At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 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 what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!" -Luke 1:39-45
After Mary heard the great news she ran over to her relative, Elizabeth, who also heard similar news. At this time Mary must have been excited and troubled at the same time. Great to hear such a wonderful news of the coming of Christ, yet somewhat worried about what's to come. Who better to seek help from than one who is close to you?
The meeting between Mary and Elizabeth is interesting in that not only do the two women meet, but the babies also meet. They, while still in the womb, recognize the situation. The Holy Spirit is filled in the baby that Mary has and the baby Elizabeth has recognizes it.
Like always, I looked through other pastors' websites and sermons to see if there's anything important about this passage. I found a recurring talk about abortion and how this passage points to the importance of the babies in the womb. Science tells us that at this stage the baby isn't really human. However, I think a lot of people say this passage says otherwise. How else would one baby recognize the other inside the womb?
Now I'm not going to get into a talk about abortion. I don't know whether or not this passage has anything to do with it. In fact I doubt when Luke wrote it, that was the intention. That opinion is for you to draw and for you to determine whether it's right or wrong. One thing I want to say is not to decipher scripture in that way. It irritates me when people interpret scripture or anything that way. That's part of the reason I hate literature in the first place. Everything can imply something.
Let's not forget the importance of this passage. It's not so much about the fact that the babies did anything in the womb. It's more about the fact that Mary did in fact have Jesus in her womb and He was to be Christ. He was the Holy Spirit. And He was to do great things. Luke, I believe, wrote this to show that the baby Mary had was indeed Christ. That's the important thing to take here.
