The Miracle Worker

And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God. Luke 1:36-37

The story of Mary’s conception is an amazing one! A virgin birth, a steadfast earthly husband and father-to-be, and babies in utero leap in each other’s presence. It is fantastical all on its own. In Luke’s gospel there is a special point made that Elizabeth, who was so old and therefore must have been barren or certainly past menopause but was six months pregnant with John (who became John the Baptist). To the modern ear, this detail might be interesting, but for the original hearers, they would have remembered another birth story of an elderly couple being blessed with late-in-life pregnancy. They would have remembered God’s faithfulness and miraculous conception of Sarah and Abraham. God’s covenant was to bless his family and to make of them a great nation. God is a promise-keeper and miracle-worker. 

There is a temptation to think of Mary’s part in this story as isolated and so specific to her that we do not expect something like that to happen for us today. Elizabeth, though, was the source of inspiration for Mary. “For nothing will be impossible for God.” Babies being born, lives transformed, opportunities made available all may seem out of our reach, but nothing will be impossible for God. 

In Christ,
Pastor Elyse