The Gospel of Luke: Mary Visits Elizabeth
The Gospel of Luke: Mary Visits Elizabeth
Luke 1:39-45 — The joy we feel that is from the Peace of God happens because we are grateful for everything that He gives us and the fact that we are willing to submit to His commands.
“Now at this time Mary arose and went in a hurry to the hill country, to a city of Judah, and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. And she cried out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And how has it happened to me, that the mother of my Lord would come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord.”
Luke 1:39-45 NASB1995
After hearing the incredible proclamation to her by God’s Angel Gabriel, Mary rushes to see her relative (perhaps cousin) Elizabeth. Mary does not doubt the Word of God, but is anxious to see the elderly Elizabeth happily pregnant, at long last, which will just be another confirmation of these extraordinary events. Mary has certainly conceived at this point, as the blessing from Elizabeth makes clear about the fruit of Mary’s womb.
Following on to my last devotional and commentary on Mary, Elizabeth notes that she is blessed among women, not blessed above other women. But the focus here in this passage is on the fact that the unborn child that Elizabeth is carrying leaps for joy in her womb when the name of Mary is heard.
John, even as an unborn child, was filled with the Holy Spirit and was able to react with joy to the news that Jesus was near (also an unborn child at the moment). So what is joy? There are attempts among many biblical scholars to distinguish between happiness and joy as emotional states, as many web searches will indicate. Happiness is supposedly based on temporal and earthly experiences and can disappear in a heartbeat (grab a favorite toy away from a smiling infant and see what happens to that happiness).
You are happy when you embark on a cruise or leave on vacation or open presents on Christmas or get a big pay raise or enjoy someone else’s company. Then you have really rough seas the first few days or it rains every day on vacation or you got socks and shirts for Christmas or that big pay raise puts you in a new tax bracket or you drink too much while enjoying that person’s company and feel lousy for a day or so, so that happiness is tempered by circumstances. You are joyful in the presence of the Lord, regardless of your circumstances. It is a fine, and likely artificial, distinction, as the two words are defined very similarly:
Joy as defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary:
1 a: the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires : DELIGHT
b: the expression or exhibition of such emotion : GAIETY
2: a state of happiness or felicity : BLISS
3: a source or cause of delight
Happiness as defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary:
1 a: a state of well-being and contentment : JOY
b: a pleasurable or satisfying experience - I wish you every happiness in life. I had the happiness of seeing you W. S. Gilbert
2: FELICITY, APTNESS a striking happiness of expression
3 obsolete : good fortune : PROSPERITY- all happiness bechance to thee (Shakespeare)
Well, that certainly isn’t helpful! Joy is defined as happiness, happiness is defined as joy. So, how does the Bible translate the word “joy” as used in this particular context, in Luke 1:44? According to the Blue Letter Bible, the Greek word translated to joy used in this passage is agalliasis, meaning exultation, or extreme gladness. This particular word in that context is only used in five NT passages and is used as an emblem of the divine power and majesty of the Son of God and an anointing with gladness (oil). A more common Greek word used in the NT for joy is chara, which also means gladness. Now stay with me, because there is an interesting definition of gladness that I want to share (I love playing these word search games):
Gladness, as defined (root word Glad) by the Merriam-Webster dictionary (the complete set of definitions are not included):
1 a: experiencing pleasure, joy, or delight : made happy
b: very willing - glad to do it
c: made pleased, satisfied, or grateful —often used with of: was glad of their help
Another do-loop happens with the first definition, including BOTH joy and happy. However, note the second and third definitions - gladness is willingness to do something and is also defined as being grateful for something or satisfied. The joy we feel that is from the Peace of God happens because we are grateful for everything that He gives us and the fact that we are willing to submit to His commands. This joy (gladness) is the sturdy feeling that can persist in the worst circumstances in this life, because we are satisfied only in Him and we can retreat in our hearts from what is temporary and miserable. This is what the unborn John sensed and why he leapt for agalliasis. John the Baptist as the one who came before the Messiah leapt for joy, although his life was hard and he was put to death in a most gruesome manner. He has his crown of life now and paved the way for Jesus.
An aside: The more I study the Word of God and believe and obey, the more I have come to recognize that our lives that He has created are precious to Him, including the lives of the unborn. In my secular days, I was rabidly pro-“choice”, because I viewed circumstances through the lens of how it affected other women like myself. I am now firmly established in the camps of the pro-life movement and pray every week for the lives of the unborn AND for the lives of the women who can seek help in much better ways than deciding to kill their unborn child. Elizabeth prayed her whole life for a child and Mary reacted to her circumstances with obedience and gratitude, as we shall see in the next devotional.
Let’s end this devotional with the lyrics to one of my favorite Christmas carols, “Joy to the World”. Written by the English minister Isaac Watts in 1719 and paraphrasing the words in Psalm 98, it is a work of JOY (and one of the most popular carols)!
Joy to the world! the Lord is come;
Let Earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare him room,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven, and heaven, and nature sing.
Joy to the world! the Saviour reigns;
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.
No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.
He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.
My next devotional will examine Mary’s song to God, known as the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-56).
Heaven on Wheels Daily Prayer:
Dear God, Help me to be GLAD in my obedience and gratitude to You, regardless of life’s circumstances. May we honor these two women (Elizabeth and Mary), who joyfully obeyed and humbly submitted themselves to your Will. May “Joy to the World” echo in our thoughts every day of the year, not just at Christmas time. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
“Glad.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/glad. Accessed 13 Dec. 2022.
“Happiness.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/happiness. Accessed 13 Dec. 2022.
“Joy.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/joy. Accessed 13 Dec. 2022.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org
“Joy to the World” is in the public domain.