There’s a couple details in Luke’s Sermon (Luke 6) that hyperlink to the stories of Mary and Elisabeth in Luke 1. Making these connections allows the reader to imagine Mary and Elizabeth as exemplars of the Luke’s unique version of Jesus’s most famous teaching.

Lowliness

It is striking that in Luke Jesus goes down (καταβάς) to deliver the Sermon whereas in Matthew, Jesus goes up (ἀνέβη) onto a mountain. This fits with the different theological emphases of each Gospel. For example, a “new Moses” theme is prominent in Matthew, and at times Jesus stands in the place of Yahweh at the top of a high mountain (Matthew 17).

Luke, however, introduces the story of Jesus with an explicit analogy between Mary (Luke 1) and Hannah (1 Samuel 1). Just as Hannah poetically foreshadows the main themes of Samuel, seen in the contrasting portraits of David and Solomon, Mary’s song forecasts the theme of exaltation for the lowly prominently portrayed in Luke’s story of Jesus.

Elizabeth & Mary in the Sermon

Luke’s lowliness theme is seen in his unique formulation of the Sermon’s opening blessings (μακάριοι, Luke 6:20–22). The blessed are those who are poor, hungry, weeping, hated, ostracized, and slandered. A couple of the words Luke uses in his opening to the Sermon are uniquely tied to Elizabeth. Luke says that disciples are blessed when they are slandered (ὀνειδίζω), and they should “leap” (σκιρτάω) with joy when they find themselves in this life situation (Luke 6:22–23). Both of these words are connected to Elizabeth in Luke 1. In Luke 1:25, after conceiving in her old age, Elizabeth says that the Lord has taken away her “reproach” (ESV, ὀνειδός).

Furthermore, besides Luke 6:23, in Luke’s Sermon, there’s only one other scene in the New Testament where σκιρτάω is used: When Mary arrives at Elizabeth’s house, the baby “leaps” (σκιρτάω, Luke 1:41) in her womb, and Luke doesn’t want you to miss this detail. He repeats the incident three verses later: Elizabeth emphasizes that when she heard Mary’s greeting the baby jumped inside her (σκιρτάω, Luke 1:44).

In Luke 1, Mary sings about how God has filled the hungry (πεινῶντας ἐνέπλησεν, Luke 1:53), and in Luke 6:25 an anti-blessing (οὐαί) is spoken to those who are filled now (ἐμπεπλησμένοι νῦν). They will be hungry (πεινάσετε, Luke 6:25). These are just a couple of the hyperlinks I noticed tonight between Luke’s Sermon and his Gospel more broadly. There’s a lot more to say, especially about the way the Sermon links to Luke’s main character, Jesus.

Conclusion

In Luke, Elizabeth and Mary are examples of the lowly, faithful remnant whom Yahweh exalts. The wording of chapter 6 recalls the long introductory portraits of Elizabeth and Mary in chapter 1 to point the reader toward these two women (and John in womb!) as examples of what it looks like to live the Sermon.