5 minute read
Blessed Are You!
One of the people in scripture I like to ponder is Elizabeth. I think we miss something truly inspirational in this woman who may often be seen as only a footnote to the Gospel story.
Thanks to Luke, we know a few pertinent details about Elizabeth, including her respected lineage and the fact that her husband, Zechariah, was a priest. We are also told, rather politely, that this couple was “getting on in years” and that Elizabeth was “barren”—this was decidedly less than polite to point out but reflected the way she was viewed by others. As such, in her time and place, Elizabeth would have been seen as having little or no value. While I don’t get the feeling Elizabeth accepted these assessments of her worth, she would, nonetheless, have lived under the weight of these perception of others for many years.
In the gospel of Luke, we observe Zechariah serving as a priest and presenting the prayers of the people when Gabriel appears and speaks a new promise of a baby to be born as well as the vocational call this child will have to prepare their people for the coming Messiah. Zechariah questions Gabriel and is muted for nine months. In those months of forced silence, Zechariah certainly had plenty of time to contemplate Elizabeth’s own experience of being voiceless for so long. The irony surely would not have escaped this priest’s notice.
As for Elizabeth, something beautiful happens during her husband’s season of silence—she is given an opportunity to speak, and her voice is true, grace-filled, and a blessing. Elizabeth’s voice arises not just in the promise of new life coming at such an unexpected time but also in the way Zechariah and her community turn towards her to hear what she has to say, perhaps for the first time.
Elizabeth’s name means “My God is the one by whom I swear.”1 Both her demeanor and name do not suggest a life that is barren. Furthermore, she is among the rare characters in scripture who are called “righteous in the eyes of the Lord.”2 Her faith, while seemingly unrewarded, has been unshakeable.
At the birth of her son, Elizabeth, “full of the Holy Spirit,” proclaims the baby’s name to be John. When the community pushes back, she is insistent. This same holy boldness is seen earlier when she—five months pregnant—encounters Mary. At their first greeting, Elizabeth instantly knows what has happened to Mary, what the angel foretold. As soon as Mary speaks, Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaims, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!... As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”3
“Blessed are you” moments are opportunities when you name what you see God gifting and doing in the life of another.
What an extraordinary gift she gives to her young kinswoman. Up to this encounter, Mary has been on a roller coaster ride of strange happenings, hard conversations, and disbelief. How amazing it must have been to receive Elizabeth’s words of affirmation and blessing.
Can you imagine the energy and excitement in the room as these two women share this Spirit-filled moment together? Mary’s response is the great song that begins with the words, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.”4 Together, Mary and Elizabeth affirm the presence and grace of God, and hang out together for three months. That’s a lot of days of calling out the blessings in their lives and the blessings that will be poured out upon the community through their lives. When have the words, “Blessed are you!” or something like them been spoken over you? It is powerful to not only be seen but to have someone outwardly affirm ways in which God is alive in and through you.
We see something of our calling in this story— to be a people who call out blessedness when we see the activity of God in another. Sometimes, when life is being born anew, we need someone outside of ourselves to name it, call it out, and give us renewed strength to live into the life God has for us. “Blessed are you” moments are opportunities when you name what you see God gifting and doing in the life of another. I still remember the first person who came up to me after I taught a Bible study and asked, “Have you ever thought of being a pastor?” This not only blessed me but also called out and named something God was doing in me that I hadn’t fully expressed.
My prayer is that God would use your voice to encourage someone who is ready to sing a new song that will bless you, the community, and beyond.
Dr. Mary Rearick Paul, D.Min, is a minister and vice president of student life and formation at Point Loma Nazarene University.
2 Luke 1:6
3 Luke 1:42-45
4 Luke 1:46-55
