Monday, May 11, 2020

Luke 1:39 - 56

Luke 1:39 - 56
39 In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, 40 and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, 42 and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be[g] a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”

Mary's Song of Praise: The Magnificat

46 And Mary said,
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
47     and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
    For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
    and holy is his name.
50 And his mercy is for those who fear him
    from generation to generation.
51 He has shown strength with his arm;
    he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones
    and exalted those of humble estate;
53 he has filled the hungry with good things,
    and the rich he has sent away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
    in remembrance of his mercy,
55 as he spoke to our fathers,
    to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”
56 And Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home.

6 comments:

  1. Questions:

    1. v41: What does it mean that Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit? Pentecost wouldn't be for more than three years.
    2. v48: The Catholic church calls Mary blessed. Is this what she meant?

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  2. https://globalchristiancenter.com/holy-spirit-studies/the-holy-spirit-in-luke/117-luke-141 says:

    The context suggests that Elizabeth was filled for this particular occasion.

    When Elizabeth was filled with the Spirit, John felt the impact and leaped in her womb. We can safely conclude that John, too, was filled with the Spirit at this time. John, the unborn child, felt the impact of the Spirit and leaped. We, therefore, cannot maintain that spiritual effects can be felt only when the mind is already developed.

    Upon being filled with the Spirit, Elizabeth immediately delivered a message inspired by the Spirit. In this message she called Mary the "mother of our Lord." Luke does not tell us how Elizabeth knew this. This knowledge went far beyond anything the angel Gabriel had told Zacharias six months earlier. Unless Mary told Elizabeth the news during her greeting, the information did not come from Mary. The impression we have from the text is that the Spirit revealed the information to Elizabeth.

    Clearly, Elizabeth's message was inspired by the Spirit. Luke does not specially say it was a prophetic message, but it fits within the scope of prophecy. Later, in Luke 1:67, Luke does specifically say that Zacharias "was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied."

    In the Old Testament, the Spirit and prophecy were frequently connected. Indeed, the Spirit became known as the "Spirit of prophecy." Most of the time, the prophetic messages were messages from God man. However, on occasion the prophetic messages took the form of praise to God. In the gospel of Luke, the Spirit fulfills a similar role. Luke often connects the Spirit with inspired speech and revelation.

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  3. http://www.jesuswalk.com/lessons/1_39-56.htm says:

    We don't know the name of the town where Elizabeth and Zechariah lived. Guesses at the identity of the town include Jutta, about five miles south of Hebron in Edomite territory, and Ain Karim, five miles from Jerusalem, considered the traditional site since the sixth century.[2] The journey was about 80 to 100 miles and would probably take Mary three to four days.

    Elizabeth, now six months pregnant, comes to the door and sees her niece. She hasn't expected her, but now Mary greets her. The Greek word is aspazomai, "greet." For the Jews greeting is an important ceremony.

    Elizabeth's response is anything but quiet and reserved. Our passage mentions her loudness.

    When Luke uses the phrase, "was filled with the Holy Spirit," it is usually of prophets or others who are about to speak out in prophesy under the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:67; 4:1; Acts 2:4; 4:8; 6:3; 7:55).

    The first sentence that Elizabeth utters is familiar to many, since it is also found in the second clause of the Roman Catholic "Hail Mary" or "Ave Maria" prayer: "Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus...."[4]

    Now, Mary, too, breaks out in Spirit-inspired speech. Her first words are an utterance of praise to God for his awesome blessings to her, and sound very similar to the inspired Psalms of the Old Testament.

    While the words "soul" (pseuche) and "spirit" (pneuma) are used, we should look at this as an example of Hebrew poetic parallelism, rather than denoting separate elements of Mary's psycho-spiritual makeup.

    Mary's Magnificat is strongly reminiscent of Hannah's song of praise (1 Samuel 2:1-10).

    Upon returning home, Mary would be subject to cruel taunts and slander, here she was safe. Upon returning home, Mary would have to stand on her own spiritual feet, lonely, misunderstood, rejected. Here she was loved and accepted.

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  4. https://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/35105/how-do-protestants-understand-the-blessedness-of-mary-in-luke-148 says:

    For most Protestants this is a matter of semantics. Protestants know full well that Catholics call Mary, the "Blessed Mother." They also know that if you ask a Catholic "Is Mary blessed?" They would surely answer "Yes, indeed she is." But the Catholic should understand that the Protestant, in general, would also answer the same. Mary is blessed. Mary received a blessing beyond compare to any other: She bore to us our Lord and Savior. The Son of God calls her Mother!

    Protestants, however, do not venerate Mary as the Catholics do. In fact, Protestants mostly have a great disdain for veneration of any saint, thinking it akin to idolatry. As an effect, most are wary to assign such titles to any saint, living or dead. They typically stop at Pastor and other lesser priest-like titles, and naturally those are for persons actually holding the office. So what we have is that Catholics literally call her "Blessed" and Protestants call her blessed when describing the nature of her relationship with Christ.

    Cynics, who may or may not be Protestant or even Christian, may also note that this might be a case of a self-fulfilled prophecy. Mary said people would call her blessed. People agreed, namely the Church, and started calling her blessed, literally.

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  5. https://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/35105/how-do-protestants-understand-the-blessedness-of-mary-in-luke-148 continued:

    I'll supplement fredsbend's accurate answer with Protestant commentators on this verse. They agree that Mary was blessed, both in that she was selected by God to be the mother of Jesus, and in the spiritual blessings she, as his follower, received. Thus Mary's character ought to be remembered and emulated, but only because it is an outworking of God's grace in her life, not because she in herself is worthy of praise.

    Protestants argue that Mary's "low estate" refers not to her own humility, as Origen and others have it, but to the lowliness of her condition.

    This is important because it guides how Mary is considered "blessed." Rather than seeing God selecting Mary as a reward for her humility, Protestants like John MacArthur argue that Mary understood that she owed everything to God.

    Thus, Mary's blessedness is seen as one of many manifestations of the blessings of God. John Wesley sees Mary's rejoicing as primarily a response not to being the mother of Jesus, but to her hope of salvation in him, which she shares in common with all believers. Albert Barnes argues that "it is right to consider her as highly favored or happy," on account of her being the mother of Jesus, but compares her blessing to that received by others – Abraham as the father of God's chosen people, Paul as the apostle to the Gentiles – and concludes that, like them, she ought not be worshiped or prayed to.

    As Calvin writes, venerating a person, rather than God's work in that person, misdirects praise that is due to God.

    Of course, Protestants praise her example – John MacArthur calls her a "model believer" and a "true worshiper," while Calvin calls her "holy" and "our teacher." For this evidence of God's work in her, and for the honor of being selected as the mother of Jesus, is she blessed.

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  6. Summary of questions and answers:

    1. v41: What does it mean that Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit? Pentecost wouldn't be for more than three years.

    In Old Testament times, the Holy Spirit would come down on people for a short period of time and they would be overcome and prophesy. Pentecost ushered in a new period where the Holy Spirit would come to indwell His followers permanently. Elizabeth (and Mary for that matter) experienced the Old Testament version of the Holy Spirit coming down. There's a lot more to say about how the Holy Spirit works and when, but it won't be discussed here.

    2. v48: The Catholic church calls Mary blessed. Is this what she meant?

    Mary said that all generations would call her blessed, and indeed, she was right. I doubt that she knew how the Catholic Church would venerate her. What veneration is and the merits/detriments of it won't be discussed here.

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