Blessed Is She Who Believed

Blessed Is She Who Believed

Elizabeth's blessing of Mary is one of the most intimate moments in the Advent narrative: two pregnant women, one old and one young, one carrying the forerunner and one carrying the Messiah, greeting each other in the hill country of Judea. Elizabeth's blessing identifies what made Mary extraordinary: not her sinlessness or her nobility or her spiritual accomplishments, but her belief. She believed that what the Lord said to her would be accomplished. The faith that receives the impossible promise is the same faith that brings forth the impossible fulfillment. Mary believed. And it was accomplished.

Luke 1:45 defines the blessedness of Mary in terms that apply to every believer: belief in the fulfillment of God's promises. The specific form of faith required is not complex or heroic — it is the settled confidence that what God has promised will be accomplished. 'Blessed is she who has believed' — the perfect tense indicates ongoing, persistent belief from the moment of the announcement to the moment of the fulfillment and beyond. The waiting period between promise and fulfillment is the time when belief is tested. Mary believed through the pregnancy, through the birth in a stable, through the flight to Egypt, through thirty years of ordinary life in Nazareth, through the cross. Sustained belief is the pattern of blessing.