Godly helpers are not always how we might think. Mary went to help pregnant Elizabeth: but things would turn out the other way around. It seems God is a provider of helpers to those he asks to do difficult things.
Mary Sets Out to Help
After telling Mary she would bear God’s child, the Angel Gabriel told her that her elderly relative, Elizabeth, was also expecting. Perhaps Elizabeth had experienced a series of disappointing miscarriages. However, she had reached her sixth month this time: things were looking positive.
A delighted Mary set off for the Judean Hills where Elizabeth lived, thinking she would help Elizabeth through the pregnancy and birth.
Safer
Yet, it would seem that God was working to get Mary out of Nazareth, her hometown, during the initial stage of her own pregnancy. She was not yet married to her fiancé, Joseph. If she were about to experience morning sickness and a swelling belly, there could be trouble.
Mary would be safer and far better off with Elizabeth, who was “a descendant of Aaron”, (Lu.1:5-6), i.e. a purebred Levite of the priestly line, married to Temple priest, Zachariah. She was a prophetic woman, righteous in the site of God.
Helpers
It seems God sends us a helper when we need one. I think of Moses who so hated the idea of being called that he told God to send someone else. Instead, God sent him a powerful helper in Aaron. And Naomi, who tried to jettison both her daughters-in-law as she set out for her Bethlehem home. God filled daughter-in-law Ruth’s spirit with a powerful faith in Him: she stuck like glue to Naomi, eventually solving all Naomi’s problems by providing an heir for Naomi’s late husband. This line , from which Jesus would descend, would otherwise have been wiped out.
God even sent grumbling Jonah a whale to help him reach his mission field !
He has done this for me personally, too, and I am in wonder. In the last couple of months he has sent me an able helper and encourager to give me focus and advice concerning my project, writing about the life of Mary.
The right person at the right time.
Can you remember a time he has done this for you?
Topsy Turvy
Mary arrives at the door of Elizabeth, a woman superior in status and seniority and, until this moment, unaware of Mary’s condition. She has come to offer help but Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, declares: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! Why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (1:42-3)
Elizabeth’s welcome is the very opposite of how the news of Mary’s pregnancy will later be received in Nazareth. Mary, a girl of about thirteen probably, would rightly have been nervous until this moment. Now, she is filled with confidence and joy. She is not alone.
The tables are turned. Elizabeth is Mary’s helper.
Time Out of Time
In the quiet and pretty village of Ein Kerem that nestles in the hills outside of Jerusalem, where it is believed Elizabeth lived, the two enjoyed three months of time out of time together; time to talk of the Scriptures and time to pray together, as their pregnancies progressed.
Elizabeth gave Mary the encouragement she needed to embrace what she had willingly and obediently undertaken when she told Gabriel, “Be it unto me as you have said,” (Lu.1:38). Boldly, she would sing her Magnificat warrior woman song, celebrating God’s hand on her and on her people, like other strong biblical women like Miriam, Hannah and Deborah:
Magnificat
“My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
For he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is his name,” (1:46-9)
She goes on to declare that God has always and will always come through for Israel.
Elizabeth was exactly the helper nervous Mary needed but didn’t know it. Their time together was God’s training camp forMary, under excellent supervision. She would return to Nazareth, fearless.
2 thoughts on “Elizabeth – Mary’s Unexpected Helper”
Claire Ross
A new perspective on a familiar story is always a challenge and a help. Thank you for sharing this. Giving the setting for the village and the images attached made your account very vivid.
I think your interpretation of Mary wanting to go to help Elizabeth, rather than seeking refuge with her, needs a little more substantiation. Perhaps linked to knowledge of the fact that Zechariah was struck dumb, making Elizabeth’s pregnancy experience one with additional difficulties. Maybe Zechariah had lost status due to his speechlessness?
The double motive of seeking the positive in the experience of fear of the future is not uncommon. What your story does effectively is take the reader to the time and place to re-examine what they know about the circumstances.
Sending the right person at the right time :- So many times! My husband was a wheelchair user and we were always full of praise to God for the “angels” he sent when he got stuck – they came, out of the blue, with strength, humour and love to dig him out, push him home, or out of the gravel , strong young men, on the lookout for someone to help, or so very willing if asked.
I also experienced many occasions of meeting the right person to help, in travel, in sorting out my home ready to downsize (a friend on sabbatical from Australia).
A conversation on a staircase with a colleague led me to write a book for the publisher she had told me about. God’s ways are mysterious and wonder-filled
A little foot note, with humour: sometimes spellcheck doesn’t check words with alternative meanings with different spellings … site and sight may get confused.
And we have to take responsibility for changes of font, changing back from quote italics to narrative.
Dear Claire – thank you for your comments. Apologies for my typo. As for the font, I’m finding WordPress to sometimes have a mind of its own!
I’m glad you appreciated the content.
Interesting that your assumption was that Mary ran to Elizabeth seeking refuge while I assumed she ran to her to help her, as women did in the Old Testament, e.g. Shiphrah and Puah.
Food for thought there.
A new perspective on a familiar story is always a challenge and a help. Thank you for sharing this. Giving the setting for the village and the images attached made your account very vivid.
I think your interpretation of Mary wanting to go to help Elizabeth, rather than seeking refuge with her, needs a little more substantiation. Perhaps linked to knowledge of the fact that Zechariah was struck dumb, making Elizabeth’s pregnancy experience one with additional difficulties. Maybe Zechariah had lost status due to his speechlessness?
The double motive of seeking the positive in the experience of fear of the future is not uncommon. What your story does effectively is take the reader to the time and place to re-examine what they know about the circumstances.
Sending the right person at the right time :- So many times! My husband was a wheelchair user and we were always full of praise to God for the “angels” he sent when he got stuck – they came, out of the blue, with strength, humour and love to dig him out, push him home, or out of the gravel , strong young men, on the lookout for someone to help, or so very willing if asked.
I also experienced many occasions of meeting the right person to help, in travel, in sorting out my home ready to downsize (a friend on sabbatical from Australia).
A conversation on a staircase with a colleague led me to write a book for the publisher she had told me about. God’s ways are mysterious and wonder-filled
A little foot note, with humour: sometimes spellcheck doesn’t check words with alternative meanings with different spellings … site and sight may get confused.
And we have to take responsibility for changes of font, changing back from quote italics to narrative.
Dear Claire – thank you for your comments. Apologies for my typo. As for the font, I’m finding WordPress to sometimes have a mind of its own!
I’m glad you appreciated the content.
Interesting that your assumption was that Mary ran to Elizabeth seeking refuge while I assumed she ran to her to help her, as women did in the Old Testament, e.g. Shiphrah and Puah.
Food for thought there.