Immediately following his opening lines to the most excellent Theophilus, Luke tells the story of the conception of St. John the Baptist. The Gospel message always begins with the prophets and usually with the greatest of the prophets, John the Baptist. We would also note it was a requirement for the Apostle who would replace Judas as a foundational stone of the Church to have been personally acquainted with and a participant in the ministry of John. This special relationship between John and Jesus is nowhere more obvious than in the first chapter of Luke’s gospel.
St. Luke begins his gospel by telling us about the elderly priest Zacharias and his wife Elizabeth: they were righteous and pleasing to God, but they bore a reproach and were grieved because Elizabeth, well past the childbearing years, was barren.
One day while Zacharias was occupied with his priestly duties burning incense the Angel Gabriel appeared to him. The Angel Gabriel told Zacharias he and Elizabeth would have a son, that they would call him John and their joy would be made full.
Zacharias, given that he and Elizabeth were so old, doubted the angel. But precisely because he was an old man and a priest he should have known that God delighted in granting children to barren wombs.
We should not be too harsh on Zacharias; he was righteous and pleasing to God. His infraction did not require a severe judgment but a sign and reprimand, and as a result he was struck dumb.
Zacharias quietly finished his week of serving and then he went home. Shortly thereafter Elizabeth conceived. Elizabeth, now in old age and pregnant, is filled with joy, and she hid herself for the next 5 months.
Immediately Luke takes us to Nazareth, a hill town in Judah: (vs. 26) “Now in the 6th month [that is of Elizabeth’s pregnancy] the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph.” Gabriel comes into the house where Mary was and says, “Hail highly favored one the Lord is with you.” He tells her not to be afraid. Then tells her that she will conceive by the Holy Spirit and bear the Son of God in her womb.
First Gabriel appears to Zacharias at the altar and announces the miraculous conception of John the Baptist, and then 6 months later Gabriel enters Mary’s house and announces to her the infinitely more miraculous birth of God the Son, Jesus. Zacharias was a priest in the house of God doing service but Mary in her humble house would become in her own flesh the very ark of God Himself.
The Aged and righteous Zacharias doubted and was silenced, while the young Virgin Mary believed the Angel’s word and was hailed and told that she had found favor with God, and that all generations would call her blessed.
Zacharias was told his son would be great in the sight of the Lord, that he would be filled with the Holy Spirit while he was still in his mother’s womb, and that he would go before the Lord in the power of Elijah and turn hearts and make the people ready for the coming of the Savior.
Mary was told by Gabriel that her son would not just be filled with the Holy Spirit but conceived in her by the Holy Spirit. He would be the eternal King and reign forever. And he would not simply be holy unto the Lord, but that he was the Holy One, the Son of God.
This sets the stage for our beautiful meeting of these grace filled and blessed women who carry in their wombs two miracle babies. Before Gabriel leaves Mary’s house he tells her about Elizabeth being with child (apparently Elizabeth had snuck off and hid and the news had not gotten out concerning her pregnancy). “Your relative Elizabeth has conceived a son in her old age and she is now in her sixth month, for nothing shall be impossible with God.”
This is when we hear Mary say: “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And Gabriel departed her.
Mary has now conceived; the greatest, most profound event in the history of creation has just occurred at the word of an angel in the womb of a young virgin girl in the inconsequential hill town of Nazareth. The eternal immaterial God who is has crossed the infinite chasm which separates the created from the uncreated and has become the flesh of created man.
That’s what makes the visitation so striking in Luke’s story. It is in this context that the Blessed Mother of God is compelled to go immediately with haste to visit her relative Elizabeth.
“Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste to a city of Judah, and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth.”
Mary went to Elizabeth, Jesus went to John; there was a visitation, a coming together, a union. This is the beauty of our salvation, this embrace of love.
It was when Elizabeth heard Mary’s voice that the baby in her womb was immediately filled with the Holy Spirit and danced for Joy. The first news came at the greeting of the Angel Gabriel, but now the Spirit filled Elizabeth at the greeting of the Mother of God. Elizabeth was overwhelmed with joy and shouted. “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb!”
Elizabeth had not read Luke’s story, she didn’t know that Gabriel had visited Mary or that Mary had conceived. She did not know any of this. All she knew was that her young relative had come for a visit, and yet at this moment she cries out the most amazing proclamation. She does not tell Mary about her own miracle in her conception of John, but of something infinitely more glorious: upon hearing Mary’s voice immediately John was filled with the Holy Spirit and jumped, then Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and she shouted:
“Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb! But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”
Elizabeth in the Spirit perceived that the visit of Mary out shone her own miracle. And Elizabeth continues to prophesy: “Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.”
Elizabeth confesses the Lord, she proclaims the Savior: “You are the mother of my Lord and you have come to visit me?” Of course, what is so wonderful is that this is just as much Jesus coming to visit John as it is Mary visiting Elizabeth!
The joy, the power, the grace filled the house, and Mary spilled over with the great song and hymn which we call the Magnificat:
“My soul doth magnify the Lord and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior…”
After Luke records Mary’s song, he closes the scene by saying that Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her house. We can imagine the grace and joy of those three months between Mary and Elizabeth and between John and Jesus.
The next episode in Luke’s account is the birth of John. Zacharias, filled with the Holy Spirit, offers a parallel to the Magnificat with the Benedictus. John is born and he grows and becomes strong in the Lord. And then the next episode is the birth of Jesus who also grows in wisdom and stature.
This is the beginning of Luke’s gospel: Gabriel’s announcement followed by John’s conception, Gabriel’s announcement followed by Jesus conception; John is born and grows strong in spirit, and then Jesus is born and grows in wisdom and stature. And in the middle of these events we have the beautiful visitation of Mary to Elizabeth and the meeting of John and Jesus while yet in the wombs of their mothers, the outpouring of the Spirit and the Prophetic word of recognition from Elizabeth and the song of Mary, followed by 3 months of sweet communion.
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus.
How marvelous are thy works, O Lord!