The Bible Study Podcast, episode 104.

Today, the Bible Study podcast continues to look at the book of Luke and continues on with Luke chapter one.

Welcome to the Bible Study podcast.

I'm your host, Chris Christensen.

Remember last week in the show,

we dealt with the age of old Gabriel who came to two different mothers, to Elizabeth, and to Mary,

to foretell the birth of two different children, John the Baptist, and Jesus. And so we continue on in

Luke chapter 1, verse 39. Mary visits Elizabeth. At that time, Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of

Judea, where she entered Zacharias home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's

greeting, the baby leapt 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 leapt for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her

will be accomplished.

Now, Mary, who was a young woman, probably as young as 14, 16 years old, she becomes pregnant with Jesus, as Gabriel had announced to her, and she goes off to visit Elizabeth.

And one possibility is that she went to Elizabeth just so that while she was starting to

show she could be out away from the gossips, because tongues might indeed wag as people

brought out their calendars and tried to figure out just exactly when Mary had become pregnant. And as

she comes into Elizabeth's home, we get this unexpected scene here where she's expecting a greeting,

but not like this. And so it's Elizabeth who first recognizes Jesus before he is even born and

is filled with the Holy Spirit to bring this blessing to Mary. Blessed are you among women and blessed

is the child you will bear. And so Mary

...