who Jesus is. But this gives us a taste that any human, no matter what age or even negative age can be agents of the Kingdom. For that matter it also means that a major question of many people, can someone who has a cognitive disability and unable to comprehend Jesus, can they be saved. The model here is John the Baptist. One can have Faith in Jesus, and be filled by the Spirit without knowing all of the ins and outs of Theology.

I think these early birth stories for our kids can be of tremendous encouragement. God uses the unborn, God uses infants, God uses adolescence, God uses teenagers, and young adults, and middle-agers, and retirees, etc… by filling them with his Spirit of Joy to point people to Jesus. - Jesus came in the flesh and experienced all of these stages of life.

Mary is also filled with the Spirit of Joy - Have you ever felt so thankful that you just wanted to burst out in song like Mary?

Friend who came in laughing because the Holy Spirit filled him with so much joy. He could not stop.

The Magnificat:

Mary Rejoices

Because God has blessed her in her humble state.

In fact as a general rule God shows this mercy to every generation.

He does this by humbling the proud/rich and exalting the humble/poor

He has shown this mercy to Israel

Just has he has promised all of the generation after Abraham.

How does this Birth Story Empower us?

Staying Attuned to the Spirit.

- Any one of any age can be filled by the Spirit - Are we listening

- We are called to keep in step with the Spirit - Do we close the Spirit off from producing Joy in our life?

To receive the Holy Spirit starts with humility - recognizing that we, just like John, and Elizabeth, and Mary are simple servants willing to allow the Holy Spirit to use us to point others to Jesus.

Conclusion: