A Christmas Story - Elizabeth
Christmas is definitely about Jesus. It is CHRIST-mas, forget about the commercialization or those who what to separate Christianity from the holiday. Its origins are in the extra-ordinary way our Lord Jesus introduced Himself to the world.
When we think of Christmas we think of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Today, I want us to think of another important story. That of Elizabeth.
If like Elizabeth, you can identify with wanting and not having, waiting yet the years seem to keep rolling by, thinking that maybe “it won’t happen for me”… Whatever IT is you need, you can be certain that God is aware. It is a challenging thing sometimes waiting on Gods timing especially because we do not know His plans. However, God gives us far greater than we could ask, think, imagine – in His timing though. Sometimes we have to step back from all the voices that surround us and can sow those seeds of doubt. In Elizabeths case, her husbands’ voice was literally silenced because he doubted Gods plan. It might be that we need to silence the voices around us that wouldn’t believe Gods plan for us.
FACT FILE:
Name - Elizabeth
Occupation - Wife, mother.
Reference - Luke chapter 1
Miracles are a part of our faith. Indeed, we should expect miracles in our lives even today. Our God declares that He is the same, yesterday, today and forever [Hebrews 13:8]. He goes a step further and asserts that He is not a man that He should lie [Numbers 23:19]. The God who did miracles, does miracles. Simple. The point of the Female Complexities blog is to shine a light on women in the Bible particularly and be a resource for Christian women looking to see themselves in Gods story with humanity as well as for anyone looking to question Christianity and get explanations in everyday language. Elizabeth was an everyday woman. Had it not been for this story, she might not have made it into scripture...
The significance of Elizabeth to me is manifold, she was ordinary like many of us, she had some amazing things happen to her and through her, she had a good relationship with God(i.e. righteous), the angel Gabriel mentioned her by name when telling Mary about Jesus and of course, she was the mother of an extra-ordinary prophet, John. In this sense, Elizabeth wasn’t really ordinary. We could also say Elizabeth was the earthly auntie or perhaps even grand-auntie to Jesus. She was a relative to Mary though the exact relationship isn't specified. Her husband was Zacharia and both were described as "well advanced in years".
Elizabeth’s is a story of hope. She said that her pregnancy was God taking away her “disgrace” and she hid herself for five months. In those time in human history, amongst the primary roles of women was to have children and raise them. So for Elizabeth to have gone so long without a child must have been painful in a profound way. The great thing is that even when she chose solitude, God literally used one of His angels to announce to Mary that Elizabeth was expecting her first child!
Aside from the silence mentioned earlier, there was the seclusion. In our world currently, sharing is the “in” thing. You have something amazing happen? Social media is a few clicks or tags away from multitudes knowing what’s up. However, sometimes like with John in Elizabeth’s womb, God is building something or someone special and that can require unusual practices which God approves of.
Before there was the voice in the desert pointing us to the Saviour of the world, there was Elizabeth who thought that her situation disqualified her. The Christmas story is about God bringing us, His beloved creation back to Him. Back to relationship with the God we are meant to know and look how He even used Elizabeth’s story to quieten Mary’s concerns. MIRACLES. Expect one in your life!
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