Team Players (Luke 1:39-45)

My last two blog posts have been about both the theology of the Holy Spirit (i.e. Jesus' followers have the wisdom and power of the Holy Spirit to enable them to carry out God's mission) and examples (Elijah, John the Baptist, and Mary) of people who lived in this power.  Today, we catch a glimpse of how the Holy Spirit almost always puts us in teams to do God's work ..

Luke 1:39-45 ³⁹ In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, ⁴⁰ where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. ⁴¹ When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit ⁴² and exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. ⁴³ And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? ⁴⁴ For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child 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 by the Lord."

Elizabeth and Mary had both made huge committments.  Elizabeth, an old woman, was miraculously pregnant with John the Baptist.  She was tasked with giving birth to and raising the man who would prepare the way for Jesus - who would eventually be beheaded for following Jesus.  Mary, a young girl, was pregnant with Jesus himself.  The very fact that either of these women were pregnant was impossible.  And their journeys would be hard. 

But they aren't meant to take on these journeys by themselves.  Not only would the Holy Spirit walk with them, but the Holy Spirit brings the two of them together.  They can share like no one else can in what God is doing through them.  They are immediately joyful and praising God together.  They can encourage each other to be faithful.

We aren't really meant to follow Jesus by ourselves - we really need others to help us.  In fact, many of Jesus' teaching require that we be part of his community.  They are impossible to follow as lone rangers.  We need each other to carry out God's mission.

Sometimes when our Christian journeys seem stuck, it is because we aren't joining up with others who can help us.  We are trying to go it alone. Or we are trying to lean on people who haven't really made a commitment to follow Jesus.  Be open to the Holy Spirit bringing other followers of Jesus into your life whom you can trust to help you carry out God's mission.  Who would have thought this old woman and this young girl would be teamed up together to do God's work?

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Do you need anybody?

I need somebody to love.

Could it be anybody?

I want somebody to love.

Oh I get by with a little help from my friends,

Mmm,I get high with a little help from my friends,

Mmm, I'm gonna try with a little help from my friends.

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