Mary's Return Home

"Mary stayed with Elizabeth about three months. Then she returned home."

Luke 1:56

Dr. Luke doesn't tell us if Mary was pregnant when she left Elizabeth, but it's likely she was. I wonder if Mary took the long way home. Was she anxious to see her parents again? Or was she filled with dread at the prospect of telling them she was expecting? Perhaps she rehearsed in her mind what she would say to Joseph, her betrothed. "Now Joseph, I have something to tell you. You're not going to believe this, but an amazing miracle has happened. I'm expecting the Messiah, but I'm still a virgin." Mary might have comforted herself with Elizabeth's words, "And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord." Or maybe she repeated The Magnificat, continuing her praise of the Almighty. Then again, she may have clung to the words of Gabriel, "Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus." She may have reasoned that God would fulfill His promise, in the very way His messenger had said He would. And that she, indeed, had nothing to fear.