Today we have the first of a two-part sermon on the hidden women in the Bible:

Women who are hiding in plain sight, right behind the main character of the story.

Today we focus on Elizabeth.

I find it interesting that we hear about Elizabeth only one single time 

in the three-year Lectionary, or reading cycle. 

One Sunday out of 156.

And even then, we don’t get Elizabeth’s full story, but she appears only as a side character to Mary.

Today we’ll take time for the hidden woman behind Mary…

her relative Elizabeth, the first New Testament prophet.

Who are the hidden women in the Bible?Women are there, 

But we tend to forget them, because they are largely omitted or sidelined in the normal Sunday reading cycle.

Our current lectionary, which was devised largely by men,

Doesn’t have much time for Bible stories about women at all.

Which is too bad, because in most churches,

More than 50% of those in the pews are women,

And there are actually more stories about women in the Bible than most people think.

It’s important to hear her story

not just his-story.

—

Our Gospel this morning, and this whole church year, is from Luke.

Some people characterize Luke as the “women’s gospel”, 

because women play a more prominent role in it than in any other.

However,

Luke is far from being a feminist work.

It is actually quite reactionary to women’s leadership in the early church.

You could say that Luke want to bring back the patriarchy.

While Luke highlights women, he portrays them in a subordinate role, 

and reinforces typical gender norms.

Women for Luke should be ideally prayerful, quiet, graceful or full of grace,

And should be supportive of male leadership, 

forgoing any prophetic ministry,

That is, while women can be faithful followers, 

or be supporters from the sidelines,

Their main task is to listen and not to speak.

Which makes the first chapter of Luke a bit out of the ordinary,

As it is the only time in the book where women give speeches 

Without being afterwards corrected.

We have two major speeches by women in Chapter 1

And then for the rest of the Gospel.. we have nothing!

—-

Which brings us to Elizabeth, the first prophet of the New Testament.

She was a descendant of Aaron 

(which was the lineage of legitimate priests in Israel). 

She was close to the temple as her husband Zechariah was a priest, and she had good knowledge of Scripture.

She was a relative of Mary, it doesn’t say what relation they were, 

although some sources say they were cousins or sisters.

She is regarded as a Saint in the Lutheran tradition 

(celebrated by the Missouri Synod on September 5), 

and in the ELCIC with the 

“Visit of Mary to Elizabeth” commemorated on May 31.

—

In the beginning of Luke Chapter 1, there is the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth.

an older infertile couple.

Now for a woman to be barren (no matter which partner was infertile),

Was at the time a disgrace to the woman as it lowered 

her social standing and security,

Because the bearing of children was considered 

to be the woman’s main function in life.

Barrenness was usually seen as the woman’s fault, 

either as punishment for sins, or else God’s “forgetting” her, 

but Elizabeth and Zechariah are both described as righteous, 

so the reason is unspecified.

Zechariah receives a message from angel Gabriel 

in the temple Sanctuary and is terrified.

The angel tells him to rejoice 

as his prayer will be answered.

V25 

Soon later the couple conceives and then after 5 months of pregnancy Elizabeth utters her first recorded words, 

an exclamation of praise: 

“this is what the Lord has done for me in this time, 

when he looked favourably on me and took away the disgrace 

I have endured among my people”!

—

A while later, as we heard this morning,

Mary goes to visit Elizabeth: and we witness “a rare spiritual encounter between 2 women in the Bible.”

(1:39)

Mary traveled from Nazareth in Galilee, south to the Judean hill country 

to an unnamed town near Jerusalem, to Elizabeth’s house.

When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, her child, John, 

leaped in her womb,

A figurative expression of joy, 

of mutual joy of the two pregnant women.

And then we hear that

Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit!

This is the first instance in the New Testament that we hear of this type of occurrence.

The next person to be filled by the Holy Spirit (except for Zechariah)

will be Jesus at his baptism, 

and then of course the real outpouring of the Spirit happens at Pentecost, after Jesus’ ascension.

So this is really something spectacular.

Being filled with the Holy Spirit is a sign 

that the person is given courage to say things 

that were earlier not possible,

They can prophesy, 

they can speak on divine things.

V40

Elizabeth exclaimed:

Blessed are you among women

Blessed is the fruit of your womb,

And why has the mother of my Lord come to me?

…

V45

Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment 

of what was spoken to her by the Lord!

It “does not appear that Elizabeth had been told anything [prior to this encounter] of her relative Mary”

 being designated as the mother of the Messiah,”

Thus her knowledge came by divine revelation.

The Spirit came upon her and she thus knew 

who Mary’s child would become.

This encouragement for Mary, 

serving as confirmation of what Gabriel had told her,

is important for the following reason:

(Matthew Henry)

It is the only claim about Christ by a woman in Luke.

It is also the first time that any human makes a claim that Jesus is Lord.

Divinely inspired, filled with the Holy Spirit, 

Elizabeth sees into the future and prophesies.

Blessed are you among women

Some scholars point out that as Elizabeth was married to a priest, 

and likely was quite knowledgeable about Scripture, 

She would have known about two other instances in the Bible where a woman is praised 

as being blessed.

The famed prophet and judge Deborah, 

who was the leader of Israel for over 40 years prior to the time of the Kings, sung a song, which includes the phrase:

(Judges 5:24) 

“Most blessed of women be Jael

…of tent-dwelling women most blessed.”

You might know that Jael was the woman who killed

 the Canaanite commander Sisera, 

while he was asleep in her tent, 

by hammering a tent peg through his temples.

The other example comes from the apocryphal book of Judith, 

where Uzziah praises Judith to congratulate her for chopping 

off the head of the Assyrian General Holofernes with the words:

“You are blessed by the Most High God above all other women on earth.” 

(Judith 13:18)

So it would have been known to Elizabeth 

that there was Scriptural praise of two women 

who changed the course of war through their own brave and violent acts.

And so with Elizabeth praising Mary in like manner,

It serves as a reminders of the violence to which Mary is at risk now,

Esp. upon her son, who would hold the title “Lord”.

It functions like a blessing of protection: 

Mary would have to suffer seeing the crucifixion of her son, 

and she would have to suffer as if a sword would pierce her own soul. (Luke 2:35)

And so Elizabeth’s words to Mary conclude, 

and after that, 

there is no other mention of Elizabeth in the Bible,

except some ancient sources which attribute Mary’s song, 

the Magnificat, to Elizabeth.

But Elizabeth’s words of prophecy have resonated throughout history 

and are perhaps best known for being the cornerstone of the

Ave Maria

Perhaps the most popular and famous Roman Catholic prayer.

It goes like this:

Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee,

Blessed are you among women and blessed 

is the fruit of your womb (Jesus).

Interestingly, Martin Luther believed this first part should be used a sign of reverence and devotion to Mary!

—-

So the big questions is of course: 

how do we bring this information about Elizabeth home to our lives today?

Perhaps the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, 

that foundation of Lutheranism, can give us a clue. 

It states that the remembrance of the saints has three parts: 

thanksgiving to God, 

the strengthening of our faith, 

and the imitation of the saints' holy living (Wikipedia).

—

First of all, we are invited to give thanks to God for Elizabeth. 

We can thank God for her encouragement of Mary in her hour of need,

We can celebrate her as being the first prophet of the New Testament,

And we can be grateful to God for reminding us of the brave witness of a woman in a patriarchal society.

Second, the stories of Elizabeth can give us strength.

We can remember that when hope seems lost, 

and the politics of the day seem bleak and depressing, that with the birth of the Saviour, hope is rekindled, 

and God’s deliverance and redemption is just around the corner.

Despite the fears we may have,

Despite the setbacks of infertility, ill health, loss and pain, 

God speaks to us in unexpected times and places,

And comforts us in our life’s journey.

And finally, we are encouraged to imitate the saints’ holy living.

We are called to be inspired by the women of the Bible,

To be moved by Elizabeth’s trust and faith, 

who believed what was spoken to her by the Lord.

It can encourage us to also take time to listen and meditate 

on what God may be telling us today.

May the faith and trust of Elizabeth and Mary encourage you this week as we conclude our Season of Advent, waiting and watching for the Lord. Amen.

*Hymn of the Day (see page 5) “Unexpected and Mysterious”

——

Sources:

Wilda Gafney: Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church C (Advent 1-3)

Wikipedia: Elizabeth

Women’s Bible Commentary (Luke: Schabers and Ringe)

Westminister Study Bible (Women in Luke-Acts: Clancy)