“And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?’” -Luke 1:41-43
Elizabeth was pregnant with a baby boy who would grow up to be John the Baptist. She and her husband, Zechariah had prayed their whole lives for a child, and now, late in life, she was expecting their first son.
Mary was pregnant with a baby boy who would grow up to be the Savior of the world. She was young, inexperienced, and newly betrothed to Joseph. It was after she was told that she would give birth to the Messiah that Mary went to visit her cousin, Elizabeth.
These two women had much in common as relatives and also both finding themselves miraculously and unexpectedly pregnant. As Mary approached Elizabeth, the passage above tells us that Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and baby John leaped in her womb! The arrival of Jesus, their Messiah, was such a supernatural, wonderful thing that the Holy Spirit caused even the tiniest baby to respond in praise!
Elizabeth, being filled with God’s Spirit, called out blessing on Mary and on the growing Baby inside. The response that we see in Elizabeth and in her unborn son, John are both beautiful and miraculous.
It is only by the work of the Holy Spirit that we are able to see Jesus as He truly is: our Messiah, our Savior, God with us.
The Holy Spirit works in our hearts today as our Teacher, our Counselor, and our Advocate—always pointing us to Jesus. The fruit of which we read in Galatians 5 is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These grow in our hearts as we allow the Holy Spirit to guide us and bring us back to Jesus. And as the Holy Spirit continues to work in our lives, may we respond in the same way John the Baptist and Elizabeth did: in beautiful praise glorifying our Savior.
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