013 Historical Context of the Nativity: Part 1

Could the humble settings of a temple and a small village in Roman times redefine our understanding of divine intervention? Explore the nativity story through a historical and cultural lens as we unravel the rich tapestry woven by the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. This episode promises to offer a fresh perspective on the well-known biblical narratives, starting with the temple's importance in Jewish thought and the critical moment of Zechariah's encounter with an angel. With the temple as a backdrop, we set the stage for a journey through the lives of Elizabeth and Mary, whose experiences challenge societal norms and highlight divine favor.

Join us as we delve into the lives of two remarkable women at the heart of the Nativity story, Elizabeth and Mary, who each experience profound moments of divine intervention. Elizabeth transitions from the shame of infertility to the joy of becoming a mother, while Mary receives a life-altering message that sets her on a path of historical significance. By comparing these narratives, we highlight themes of societal expectations, divine favor, and the elevation of marginalized voices. The contrasting receptions of Gabriel's messages to Zechariah and Mary reveal cultural nuances, while Joseph's significant role further enriches the story.

As we continue, discover the theological depth and messianic hope expressed through Joseph's decisions and Mary's visit to Elizabeth. Joseph, reimagined as a stonemason, navigates social challenges to embrace his role in this divine narrative, while Elizabeth's recognition of Jesus' divine identity underscores the transformative nature of his mission. Reflect on God's choice to dwell among His people—not in distant temples but intimately within their lives. This episode sets the stage for our next installment, where we'll explore the circumstances surrounding Jesus' birth, questioning the traditional narrative and offering insights into the nature of His earthly arrival.

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Chapters

• 0:00 The Nativity Story in Historical Context
• 10:17 The Annunciation of Mary
• 18:40 Gabriel's Visits
• 25:06 Joseph's Role and Mary's Visit
• 33:43 Jesus' Birth and God With Us

Transcript

Jessica LM Jenkins: 0:20

Welcome back. We are starting a mini-series looking at the Nativity passages through a historical, accurate lens. I'm going to be doing a high-fly overview of the passages in Matthew and Luke in chronological order. So this isn't exegetical, we're not going verse by verse, but I'm going to be looking at them kind of in the order they would have happened in the timeline, not necessarily their order in the physical Bible. We're going to be doing a high flyover overview, looking at the historical context elements of these passages so that later when you read through it verse by verse, you'll have that historical background information to see the text with new eyes. This will hopefully be a two-part series. Today we are going to start by considering Zechariah in the temple.

Jessica LM Jenkins: 1:13

The nativity passages start chronologically in the temple of God and this is significant because in the viewpoint of the Jewish people in the Roman times they thought about space and their relationship with God in purity contexts and concentric circles. Today we teach our children things like Jesus lives in your heart, which may or may not be theologically accurate and that's a side conversation. But we talk constantly about how God is always with us. He's in our hearts, the Holy Spirit indwells New Testament believers, but for the people who actually lived the events of the New Testament. They didn't have that mindset. That mindset comes with the new covenant that Jesus and the Holy Spirit bring at the Last Supper and then at Pentecost. So when you have the beginning of the Gospels, they are still functioning in this purity space mindset that centers on the temple. Now, what do I mean by that? The Jewish people considered purity and space, your nearness to God, as dependent on where you physically were in the world. So the temple is the central place where God is, where God dwells. If you want to be near God, you need to be near the temple. The Holy of Holies is the absolute holiest, most centric place. The only person who could ever go into the Holy of Holies was the high priest, and that was only once a year. So you have the Holy of Holies, then you have the temple proper. Outside the temple you have the court of the priests. Only priests were allowed into that court. Then you have the court of the men, where the men, the pure, clean men of Israel, could enter to pray. And then you have the court of the women and then you have the court of the Gentiles. So even in the temple you have these concentric circles keeping people of various level of status and purity away from God, and this was a design, not necessarily by God.

Jessica LM Jenkins: 3:12

This is Herod's temple. Herod the Great redid the temple that was built after the exile. So Solomon built a temple that was very quickly, after his death, ransacked and most of the things, the gold taken. Then one of the Judean kings rebuilt some of the stuff in the temple, made that out of bronze and then when the exile happens, babylon comes in completely, ransacks the temple and destroys it. Later you have Nehemiah and Ezra and the people coming back from Babylon and where they had been exiled and they rebuild the temple. Then Herod the Great takes that temple and he just expands the entire temple complex, making it absolutely huge. And that's when you start to get the courts of the Gentiles, the courts of the women, the courts of the men.

Jessica LM Jenkins: 4:05

These are post-exilic additions to the temple complex added by the Sadducees and the Pharisees and the rabbis to try to keep purity bounds, because they're afraid of being exiled again and they want to stay within God's favor. So they are creating literal lines of access where some people could not have the same access to God that other people could have. The priests could have the most access to God. The men could have more access than women and Gentiles. The pure, clean Jewish women could have more access to God than a pure, clean, gentile worshiper of God could have. So these consecutive circles of the temple. So you have these consecutive circles of the temple limiting who has access to God.

Jessica LM Jenkins: 4:49

And so the nativity stories start in the temple, which, for the average Jewish person, if God's going to come, that's kind of where you expect it to happen. And so you have Zachariah, who is an old man, he's a priest, he is in the temple to offer incense. So he's not in the Holy of Holies Hardly anybody could ever go in there. But he's as absolutely close to where God is as he can get. He's drawn by lot. This isn't something he's expecting to do. It just happens. That just happens God's providence that it falls on him to do this. So he's in the temple as close as he can possibly get to God. He is praying for Israel, he is offering incense. This is like a once in a lifetime opportunity that not everybody gets. And he is. He's doing all of this in the temple and an angel appears to him. Of course, he is terrified. Angels are generally terrifying beings, and the angel tells him that. The angel says in Luke 1, 13,.

Jessica LM Jenkins: 5:47

I am reading the NIV. Any scripture passage I read will be from the NIV. The angel says do not be afraid, zachariah. Your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son and you are to call him John. He will be a joy and a delight to you. Many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit before he is born. He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord, their God. He will go on before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

Jessica LM Jenkins: 6:29

So the angel comes and says hey, zachariah, it's happening. The Messiah everybody's been waiting for and praying for it's happening. I'm going to give you a baby and he's going to be the forerunner. This is amazing. And Zachariah goes uh, I don't think so. How can I be sure of this? I'm an old man and my wife is well along in years, like she's post-menopausal, like dude, this ain't happening. The angel says to him I am Gabriel, reality check here. Hello Gabriel, I stand in the presence of God. You think you're close to God right now in the temple. I'm going to one-up you on that. I stand before the presence of God in the heavenly places and I have been sent by God to give this message to you and tell you this good news. So you're going to be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.

Jessica LM Jenkins: 7:19

So the entire nativity story starts in the temple, the place closest to God in Israel, and the priest, the one who knows the scriptures, the one who's supposed to have this relationship with God, gets a word from a literal angel and says I don't believe it. The man who should have been the one ready to receive the promise of God failed. He didn't believe it. And the angel says you are going to be silent until what God promised comes to be. Zachariah comes out of the temple. He is making signs that people realize he saw a vision. He ends up going home. His wife gets pregnant, in contrast to her husband and we're going to see a lot of this in this story in contrast to her husband, she, immediately when she's pregnant, says the Lord has done this for me verse 25. In these days, he has shown me his favor and taken away my disgrace.

Jessica LM Jenkins: 8:19

Among the people, you have Zachariah, who is worshiping in the temple of God offering incense, who does not believe a literal angel standing in front of him, to the point where God takes his voice and says you're not going to be the one to speak, you're not going to be the one to share this good news. I'm taking that from you, I am silencing you. And God very quickly shifts from. He started where people would expect, with Zachariah in the temple, but he quickly, by his divine providence, shifts to what I think the core of the entire nativity story is. He shifts from God, is excluded from the average person in the temple, with only certain people having access Zachariah. And he gave Zachariah a chance. And then he says I am going to focus, which was his original plan all along to focus on those with disgrace, those who are lowly, those who are weak, and it is their faith that is going to shine forth throughout this story as God works to be near his people.

Jessica LM Jenkins: 9:39

As we look at the nativity story, I want you to internalize deep in your being the nearness of God. We'll get to it in the text in a few minutes. But, matthew, when the angel's talking to Joseph, he says you will call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us. That is the message of the nativity that the incarnation came so that God could be with us, not locked away in a temple somewhere not accessed only by the priest, which the entire priestly class really had trouble believing anything God said about this. And we see that from the very start.

Jessica LM Jenkins: 10:17

God is coming to a woman who carried the shame of infertility for her entire adult life, shunned from social circles. Oh, here comes Elizabeth. Her husband's a priest, but she can't have kids. They must be sinners. The talk behind her back, the shame, the ingracious attitudes, the lack of status in her community. She is a high status woman, being the wife of a priest, when you consider the status, social status ratings in Israel at this time, but she does not have children. And so, though she is high social status by marriage, married to a priest, and she's from a priestly line, she does not have kids and that's a huge weight of shame. And so God says I am emphasizing those who carry shame, those who carry deep heart wounds and have their whole lives. It says they are advanced in years. We don't know how old that could be. Life expectancy back then is not what it is now. She could be 50. She could be 60. She could be 70 or 80. We don't know. We do know she is past the time of women having children. She is old, but when this happens her heart is full of belief and she praises God for taking away her shame.

Jessica LM Jenkins: 11:37

Next, the angel does not go back to the temple. This might be what some would have expected to happen. The angel would go back and maybe talk to a rabbi or a Pharisee or somebody else in the religious elite. But the angel goes now to a young woman named Mary in Nazareth, a town in Galilee, and you may have heard, because I grew up hearing this, that Mary was probably a young girl 12, 13, just after starting menstruation. As I researched this, looking at the Roman world as a whole and then Jewish writings around this time period, it's much more likely that Mary was a late teenager when the angel came to her Women the average age of marrying was late teenager, maybe even early 20s.

Jessica LM Jenkins: 12:29

So we're talking 17 to 19 at the youngest. And this is important because God did not impregnate a young child. It was not a little 13-year-old girl whose body is not ready, physiologically ready. She may be having periods, but that doesn't mean her body is mature enough to carry a baby. And, yes, god could miraculously protect Mary and all of those things.

Jessica LM Jenkins: 12:55

But the precedent stands. God is not making a young child, a 13-year-old girl, get pregnant. He is not advocating for this. He is not sexualizing children. We are dealing with a young woman of marriageable age. Even today, the age of consent is generally 16 to 18, depending on your state and your country. So Mary is definitely at our modern age of consent.

Jessica LM Jenkins: 13:27

If you look at scholarly sources discussing average age of marriage, we don't have specific evidence for Mary individually. The average age of marriage is around 16 to 22 years old, more likely 18, 19, 20 in that range. And this is important. She is mature enough to consent. She's old enough to understand what is going on. A 13-year-old girl is still really young intellectually, physically, emotionally, all of that. And brain science tells us now brains don't fully mature till mid-20s. But back in the ancient world life expectancies are short. People are getting married, especially women, younger, not like preteen, young teenager, but late teens, early 20s, rather than average marriage age of late 20s, early 30s for women now. So Mary is late teen, early 20s when the angel comes to her.

Jessica LM Jenkins: 14:18

This is significant and I do want to emphasize that because it's easy and we see this constantly in purity culture and in our churches for young girls for 10, 12, 13, 14 year old girls to be sexualized from the pulpit in purity culture. And God is not doing that. I need you to see that God is not doing that. He is coming to a physically ready, mature young woman. She's still young, but she is a woman. She is not a child. And he's coming to her and the angel appears to marry in Nazareth. It says she is pledged to be married to a man named Joseph. We don't know exactly what all this included. Later, rabbinic teachings teach that the engagement is as solid as marriage. They're just not cohabitating and acting married physically yet. But it's a very serious thing. It's not just a flippant like you can break off an engagement today. There's a lot more going on. You don't just break off an engagement so it says that she is pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, who is a descendant of David, and the virgin's name was Mary.

Jessica LM Jenkins: 15:29

The angel came to her verse 28, and said greetings to you who are highly favored, the Lord is with you Now. Mary is greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be, which makes a lot of sense because it seems like she's alone, so she may not be in her house. She would rarely have solitude at her house. She's living with family, extended family, so she's probably alone. When he comes to her she could be out in a field. This is a very vulnerable place for a young girl, for a young woman to be Young girl, woman, any woman to be alone out away from family and friends. And so she's looking at this angel, which she doesn't seem to be as afraid, so maybe he's not being as angel-y as he was for Zachariah, maybe just more of a dude. Either way, she's alone with a man who's not a relative, who she does not know, and he says greetings, you are highly favored, the Lord is with you. And she's kind of like, oh boy, what's going on?

Jessica LM Jenkins: 16:24

She's troubled at his words and wonders what kind of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her don't be afraid, mary, you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son and you are to call him Jesus. Which Jesus? The Greek word for Jesus is transliterated from the Hebrew word Joshua, the Hebrew name Joshua. You will name him Joshua, which is the Lord saves. Read that into the text. You will name him. You will call him Jesus. You will call him the Lord saves. He will be great and will be called the son of the most high. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father, david. He will reign over Jacob's descendants forever. His kingdom will never end.

Jessica LM Jenkins: 17:05

Mary looks at him and asks how will this be? She asked the angel, since I am a virgin. Honest question. She's alone with a male presenting figure. How is this going to happen? That's a valid question which is to be in contrasted with Zachariah's question. He asked how can I be sure of this? I'm an old man, my wife is along in years. He's also presenting the issue, but he is presenting it out of disbelief.

Jessica LM Jenkins: 17:33

Mary is presenting obvious fact I am a virgin. Are you about to change that? This is a safety question, she's wondering are you about to attack me? You have mighty words, but how is this working out? Am I in physical danger here? The angel answers her. The Holy Spirit will come upon you. He answers her question. It's an honest question, likely born out of very tangible fear, with very good reasons, and he comforts. He says the Holy Spirit will come upon you. The power of the Most High will overshadow you. I'm not going to touch you. So the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth, your relative, is going to have a child in her old age and she, who is said to be unable to conceive, is in her sixth month. For no word of God will ever fail. Mary replies with faith. I am the Lord's servant, she answered. Let your word be to me fulfilled. She consents. She says yes, I will do the plan. Now that I understand the plan, her question is not a pushback, it's a hold on. Her question is not a pushback, it's a hold on.

Jessica LM Jenkins: 18:41

Male presenting figure, woman alone. I'm a virgin. You're saying I better have a baby. I only know of one way having babies happens. And is that what's going on here? And the angel's like no, full stop, not what's going on here and she's like oh, I trust God, I am his servant, I consent to his plan. She provides consent to what is happening. The angel eases her mind, eases her heart and leaves. So we have two completely contrasting receptions to the angel Gabriel. He comes with messages to Zechariah, who is in as close physically to God as you can possibly get in the temple in Jerusalem as a priest.

Jessica LM Jenkins: 19:28

Then the angel comes to Mary, who is far away. She's in Galilee. You have to go through some Gentile territory or go really far out of your way to get to Galilee from Jerusalem. She's quite a distance away. She's in a little town, kind of a suburb of the big town, tiberias, more than a suburb. It's a distance away, but it's near enough to Tiberias. She's living out there. She's in Galilee.

Jessica LM Jenkins: 19:53

Nobody thinks very highly of Nazareth or Galilee. She's lowly. We don't know what class she is. She's likely peasant class, maybe artisan class. Generally classes you have like the ruling class, you have the retainer class, you have priests. So rulers, retainers, priests, artisans, peasants, day laborers and then the very poor. So that's kind of a rundown of the class system they're dealing with. So she's probably peasant class, maybe artisan, maybe day laborer, somewhere in that lower class. So she lives in Nazareth and God is not trying to be with the elites.

Jessica LM Jenkins: 20:34

He's coming to a young woman, a woman whose voice doesn't mean anything in a court of law she can't testify in a court of law who is unmarried, she has no status. We know nothing of her family background, except that she's a descendant of David. So we have David's covenants coming into play and we know that she is engaged to be married to Joseph. So let's talk about Joseph briefly. Joseph, matthew tells us, is a godly man. Some traditions say he's an older, widowed man who marries Mary. Some believe he was just a young man, typical marriage age. We don't know. Text doesn't tell us. Various church traditions are completely split on how old he is, whether they actually ever consummated their marriage and had children following. I'm going to leave all that alone because it really doesn't pertain to this story in particular. But we know that Joseph is a righteous man.

Jessica LM Jenkins: 21:38

Matthew 1 tells us that he finds out Mary is pregnant and Joseph now has a conundrum the woman he's betrothed to is pregnant. He knows the baby's not his and so he's like okay, that's a lot of shame. Potential Like this is a big cost if I marry her. I'm not sure I'm okay with that inheritance. Blah blah, blah, blah blah. He's thinking I'm just going to divorce her as quietly as I can. So their engagement is it's something that's divorce you. It's not like I'm just going to give the ring back and we're done being engaged. He has to go through legal proceedings to physically divorce her, so he's contemplating how he can do this as quietly as possible to not put any more shame on her than an unmarried woman already would have, having an illegitimate pregnancy.

Jessica LM Jenkins: 22:28

He goes to bed one night and an angel of the Lord appears to him. We don't know that it was Gabriel in this case it could have been, but the text doesn't tell us. The angel appears to him and said Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife. This is Matthew 1.20. Because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you will give him the name Jesus. The Lord saves, because he will save his people from their sins. The text goes on. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord said through the prophet. The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, which they will call him Emmanuel, which means God with us. So you have Joseph he is.

Jessica LM Jenkins: 23:13

Later on we find out that he is a carpenter. And when we hear the word carpenter today we think of somebody who makes like cabinets and tables and chairs, and I don't know that they had a whole lot of cabinets. Wood was fairly scarce in Israel. They joke in Israel that their most prevalent resource is rocks. So it's much more likely Joseph is not the carpenter you see in the paintings where he's like making a chair and a table. He's a stonesmith, he is a construction contractor.

Jessica LM Jenkins: 23:45

It's likely he was of the artisan class, which is a very interesting when you think class dynamics place to be Some of the research I've done, which, if you're interested in any of the research, you can go to wewhothirstcom slash links, wewhothirstcom slash links or the link in my profile on social media and you can get to. I have a document with a full bibliography of all of my sources and written explanations of a lot of this information. I'm verbally telling you on the podcast so you can get your hands on these sources. But some of the things I've read talked about how the artisan class was a class that enabled someone to kind of go between the higher ruling classes and the lower, less powerful classes, so it's kind of this in-between class. And so for that to be where Joseph is is very interesting, because Jesus would then have Joseph's social class which, for everything God had for Jesus to do, being in that middle ground social class Abel, because a construction contractor, is going to have to be dealing with the rulers. They're the ones who are paying for these giant projects to happen. He also is going to be hiring day laborers to do the work, and so he's right in the middle between these classes, which socially gives a lot of room to influence and to communicate with both classes.

Jessica LM Jenkins: 25:07

Joseph is, we're assuming, living in Nazareth, nazareth, as I said, in Nazareth. Nazareth, as I said, is nearby Tiberias. That is where Herod Antipas ends up living. It was being built right around this time, and so he as a stonemason, as a construction contractor, could have been. We don't know for sure, but he could have been working in Tiberias or other large. The Romans had lots of construction projects going on, working on those construction projects. So think of him as a construction contractor traveling to Tiberias to work on these major Roman projects. Don't think of him as having his own little shop in his house where he's making chairs. Think of him as he's going to work on major construction projects and work with a whole lot of people, lots of social impact. So that's who Joseph is, and he decides after hearing from the angel.

Jessica LM Jenkins: 26:03

I'm going to take Mary as my wife, and it says verse 24,. Then when Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as a wife. He is officially marrying her, according to Matthew 1. This is before the baby is born. They are officially married, which indicates he is also claiming the baby her baby as his own. This is not viewed in their culture as an illegitimate child. He is either adopting or saying yeah, it's my kid. If you got your fiancé pregnant before you're officially married, the culture didn't prefer you did that. They prefer you wait till you are actually married and living together. But you're engaged, it's legal Fine. And so he's basically claiming this kid that isn't actually his kid. He knows it's not his kid, but he's adopting. He's claiming. He's saying this is my son, and we see this later on in the gospels. Saying this is my son, and we see this later on in the gospels.

Jessica LM Jenkins: 27:19

If there was any doubt that Jesus was illegitimate. That would have been thrown in his face all the time from his enemies in his ministry. But what did they throw in his face? We know who your father is. Your father is Joseph. He is considered completely Joseph's son, and so Joseph is taking all of the weight of that. He's saying I'm going to claim this baby as my own, even though it's not my baby. I am going to absorb any of the shame and ridicule for her getting pregnant early before our wedding. I am going to take all of that on and this baby.

Jessica LM Jenkins: 27:51

And so Joseph marries her, and we don't know when Joseph and the dream happened versus when Mary visits Elizabeth. I wanted to talk about Joseph before we talk about Mary visiting Elizabeth. They could have been happening at the same time, that he could have married her, and then she went to visit Elizabeth after they were officially married. We don't know exactly, because Matthew 1 talks about Joseph and the angel and then it's Luke 1 that we go back to for Mary visiting Elizabeth. And so somewhere in there, joseph has this dream. He decides to marry. They are officially married, either right after she gets back from Elizabeth this happens or right before she goes to visit Elizabeth. They start cohabitating, living in the same house, husband and wife, and somewhere in there she also Mary goes and visits Elizabeth. So Mary hears from the angel that Elizabeth, her cousin, her relative, is pregnant. So Mary gets ready and hurries to the town in the hill country of Judah.

Jessica LM Jenkins: 28:56

We're back in Luke chapter, verse 39, chapter one. She hurried to a town in the hill country of Judah where she entered Elizabeth's home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leapt in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed blessed are you among women. Blessed is the child you will bear. But why am I so favored that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her. I love everything Elizabeth says here. It is all of so much truth.

Jessica LM Jenkins: 29:34

When the women speak they are dropping theological bombs left and right. There's even a subtle jab in here towards Elizabeth's husband. She says blessed is she who believes that the Lord would fulfill his promises, unlike my husband who can't talk because he didn't believe, and who can't talk because he didn't believe. Blessed are you and blessed is the child you bear. Why am I favored that the mother of my Lord, elizabeth, is calling out the identity of Jesus? It is a woman who is the first to call out the identity, besides the angel, the identity of Jesus.

Jessica LM Jenkins: 30:18

These women took what they heard from the Lord, understood what was going on and proclaimed it to each other. Let that sink in for a moment. Zachariah was given the opportunity and he did not believe. I was given the opportunity and he did not believe. Women are the ones who stood up to say blessed be the name of the Lord. This is what he is doing. I see it, I proclaim it. It is here, it is now.

Jessica LM Jenkins: 30:48

Mary turns and gives the Magnificat. She says my soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior, and she launches into this poem that I'm not going to break down for us, but it deals with themes of the mighty being made low and the poor being exalted, god's faithfulness and upending the power structures of the world, and Mary and Elizabeth may have been thinking of the Messiah coming to overthrow Rome and all of those things. They may not have fully understand what Jesus' kingdom looked like. And we see this later on when Mary and Jesus are having conversations and he's like hold on, you don't get what's happening here. Nobody did. They had a particular picture of how the Messiah would function. But they do see messianic hope.

Jessica LM Jenkins: 31:37

And whereas Jesus wasn't there to topple the Roman government, he was there to upend all systems. He was there to say the first shall be last and the last shall be first. The greatest in the kingdom is the servant. Of all. Those words, those ideas, are reflected in Mary's song. Listen, mary said my soul glorifies the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humblest state of his servant. From now on, all generations will call me blessed, for the mighty one has done great things for me. Holy is his name. His mercy extends to those who fear him from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm. He has scattered those. Again you have these reversals. He has helped his servant, israel, remembering to be faithful to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors.

Jessica LM Jenkins: 32:39

Mary is picking up themes from the old testament. She is understanding how the coming of the messiah is going to flip everything on its head. She doesn't fully get the whole picture nobody did but she sees that God is doing something unique. God is elevating the voices of women and the lowly and those you expect to be the ones heralding are silent. The places where you would expect God to first appear, he's not there. God is not in the temple, the way he is in the womb of a young woman from Podunkville in Galilee. God, as he said to Joseph, is with his people. He is coming to be with them. The lowly, the weak, the vulnerable these are the people that God is coming to be with.

Jessica LM Jenkins: 33:43

Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home. Elizabeth was about six months, five or six months with Mary gets there. Mary could have stayed through the end of the pregnancy, helped with the birth and the newborn. She could have done all that, which would have been great preparation for her to have her baby. And then she goes home to be with Joseph and either get married to him then or they were already married when she went to visit Elizabeth.

Jessica LM Jenkins: 34:04

And that sets the stage for our next episode, where we're going to deal with Luke 2 and Jesus' actual birth.

Jessica LM Jenkins: 34:12

So as you process Luke 1, matthew 1, think through the themes of Jesus is coming to save his people, not from the Romans but from their sins. He is coming to be with them, not dwell in a temple where only certain people have access, but with his people in their very bodies. He's coming in the womb of a woman, in her body, so that later the spirit will come and indwell the church, indwell the people of God. The theme of God being with his people. He is not separated, he is not far away, he is not. The whole idea that God is so holy he has to be away from his people is actually counter to what we see in scripture. God is continually drawing near and he starts by elevating the voices of these women, by giving them powerful words and recognition of what he is doing and by being physically present among them. Come back next time. We're going to talk about Luke 2. Was Jesus born in a barn? Was he born in a house? We're going to talk about it. I will see you then.