WEBVTT

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Grace, mercy, and peace

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be unto you from God, our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus

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Christ.

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Amen.

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Women in our culture are too often celebrated for what they look like,

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instead of who they are. The internet is inundated with ads for diet

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pills and plans, Cosmetics, calisthenics, collagen and cosmetic surgery.

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All aimed at showing women that they can truly be beautiful

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if only they would work at it harder. Magazines

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and grocery stores feature, an endless parade of the latest models

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and celebrity sensations. Hollywood encourages superficiality and

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celebrates the lives of the young and the beautiful. And such

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superficiality keeps all of us from recognizing what true beauty really

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is.

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In our lesson today, we meet to women and Luke never bothers to tell

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us what they look like.

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He doesn't mention their high cheekbones or their hourglass figures.

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He pays no attention to their sense of fashion, but nevertheless, he

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shows them for what they are.

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Truly beautiful women.

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The first of these women was probably quite young

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perhaps a teenager, her name was Mary.

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As was the custom of the age

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she was engaged to a somewhat older man, a carpenter who was named

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Joseph.

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And as you know she found herself to be with child not because she put

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the

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cart before the horse.

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No it was because the angel proclaimed that her child would be

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conceived by the Holy Spirit.

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Mary a virgin had been chosen to be the mother of Our Lord. And she

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received this news with beautiful humility saying, behold I am the

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servant of the Lord. The angel proceeded to tell Mary that her cousin,

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Elizabeth would be a good mentor as she prepared for the difficult

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task of motherhood.

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So bursting with youthful energy, Mary hurried up into the Hill

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Country to visit with Elizabeth and to tell her the good news.

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Elizabeth was married to Zachariah a distinguished priests in the

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temple. Unlike Mary,

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she was advanced in age but she was no less beautiful.

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Luke tells us that she was a righteous woman blameless in all her ways

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and as such she exhibited a true beauty of character.

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The kind of beauty that's more precious than jewels.

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Now, as soon as Mary entered Elizabeth's house, she excitedly told

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Elizabeth all that had happened about the angel about the conception

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by the Holy Spirit, and about the child, whom she would call Jesus,

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which means the Lord saves.

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Yes, she had good news in every sense of the word. And at this,

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greeting

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how does he Elizabeth react?

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Was she perhaps a little jealous that Mary's news was greater than her

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own?

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Was she chagrined or put off by the fact that this young girl and

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not, she would give birth to the savior.

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After all Elizabeth was married to a respected priest who served in

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the temple and Mary on the other hand was only a simple girl set to

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marry a simple Carpenter.

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But no, there was no jealousy in this beautiful woman.

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In fact, she was honored.

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She said, why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should

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come to me?

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At Mary's good news Elizabeth's heart was glad and and she exclaimed

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blessed are you among women

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and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And then wonder of wonders

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Elizabeth's child gets into the

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act. Elizabeth added for behold when the sound of your greeting came

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to my ears the baby in my womb leaped for joy.

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In holy mirth, John the Baptist was already pointing to the Lamb of

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God, who would take away the sin of the world.

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Yes, here is a picture of infant faith and a vivid, reminder of why

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we baptize infants.

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The child of Elizabeth was already looking forward to what the child

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of Mary would accomplish. The infant

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John was rejoicing that our Lord had become a little baby, just like

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him.

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Yes, in today's lesson, we see that human life in all its stages has

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been sanctified and

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touched by the beauty of our beautiful savior.

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Yes, there's beauty in the unborn child. There's beauty in the godly

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mother.

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There's beauty in the one who grows older in wisdom in the Lord.

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All human life is made beautiful by the Lord through whom the world

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was created. By whose death

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the world is redeemed and by whose Incarnation, the world is

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sanctified.

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Compare this beautiful biblical scene with the ugliness of sin.

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The ugliness of sin is constantly looking admiringly in the mirror

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without a thought

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for others. The world says, a woman should not have to carry a child

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she does not want, especially if

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the child gets in the way of her own plans.

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In the ugliness of sin life is all about me.

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Me myself, and I. We judge others by how useful they are to us and woe

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to anyone who gets in our way.

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Whether that be an inconvenient child, a person suffering with a

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handicap, an elderly person who requires, too much care, attention and

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love.

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That's the way it goes with the ugliness of sin.

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But how much better it is for us to ponder Luke's

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beautiful scene. Here

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we see a wonderful affirmation of life. Here

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we see beautiful faith as it's given by God. Consider Mary. At hearing

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 that she would be the mother of the Lord.

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Mary did not engage in boasting, she had no idea of self-fulfillment.

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Instead, she finds herself graced by what the Lord has done.

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She finds her fulfillment in what the Lord has promised.

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Yes,

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Mary's beauty is in her humility and in her trust in response to the

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angels words.

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She said simply behold, I am the servant of the Lord let it be to me

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according to your word.

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This was not blind obedience.

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Mary trusted the Lord because she knew that he's trustworthy.

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Throughout the ages, our Lord had kept his promises, he had a long

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history of raising the lowly and showing kindness to the poor.

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Mary knew that through her

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child

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God would do great things. In her son

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she could see the salvation of Israel and her own exultation as well.

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And that's really the point of all this.

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Mary had the right point of view.

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Society teaches young women to look in the mirror and judge themselves

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by appearance.

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But what's the result?

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Either vanity or despair because finally there's nothing there.

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But Mary and Elizabeth were women of substance.

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They were happy for each other and more important

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they put their focus on Jesus Christ. Elizabeth the mother of John,

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the Baptist was most excited by the fact that Mary would give birth to

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the Savior.

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And because of that Elizabeth could rejoice with Mary. And

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Mary looked at what God had done for her and saw the one who would come

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forth and save her.

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Yes, the intention of Mary and Elizabeth was on the Lord because they

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were focusing on Christ, they are beautiful woman. They looked at the

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face of the Lord and they reflected His beauty.

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I have no doubt that Mary was beautiful and that her baby was a

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beautiful child.

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But more important, he became a beautiful savior.

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Willingly

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bearing the scars and the nail marks.

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That's true beauty.

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And he endures the ugliness of the cross

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and we can see his beautiful heart.

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This is true beauty.

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This is the beauty of the Incarnation.

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Amen.

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Now May the peace of God that passes all understanding.

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Keep our hearts and minds together in Christ Jesus.

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Amen.