Sermons

Eve, Elizabeth and Mary

December 22, 2024 Speaker: Ray Lorthioir Series: Sermons 2024

Passage: Genesis 2, Luke 1:39–56, Genesis 3:15

Sermon 12-22-24

Pastor Ray Lorthioir

Trinity Lutheran Church

W. Hempstead, NY

Based on the Gospel for the Fourth Sunday in Advent: Luke 1:39-56.

 

Eve, Elizabeth and Mary

One of the feminist beefs about the Bible is that it’s all about men. Therefore, the Bible is male chauvinist and all that stuff. But, today we have a lesson about and for the ladies.

What happens when two pregnant women get together? I really don’t know because I’ve never been a pregnant woman. But, I’ve seen it happen. And what it looks like to me is that they endlessly discuss all the little details of their pregnancies; how they’re preparing at home; husband’s actions and reactions; actions and reactions of other children, if they have any — and on and on.

However, when Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, first got together, none of that happened at first. Instead, the conversation immediately turned other worldly. For, both their pregnancies had occurred under remarkable circumstances. And the children both women were carrying were most extraordinary. So, ladies, we’ll get to all the good stuff. But first, we need to take a look at some bad stuff.

First, we begin with a man. Hey. The Bible is chauvinist and all that. Right? Genesis 2:7-8, “7 then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. 8 And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed.” So, Adam is the first one of our kind. We know from Genesis 1:26-27 that He’s made in the Image of God. The Image is many things. But the chief thing about the Image is that Adam was created as righteous as His Creator.

Humans are spiritual creatures like our Creator. We don’t know much about our spirits. But our spirits are the life force within us. We see this most starkly when death occurs and the person’s spirit departs, leaving the physical body behind.

Scripture tells us that our spirits don’t die when the physical body dies. And now we have evidence of this from General Revelation as well. Tens of thousands of people around the world have been resuscitated from death by modern medicine. During the death crisis many report drifting out of their bodies and having experiences. Some of these experiences can be corroborated with details in this world. So, we know that these people were actually seeing and experiencing what they said they were seeing and experiencing while their bodies were technically dead. Therefore, even scientific publications now grudgingly admit that human life does not end with physical death.

 Genesis 2:15-17, “15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, ‘You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’” By placing a command on Adam concerning a tree, Yahweh initiated several things. First, the command let Adam know a very fundamental thing. He was a creature designed and given existence by a Creator. Without Yahweh, Adam would not have existed. Without Yahweh, we don’t exist. Period. We have a Creator.

Only our Creator has the right to give us commands, especially commands about righteousness. So, second, if Adam wanted to retain the righteousness Yahweh had created him with, he would have to obey the command.

Third, and perhaps most important, the command notified Adam that He was in a relationship with Yahweh, a relationship of Love, a relationship of total commitment. But real relationships of Love are completely voluntary. Anything less than completely voluntary Love is slavery of some kind. Indeed, it’s clear from the sins of child abuse committed by some parents that even the love of parents for children has to be  completely voluntary.

So, eating the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil would permit Adam to walk away from Yahweh. Yahweh loved Adam so much and thought so much of Adam that He gave Adam this right to walk away from the relationship if he wanted to.

However, by imposing death as a result of walking away, Yahweh was also exercising His right to walk away in the relationship. Physical death is ever a reminder that there is a greater death, what Scripture calls the Second Death. The Second Death is reserved for all those who desire to walk away from Yahweh permanently. For in the Second Death Yahweh walks away from them permanently. And, most importantly, Yahweh will take His righteousness with Him. Therefore, all doomed to the second death are left with nothing but chaotic evil. And they become evil, totally devoid of their Creator’s righteousness.

So, Yahweh’s command about the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil created a voluntary Love society. Voluntarily, Yahweh would Love Adam dearly. And voluntarily Adam would dearly Love Yahweh. As a result, there would be nothing but righteousness and glory in Adam’s existence.

Now we read in Genesis 2:18-20, “20 Then the LORD God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.’ 19 Now out of the ground the LORD God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him.”

I used to be an avid devotee of comic strips until we got tired of supporting liberal newspapers. It’s been years now, so I can’t remember which cartoonist would occasionally use a setting of Adam and a dog buddy drinking beer and having a good old time in their man cave set in the Garden of Eden. Everything was good, just Adam and the animals, until Eve came into the picture.

Genesis 2:21-23, 21 So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said, ‘This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.’”

Now, here comes the really scary part: Genesis 2:24-25, “25 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.” In reality it would not be scary if it weren’t for sin. Instead, it would be most holy and blessed because Yahweh’s Love is involved. Indeed, the Holy Spirit often gave the Prophets and the Apostles in their writings a figure of Yahweh as a husband and His people as His bride. Marriage and the family were meant to be divine covenants of commitment and Love bestowed upon humanity by our loving Creator. But sin has deeply marred it.

Poor Eve. She’s the one who screwed things up. First, she fell for the Serpent’s temptation. Second, she convinced Adam to eat of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. But, let’s be fair. It was really Adam who screwed things up. He probably would have been able to save Eve from her error if he hadn’t eaten. He was that powerful a figure.

But they fell into sin. And when confronted by Yahweh about it, an important scenario took place. When Yahweh asked Adam what he had done, Adam replied that Eve had given him forbidden fruit and he had eaten it. When Yahweh asked Eve what she had done, she replied that the Serpent had deceived her and she had eaten. 

In His wrath and judgment about this, Yahweh first addressed the Serpent. He did so in Adam and Eve’s hearing. Thus, we read in Genesis 3:14-15, “14 The LORD God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. 15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring [singular] and her offspring [singular]; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.’”

What’s interesting about verse 14 is that Old World snakes have little legs on their bodies about the size of frog legs. Did they once walk on two legs? If Genesis is to be believed, yes.

But the important part for the human race is verse 15. This verse has long been understood as the first mention in the Bible of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And it occurs in Yahweh’s curse against the Serpent.

A man born of a woman will crush the head of the serpent. The serpent will bite that man’s heel. Of the two wounds, which is the more deadly? Having the head crushed will finish off any creature. Deadly poison from a bite isn’t exactly survivable. But, if someone is resurrected from the dead, it is.

So there we have the setup for Messiah. The Messiah will definitely be a male — a single male taking Adam’s place. However, unlike Adam who was created whole by Yahweh, Messiah will be born of a woman. He will have a belly button. And this is where Eve’s replacement comes in.

In Scripture, Eve is called the mother of all living. On the other hand, Messiah’s mother will be the mother of one — the Messiah. This doesn’t mean that Messiah won’t have a family. He will have many brothers and sisters because He will save many from their sins. So, in a way, Mary is the mother of all who will live in eternal righteousness through Messiah Jesus.

Now, when Eve gave birth to her first son, Cain, the name she gave him strongly hints that Eve thought Cain was the promised Messiah of Genesis 3:15. However, we read in Genesis chapter 4 that Cain became the first murderer instead. What we learn from that episode is that all born of women in the normal way inherit Original Sin. All born of women in the normal way are therefore susceptible to all the temptations that come to human beings. All born of women in the normal way will not be able to crush the head of the serpent and deliver us from original sin.

In this regard, last week, we saw Jesus say something interesting about John the Baptist. Luke 7:28, “‘I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.’” What Jesus meant is that everyone He gives the New Birth to will be greater than John the Baptist. And John Himself confirmed this when he said to the crowds in Luke 3:16, “. . . ‘I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.’” John’s baptism was important. But it could not compare to baptism in Jesus Christ which gives eternal righteous life with Yahweh. John’s baptism was the best that could come from those born of women in the normal way.

All this is pointing to the fact that the Messiah could not be born of a woman in the normal way. He would have to be born special. As it says in Isaiah 7:14, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” And as Mary said to the angel Gabriel in Luke 1:34-35, “. . . ‘How will this be, since I am a virgin?’ 35 And the angel answered her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.’”

Only if Jesus was born without Original Sin would He have the chance to freely undo what Adam did. Only then would He have the chance to refuse Satan’s deceptions. Only then would He have the chance to succeed. So a virgin birth was the method Yahweh used to bring to birth the only man ever born of woman without Original Sin. Most remarkable, and very much out of this world.

We read in Deuteronomy 22:23-24, “23 If there is a betrothed virgin, and a man meets her in the city and lies with her, 24 then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones, the young woman because she did not cry for help though she was in the city, and the man because he violated his neighbor’s wife. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.” This is the kind of trouble Mary of Nazareth could have gotten into by consenting to bear Jesus. Who had ever heard of a virgin conceiving a child? Therefore, in the sight of her fellow villagers Mary would have deserved death because of her pregnancy. This didn’t happen because Yahweh had chosen the right woman and the right husband of that woman. Obeying the angel he had seen in a dream, Joseph of Nazareth took Mary as his wife. Do you think Yahweh would have left such details unattended to in the plan to birth Yahweh, the Son, on earth?

Now, Mary’s cousin Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, also had some remarkable details associated with her own pregnancy. We read in Luke 1:5-24 that Elizabeth and her husband Zechariah, the priest, were childless and advanced in years. But while Zechariah was on duty in the Jerusalem temple, the angel Gabriel appeared to him. The angel told Zechariah that he and Elizabeth would bear a very special son who would be “great before the Lord.” Even though this great news came from an angel, Zechariah was stuck on the fact that he and his wife had failed to conceive a child and apparently Elizabeth was beyond menopause. How the angel handled this is most enlightening. We read in Luke 1:19-20, “19 And the angel answered him [Zechariah], ‘I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. 20 And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.’” Gabriel stands in the presence of our Creator God. A message from such a messenger is absolutely trustworthy.

And so, Zechariah was mute until the day John was circumcised and Zechariah named him John as Yahweh had commanded through Gabriel. Only then could Zechariah speak again. He did so in the presence of all his neighbors. To their amazement, Zechariah praised God out loud. So, we read in Luke 1:65-66, “65 And fear came on all their neighbors. And all these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea, 66 and all who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, ‘What then will this child be?’ For the hand of the Lord was with him.”

But in the meantime Elizabeth was six months into her pregnancy when Mary, newly pregnant, came to visit. Do you think they had a lot to talk about? Gabriel had spoken to both Mary and Zechariah. Zechariah was still mute. And what would Joseph say about Mary’s pregnancy? There was a lot to talk about.

But at the moment Elizabeth and Mary first met something else happened. The six month baby in Elizabeth’s womb didn’t just kick. He leaped. That must have been an astounding feeling. And the Holy Spirit filled Elizabeth at that moment. Without Mary saying a thing, Elizabeth knew Mary was pregnant. And not just pregnant. Therefore, the Holy Spirit inspired words that came out of Elizabeth’s mouth are for the ages. Luke 1:42-45, “42. . . ‘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 a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.’”

Christians have been talking about these words for centuries. Mary is indeed the most blessed woman who has ever lived. She was privileged to give birth to Messiah — the one who crushed the head of the Serpent. She was the one Yahweh chose to undo what Eve, the mother of all living, had done. For, did you see a most important word in what Elizabeth said? Mary did what Eve failed to do. She believed everything spoken to her from the Lord by the angel Gabriel. Eve decided to believe the Serpent instead of Yahweh. But, Mary believed Yahweh alone, in spite of all the difficulties it would cause her.

And finally, Elizabeth called Mary the mother — the mother — of her Lord — her God. As a devout, believing Jewish woman, Elizabeth knew what she was saying was beyond comprehension. Yahweh is uncreated. Therefore, to speak of a mother of Yahweh is complete nonsense. And yet, somehow, some way, here was Yahweh incarnate in the womb of her cousin, Mary. This is the great mystery of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ. And for centuries Christians have dared to call Mary by the Greek title, “Theotokos” which means Mother of God. How can this be? Only Yahweh Himself knows the full details.

But Yahweh, the Son, condescended to be incarnated in mortal human flesh and born of a virgin woman. No wonder no one can fully believe this good news without Lord Holy Spirit coming upon them.

For centuries Christians have struggled to comprehend the mystery of Yahweh come to us in human flesh. Many ideas have been put forward. And many of those ideas have been condemned as heretical and contrary to the full picture of Messiah that Scripture gives. For this reason, clinging to the one holy catholic and apostolic faith expressed in the Apostles, Nicene and Athanasian Creeds is most important. It’s only by trusting in this proper teaching that anyone can be saved for eternal righteous life with Yahweh. Interestingly, in their initial meeting Mary and Elizabeth got the chance to discuss all this theology long before anyone else. 

Both women played an integral role in the salvation of all peoples of all times and places. They gave birth to men who in time drastically changed the course of the world — especially Mary’s baby. Therefore, we’re most thankful this day that Mary was able to share her memories with Luke so that we have the most important part of the talk these two pregnant women had with each other that day. Glory to God. Amen.

All Bible quotes are from the ESV. 

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