Commentary - Luke 1:39-45

Bird's-eye view

This passage is a beautiful and potent account of the first meeting between the mother of our Lord and the mother of His forerunner. But it is far more than a heartwarming family reunion. It is a scene saturated with the Holy Spirit, a divine confirmation of the angelic announcements both women had received. Here, in the hill country of Judah, two of the central figures in salvation history come together, and the result is an explosion of prophetic joy. Elizabeth, filled with the Spirit, pronounces the first beatitude of the New Testament upon Mary, not for her impending motherhood in itself, but for her faith. And in a stunning testimony to the humanity of the unborn, the infant John the Baptist leaps in his mother's womb in the presence of his fetal Lord. This is not sentiment; it is theology. The passage establishes Mary's blessedness, Christ's Lordship even in the womb, and the foundational importance of believing the promises of God.

Luke, the careful historian, arranges his narrative to show the fulfillment of Old Testament patterns. The entire scene echoes with the joy of Hannah and the surprising births of covenant history. But this is something greater. The ark of the covenant once came to this same hill country, and David leaped and danced before it. Now, the one who carries the true Ark, the very presence of God, arrives, and the unborn prophet leaps in recognition. This is a story of two faithful women, two miraculous babies, and one sovereign God orchestrating every detail of His glorious plan of redemption.

Outline

Context In Luke

This passage is situated squarely within Luke's exquisitely structured infancy narrative. It follows the two annunciations: first, to Zechariah concerning the birth of John (Luke 1:5-25), and second, to Mary concerning the birth of Jesus (Luke 1:26-38). The angel Gabriel had specifically mentioned Elizabeth's pregnancy to Mary as a sign of God's power, saying "she who was called barren is in her sixth month" (Luke 1:36). Mary's journey, therefore, is a direct response to the angelic word, an act of faith seeking confirmation and fellowship. This meeting serves as the bridge between the two miraculous conceptions, intertwining the stories of John and Jesus from before their births. The event immediately precedes Mary's glorious hymn of praise, the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55), which is Elizabeth's blessing turned up to eleven. The entire section (chapters 1-2) establishes the divine origin and supreme identity of Jesus Christ before His public ministry even begins.

Key Issues

The First Disciples

Long before Jesus called Peter or Andrew by the Sea of Galilee, the first two disciples were in a house in the hill country of Judah. And they were both women. Mary and Elizabeth stand as models of true discipleship. What is a disciple? A disciple is one who hears the word of God and believes it. Both women had received an impossible word from God. Elizabeth was old and barren; Mary was young and a virgin. Both were told they would bear a son who would play a crucial role in God's redemptive plan. And both believed. Their meeting is not just a private, domestic affair. It is the first gathering of the New Covenant church. The Holy Spirit is present, prophecy is uttered, and the Lord is recognized and adored. This is what the church does when it gathers. And at the center of it all is a shared faith in the promises of God, which find their ultimate fulfillment in the person of Jesus Christ, who at this point is just a cluster of cells in His mother's womb.

Verse by Verse Commentary

39-40 Now at this time Mary arose and went in a hurry to the hill country, to a city of Judah, and entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.

Mary's response to the angel's stupendous news is not paralysis, but action. She arose and went in a hurry. This is the haste of faith. Having been given a sign, the pregnancy of her relative Elizabeth, she goes to see it. This is not a journey of doubt seeking proof, but of faith seeking fellowship. The trip from Nazareth in Galilee to the hill country of Judah was arduous, perhaps eighty miles, taking several days. A young, unmarried, and newly pregnant girl making such a journey demonstrates immense courage and determination. She went to the one person in the world who could truly understand what was happening to her, another woman who had experienced a miraculous intervention from God. She enters the house and offers a common greeting, a simple "Shalom," but in this context, it is laden with cosmic significance.

41 And it happened that when Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

The effect of Mary's greeting is immediate and supernatural. Two things happen simultaneously. First, the baby in Elizabeth's womb, the six-month-old John the Baptist, leaped. This is not a normal fetal kick. The Greek word here is used for joyful skipping or leaping, as David did before the ark. Second, Elizabeth herself was filled with the Holy Spirit. The Spirit's filling results in divine insight and prophetic utterance. Notice the order: the unborn baby responds first, and his response is a catalyst for his mother's. This is John's first act as the forerunner, bearing witness to the Christ, and he does it from the womb. This is a flat-out refutation of any view that sees the unborn as anything less than fully human persons, capable of spiritual experience.

42 And she cried out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!

Filled with the Spirit, Elizabeth does not offer a polite return greeting. She cried out with a loud voice. This is prophetic, Spirit-prompted worship. Her first words are a declaration of blessing upon Mary. She is "blessed among women." This does not mean she is to be worshiped, but that she is singularly favored by God, chosen for the highest honor ever bestowed upon a woman. But the blessing on Mary is immediately connected to the blessing of her child. The ultimate source of the blessing is the fruit of your womb. Mary is blessed because of who she carries. This keeps everything in its proper perspective. The honor given to Mary is entirely derivative, pointing always back to Christ.

43 And how has it happened to me, that the mother of my Lord would come to me?

This is a statement of profound, Spirit-given humility and theological insight. How did Elizabeth know what had happened to Mary? The angel had not appeared to her. The Holy Spirit revealed it to her. And notice what she calls the unborn child in Mary's womb: my Lord. This is an astonishing confession of faith. The Greek word is Kurios, the word used in the Greek Old Testament for Yahweh, the covenant name of God. Elizabeth, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, recognizes the divine identity of the embryo Mary is carrying. She understands her own place in the story, feeling utterly unworthy that the mother of her God and King should visit her. This is the proper response of a creature in the presence of the Creator.

44 For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy.

Elizabeth now explains the reason for her outburst. She provides the inspired interpretation of what just happened inside her. The baby's leap was not random; it was a leap for joy. The unborn prophet rejoiced in the presence of his unborn King. This is the beginning of the fulfillment of Gabriel's prophecy that John would be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb (Luke 1:15). He is the friend of the bridegroom, and he rejoices to hear the bridegroom's voice, even when that voice is mediated through the greeting of the bridegroom's mother. The joy of this scene is palpable. Heaven has invaded earth, and the first tremors are felt in the wombs of two faithful women.

45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord.”

Elizabeth concludes with the first beatitude of the New Testament. The blessing is pronounced not upon the one who bears the Christ, but upon the one who believed the promise of God about the Christ. This is central. Mary's blessedness is not primarily biological but spiritual. Her true greatness lies in her faith. She heard the word of the Lord and she said, "Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word" (Luke 1:38). This stands in stark contrast to Zechariah, Elizabeth's own husband, who heard a similar angelic promise and was struck mute for his unbelief. Faith is the channel through which God's blessings flow. Mary is the first Christian, the model believer, because she simply took God at His word.

Application

This passage is a rich feast, and we should leave the table nourished in several ways. First, we must be utterly convicted about the personhood and humanity of the unborn. The Bible treats John and Jesus as persons, acting and reacting, from the moment of conception. Our laws and our attitudes must reflect this reality. To be pro-life is simply to be biblical.

Second, we see the absolute necessity of faith. Mary is blessed because she believed. God makes impossible promises, and our part is not to figure out the logistics but to trust the Promiser. Are there areas of your life where you are behaving more like Zechariah than like Mary, looking at the circumstances and concluding that God's word probably won't come to pass? We are called to believe that there will be a fulfillment of what has been spoken to us by the Lord in His word.

Finally, we should be encouraged by the fellowship of these two women. In a world that often pits women against each other, we see here a beautiful picture of mutual encouragement in the Lord. Mary ran to Elizabeth, and she was met not with jealousy or suspicion, but with a Spirit-filled blessing. We all need an Elizabeth in our lives, someone who can confirm God's work in us and speak prophetically into our situations. And we all need to be an Elizabeth for others, ready to rejoice in the grace of God in someone else's life. True Christian community is a place where the joy of one becomes the joy of all, because at the center of it all is our common joy in "my Lord."