God Fulfills His Plan

God fulfills his plan. That is the central message in the Visitation and Mary’s Magnificat. Ever since the fall of Adam and Eve, God, desiring the salvation of mankind, put in place a plan to bring it about. In that plan, he chose to work through humanity.

Gospel - Luke 1:39-56

Mary set out

and traveled to the hill country in haste

to a town of Judah,

where she entered the house of Zechariah

and greeted Elizabeth.

When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting,

the infant leaped in her womb,

and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,

cried out in a loud voice and said,

“Most blessed are you among women,

and blessed is the fruit of your womb.

And how does this happen to me,

that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears,

the infant in my womb leaped for joy.

Blessed are you who believed

that what was spoken to you by the Lord

would be fulfilled.”

And Mary said:

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;

my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.

From this day all generations will call me blessed:

the Almighty has done great things for me,

and holy is his Name.

He has mercy on those who fear him

in every generation.

He has shown the strength of his arm,

he has scattered the proud in their conceit.

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,

and has lifted up the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things,

and the rich he has sent away empty.

He has come to the help of his servant Israel

for he has remembered his promise of mercy,

the promise he made to our fathers,

to Abraham and his children for ever.”

Mary remained with her about three months

and then returned to her home.

Scriptural Analysis

The traditional location for the house of Zechariah and Elizabeth is the village of Ian Karim in the hill country near Jerusalem. It is about five miles from the temple, which would have been important given Zechariah’s priestly duties. However, for Mary, this is about a 90-mile journey from Nazareth, taking several days to complete. There is no mention in the scripture of Joseph accompanying her, and she left in haste, indicating her earnestness in fulfilling the plan of God.

Mary’s greeting of Elizabeth elicits a response just as the greeting of Gabriel did. The infant, John, leaped in his mother’s womb. We are told that Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. The verb used for leap is also used in the Septuagint to describe how Esau and Jacob would struggle in the womb of Rebekah, another once barren woman, “The children struggled together within her.” (Genesis 25:22) Rebekah was told that the older would serve the younger which is also going to happen here with John and Jesus, “The elder shall serve the younger.” (Genesis 25:23)

Filled with the spirit, Elizabeth tells Mary, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” A better translation would use the word most to describe the blessedness of Mary. Elizabeth’s greeting recalls two great heroines of Jewish history, Jael, “Most blessed of women be Jael” (Judges 5:24), and Judith, “O daughter, you are blessed by the Most High God above all women on earth.” (Judith 13:18)

Like her predecessors, Mary has a mission to accomplish through which God will help Israel. The mission involves bearing the fruit of her womb. Elizabeth recognizes that Mary is pregnant and like Mary, the child is also blessed. The Greek verb used here, eulogeō means to invoke a blessing on someone. In other words, Mary and Jesus have been blessed by God.

Elizabeth then asks her famous question, “And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” In Old Testament writings, the title My Lord frequently refers to the Davidic King, “Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the ground, and did obeisance to the king, and said, ‘May my lord King David live for ever!’”(1 Kings 1:31). Filled with the spirit, Elizabeth must recognizes that Mary is carrying the king, the Messiah.

In the Old Testament, the Hebrew name of God was often translated as Lord (kyrios). Thus far, Luke has used that word to reference the Lord God, but now he is using it to describe Jesus. Luke has spoken of Jesus’s divinity; thus, Jesus shared, in the fullest sense, this title with God.

Throughout this section, Luke is trying to show how Mary is the ark of the New Covenant. Note how Luke states that Mary went to Judah, the tribal name of the region, instead of Judea. David too went to the village of Judah to retrieve the Ark, “And David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baale-Judah, to bring up from there the ark .” (2 Samuel 6:2) Elizabeth’s surprise in the visit from Mary also echos that of David when he was about to bring the ark to Jerusalem, “And David was afraid of the Lord that day; and he said, ‘How can the ark of the Lord come to me?’” (2 Samuel 6:9)

John leaped when Jesus arrived, whereas David danced when the ark arrived, “King David leaping and dancing before the Lord.” (2 Samuel 6:16) Finally, Mary stayed with Elizabeth for three months. This is the same amount of time the ark remained in the house of Obed-edom before David brought it up to Jerusalem, “And the ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months.” (2 Sam 6:11). Luke is showing Mary is the true ark of the covenant.

Luke then presents the first of what are called the Lukan canticles: the Magnificat. The name comes from the first word of the canticle in Latin, “Magníficat ánima mea Dóminum.” The canticles opens with Mary exclaiming that she magnifies the Lord for the blessings he has bestowed upon her and it echoes the words of the psalm, “O magnify the Lord with me.” (Psalm 34:3) Mary’s magnificat serves to not only recap and meditate on what has happened to her but also to look forward to what will happen to Israel and the entire world.

Her Magnificat can be broken into two halves. In the first half, Mary provides he reasoning for praising God. In the second half, she will address what God has done for Israel. Mary represents Israel in her praise. For example, Mary tells us that God “has looked with favor on his lowly servant,” Mary, and then later “has lifted up the lowly,” meaning the people of Israel. The word that Mary uses to describe her lowliness is “tapeinösis,” which can translate to "humble state.” Mary states that she is a handmaid, a servant or a slave, “doule”. This connects her to Hannah, who, before the birth of Samuel, prays in a similar way, “O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thy maidservant.” (1 Samuel 1:11) The word translated affliction is tapeinosis, and the word for slave is doule.

Mary prophesies that all ages (generations) will call her blessed. Mary chooses to use titles for God that come from the Old Testament, “savior” or “mighty one.” The reason for Mary’s joy is the great things that God has done for her personally, just as he did for Israel long ago, “he is your God, who has done for you these great and terrible things which your eyes have seen.” (Deuteronomy 10:21) Mary closes out this first section acknowledging that the name of Jesus is Holy

Mary begins the second part of her Magnificat by recalling how God has shown his great might. He is once again doing this in the incarnation: the fulfillment of prophecy. God is delivering his people once again from the bondage of sin. In a world dominated by great rulers, such as Herod and Caesar, God will use the lowly to fulfill His plan. It is not the powerful and wealthy who will be blessed, but the lowly who fear God. This is all being done to honor the promises and the covenant that God made with Israel’s ancestors.

Daily Application

Mary’s visit to Elizabeth is one of those scripture passages that could be misread. One could read it as a sign of doubt. Mary was heading there to see if Elizabeth was truly pregnant because she doubted the message she had received. Such a reading would be incorrect. Mary did not doubt: “May it be done to me according to your word.” Rather, Mary traveled in haste out of joy, driven by a desire to share this experience with Elizabeth, who had also experienced a miraculous event in her life.

While most of us will never be visited by an angel or experience a miraculous event like Mary and Elizabeth did, there is still something to learn from their visitation. What we see here is great joy on the part of Mary and Elizabeth as they witness God’s work through them. God works through us as well. Perhaps it is in more subtle ways, but he uses every one of us. It can be as simple as comforting our child when they are ill or saying a kind word to the clerk at the grocery store. We should relish these moments and take great joy in the fact that God works through us.

The other thing to remember is that God never abandons us. He keeps his promise to us. Now, he keeps that promise on his timetable and in his way, but he is faithful to us to the end. Even if we turn our backs on him, we can always return, and he continues to love us and keep his word. Consider ancient Israel and the bondage they endured in Egypt. God kept his word and freed them, but he did so in the hour he chose and in the manner he selected. Yet, the people continued to hold onto their faith and believe. It may seem like God is not answering our prayers, but we MUST continue to pray. God answers all prayers. The answer comes when and how he wills it.