During those days Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, 40 where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the holy Spirit, 42 cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 43 And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. 45 Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.
Mary has just received the angel’s message that she will conceive Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. She went quickly to the “hill country” to visit her cousin Elizabeth, not because she doubts, but because she believes what God has said and acts on it. The ‘hill country’ recalls the region where many events in Israel’s history took place, including David bringing the ark of the covenant there. Just as the ark was a sign that God was truly with His people, now Mary carries in her womb the One who is ‘God with us.’ Luke is quietly placing this meeting within the long story of God’s dealings with His people.
Mary “entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth” (v. 40). This simple greeting becomes the moment when God reveals what He is doing. Elizabeth is already six months pregnant with John the Baptist. The house appears ordinary, but Luke wants the reader to see that God’s presence is now entering homes and families in a new way through the child Mary carries, the Son of God (Lk. 1:35).
The first response to Mary’s greeting comes from the child in Elizabeth’s womb. John’s leap is not just a physical movement. Luke presents it as a joyful response to the presence of the Messiah, a first sign of John’s role as the one who will later point Israel to Jesus. Elizabeth herself is “filled with the holy Spirit” (v. 41), which means that what she is about to say does not come only from her own insight. God’s Spirit is guiding her words so that her greeting becomes a kind of inspired proclamation.
She exclaims, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb” (v. 42). To call Mary “most blessed…among women” is to recognize that God has given her a unique role in His plan. The blessing is not only about her personal holiness but about the child she bears. “Blessed is the fruit of your womb” points to Jesus as the source of blessing for others. In the Bible, fruit is often a sign of life and fulfillment. Here, the “fruit” is the One through whom God’s promises will be brought to completion.
Elizabeth then asks, “And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me” (v. 43)? This is one of the earliest confessions of who Jesus is. “My Lord” is a title used in Scripture for God’s royal and divine authority. For Elizabeth, speaking under the Spirit’s inspiration, the child in Mary’s womb is already “Lord.” She does not wait for Jesus’ public ministry or His resurrection to recognize His identity. The fact that Mary is called “mother of my Lord” shows how closely God’s work in Christ is joined to God’s choice of Mary. Her motherhood is part of the way the Lord comes into the world.
Elizabeth explains what has happened: “For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy” (v. 44). John’s leap is described as a leap “for joy.” The presence of Christ brings joy even to an unborn child. Luke is showing that God’s work reaches into the earliest stages of human life. The joy is not based on visible signs or miracles in the usual sense. Jesus is still at the very beginning of his human life, hidden in Mary’s womb, yet his presence is real and powerful.
The final sentence gathers everything into a clear statement about faith: “Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled” (v. 45). Elizabeth praises Mary not only for being chosen, but for believing. God spoke through the angel; Mary believed that word and entrusted herself to it. In the Old Testament, many promises from God awaited their fulfillment. Here, in Mary, Luke presents the faithful believer who receives God’s word and allows it to begin to bear fruit. Her blessedness is linked to her faith in what “was spoken…by the Lord,” and this faith stands at the beginning of the fulfillment of all God’s promises in Christ.
This passage shows how God’s saving action moves quietly through faith, through hidden life in the womb, and through the meeting of two women who recognize what God is doing. The joy in Elizabeth’s house is the joy of recognizing that the Lord has come near, even before He is seen.
Lord Jesus, you were already present and bringing joy while still in Mary’s womb. Help us to trust that you are truly at work even when we cannot see you clearly, and to believe, like Mary, that what you have spoken will be fulfilled. Amen.
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Sources and References
- The Holy Bible, New American Bible, Revised Edition (2011).
- Bernard Orchard et al., A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture (1953).
- Faculty of the University of Navarre, The Navarre Bible: Luke (Four Courts/Scepter).
- José Enrique Aguilar Chiu et al., eds., The Paulist Biblical Commentary (2018).
- Raymond E. Brown et al., The New Jerome Biblical Commentary (1990).
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