'God's Plan'

When Gabriel announced God’s plan to Mary, it wasn’t only overwhelming—it was lonely. Before Joseph had his dream, before Mary could speak to her parents, she carried a calling no one around her could possibly understand. But God did not leave her isolated with what He was forming inside her. Before the angel departed, he gave Mary a gift—a name, Elizabeth. “Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age.” (Luke 1:36)  This moment in Luke is the only angelic proclamation in Scripture that includes the announcement of someone else’s miracle. Mary is let in on the secret that Elizabeth has already received a divine message from an angel and that she too is going to have a miraculous birth. In doing this, God doesn’t simply speak a promise to Mary—He provides a person. Gabriel reminds her that God is already moving in someone else’s life, and that their stories are meant to meet.

Gabriel not only tells Mary what God will do in her, he tells her what God is doing in Elizabeth. This deeply matters to Mary. Elizabeth’s pregnancy becomes confirmation that God is working all around her, and so Mary does the most human thing—she runs toward the person who shares her promise. Luke says she “hurried” to the hill country, to be with Elizabeth for Elizabeth’s last 3 months of pregnancy. God knew that Mary’s faith would grow best in this companionship. Mary does not wait alone. She waits with someone who is also “pregnant with promise.”

This matters because God’s greatest works are always communal. Israel was a people, not just a hero. The church is a body, not scattered individuals. And even the Messiah’s arrival comes through two intertwined miracles, not one. Mary and Elizabeth become a community of hope—two women carrying God’s future together, strengthening one another’s trust in the God who fulfills His word. Every believer needs an Elizabeth, someone who strengthens our faith and whispers, “I see God at work in you,” and each of us is invited to be that person for someone else. Mary’s faith, Elizabeth’s confirmation, and God’s promise all converge for Mary’s faith to grow with expectant hope.  Conversations with Elizabeth help Mary increasingly believe deep down what the angel Gabriel told her, “no word from God will ever fail.” (Lk 1:37).

Blessings to all,

Jonathan