This post is from Moms Take Ten episode 137, “Moms in the Bible–Elizabeth pt.2″, which you can listen to wherever you listen to podcasts or at https://sites.libsyn.com/403493/moms-in-the-bible-elizabeth-pt2
Elizabeth. She is one of my favorite moms in the Bible and if you listened to the episode I did about her in December, you’ll understand why. Enabled to conceive in her old age, her pregnancy was used as a testimony of God’s power and ability in her cousin Mary’s life. Mary, as in the mother of Jesus who shortly after being visited by an angel, headed to her cousin Elizabeth’s house where she was greeted with abundant blessing and honor. That was a pivotal moment in Mary’s life.
There’s one little speech in Elizabeth’s story that I want us to focus on today. After she had conceived she said, “The Lord has done this for me. He has looked with favor in these days to take away my disgrace among the people.” (Luke 1:25)
Something we have talked about with many of the mamas we have studied is the stigma attached with barrenness. To be barren was incredibly shameful. It was seen as a mark against the woman, and as a punishment for some sin they had committed. While it also carried significant implications for the future of the couple, what would happen to their inheritance, and who would take care of them in their old age, the cultural perception and shaming was very difficult.
Now that Elizabeth is pregnant, she declares that her disgrace has been taken away. Her status has been made right in the eyes of the people. Which is so interesting to me because one of the very first things that we learn about Zechariah and Elizabeth is that they were “righteous in God’s sight, living without blame according to all the commands and requirements of the Lord.” The author, Luke, is telling us right away, that their barrenness was not a consequence of sin. He is challenging the stigma as he writes his gospel. We receive the benefit of knowing that, but not the people Elizabeth was around.
I wonder if she wrestled with the question, “was it something I did?” or if she was confident enough in her relationship with the Lord not to. I remember asking that question as I dealt with infertility, and that was just a handful of years ago, so very removed from Elizabeth’s time. I wonder if she found herself trying to prove herself in conversation with other people, trying to convince them that it wasn’t her fault, that she was in fact righteous. I wonder how many times she bit her tongue when a careless or insensitive comment was made.
When the Lord provided a child, in his perfect timing, it was an answer to prayer for Elizabeth and Zechariah. It was a key part of the story that was to come with Jesus Christ. And it also removed her disgrace. It righted a wrong that she had lived with for years.
Something that I have always, I think, struggled with is the desire to be looked upon well and to be seen rightly. If someone passes judgement on me that is underserved I want to fight it and persuade them otherwise. I want them to see my good intentions and my good character.
I will never forget, many, many years ago, being in a situation where my actions were judged wrongly and fault was laid on me that should not have been mine and restrictions were placed on my role that should not have been. Oh, did I want to fight. After presenting my side and not being heard, I was ready to quit. A roommate and coworker of mine the morning I was prepared to quit, gently shared a word from the Lord, pointing me to David’s actions in the face of Saul’s aggression. And to Christ’s meekness in the face of accusation and sentencing. The Lord was saying stand down, to accept the disgrace, and to continue to do the work he had called me to do anyways. It wasn’t easy, I’ll say that, but I never forgot that lesson.
Nowadays, I find myself biting my tongue the most around my children. Oh, do I want to fight and defend myself when facing “I hate yous” and “you are the worst mama in the world” and a child doing the loser dance to me..ok, that last one, has me biting my tongue to keep from laughing because it just looks so ridiculous. But the others can really get to me and I want to convince my child that what I said, did, how I looked or acted, or the fact that I exist is actually good. I want my disgrace among the (little) people to be taken away.
Elizabeth probably had her moments of insecurity, wondering if it was something she did, and she probably also had her moments of knowing her rightness before God and wanting others to see it too. But what we know of her is that she spent her life focused on one opinion–The Lord’s. It was in His sight that she was righteous and that was what truly mattered.
That is what truly matters for us as well. On the cross, Christ bore our sins and also our shame. We have been made right before the Lord and because of that there is now no condemnation (Romans 8:1). Our disgrace has been removed from among the one on whom all our future rests upon. Isn’t that amazing? Because of that, we do our best to live at peace with all people, as the Scriptures say in Romans 12, and if we sin, we seek forgiveness and reconciliation, but we don’t need to spend our lives trying to convince people to see us rightly. When we are facing an angry child or teenager, we don’t have to prove that we are a good parent, we can rest in God. When birth parents criticize us, when courts misunderstand us, when social workers don’t support us, we can rest in God. When people at church challenge our parenting decisions, when coworkers judge our values, when friends disagree with us, we can rest in God. There may come a day, and we pray this is true, that they will accept and understand and support and even thank us for what we did and who we were. Maybe, like Elizabeth, people will rejoice with us over something that was once the source of tension. But maybe not. No matter what, our focus should always remain on God.
Elizabeth’s statement not only points to her disgrace being removed, but it was done so because the Lord looked upon her. She felt seen. And it is a wonderful thing to be seen. We talked about that a long time ago in the first episode on Hagar. How God saw Hagar, a runaway slave, a foreigner in a strange land, a woman disgraced, alone in the wilderness. He saw her. He called her by name. He cared for her. Her challenge was remembering what he spoke over her and believing it.
Our challenge is the same. What has he called us to? What does he say about our lives? Who does he say that we are? His voice matters most. Do we remember it? Do we believe it?
Image from John Heseltine / Pam Masco / FreeBibleimages.org.
Lyssa Stoyko 