Behold the Wonder

by Jennifer Wing on December 16

“And how has it happened to me that the mother of my Lord would come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord” Luke 1:43-45.

When my son was a toddler, my chronic illness symptoms intensified. Use anything scented in your laundry? Have a candle in your house? Even these seemingly normal smells would cause my brain to cloud over, I’d lose words, and my throat would swell. Understandably, there were few people I could be around, intensifying my sense of loneliness.

Few people understood. Other moms joked about wishing they were allergic to smells to skip dirty diaper duty. My soul would crack at the joke, and the pain of being misunderstood wrapped me like a blanket. (For the record, I could handle poop smells any day, but that hand lotion would wreck my body for hours.)

I met a friend with a child about my son's age who was also sensitive to fragrances. We both had only one child and wished our stories included more. We could sympathize when the smell of someone’s spray-on sunscreen swept over us, tightening our lungs. The shared experience of our weird, deeply misunderstood world bonded us while so much else about our lives was different. 

I wonder if Mary and Elizabeth experienced something similar in their relationship.

Two women, likely 50 years apart in age and at vastly different points in their lives, experiencing something very similar: pregnant in a way that made no sense, miraculous from the Lord. Both found themselves pregnant for the first time; both had a godly man struggling to believe.

Mary was the only person, other than Zachariah, who was told Elizabeth was also pregnant by divine intervention. Likewise, Elizabeth was the only person who recognized Mary carrying the promised Messiah in her womb.

At the same time, these two women were so different. Elizabeth was past menopause and had experienced the societal shame of being barren. Mary was in her early teens, betrothed to her soon-to-be husband. But both embraced the promise and work of God with faith.

Imagine your baby leaps for joy in your womb so hard that you take notice! What kind of jump was that? Elizabeth responds in a loud voice, filled with the Holy Spirit, “For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy” (Luke 1:44). 

Behold, is "a term that conveys the idea of seeing with understanding, often used in contexts of prophetic or divine insight." [1] The baby, John the Baptist, "saw" Jesus in the womb and leapt with joy. Elizabeth and her unborn baby saw Mary and “saw” Jesus and understood. Mary was misunderstood by Joseph, who intended to divorce her. But here, in this moment with Elizabeth, she was seen, and the miraculous baby inside her was understood.

In my soul, I long to be seen with understanding, yet I’m often misunderstood. The pain can feel so intense.

Jesus, in his earthly ministry, was misunderstood and not truly seen by his family, friends, co-workers, and enemies. Maybe you also know the pain of being unseen or misunderstood.

I wonder, what might change for us in this busy holiday season if we sat in the glow of the Messiah, the one who is familiar with being misunderstood, and soaked in the reality that he sees us with understanding?

Jennifer is one of our NorthStar writers and attends Gateway Community Church 

[1] Kittel, Gerhard, et al. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament.. Grand Rapids, Mich., Eerdmans, 19641976.