“The Mystery of Mary’s Pregnancy”
by Bruce
J. Johnson
This
advent season has been unlike any that I can remember--- all this talk of ‘a
war on Christmas.’ Article upon article has referred to the slaughter of trees
so that journalists could write about it--- some condemning it and others
defending it. Things even got physical last night in Londonderry New Hampshire
when vandals destroyed the crèche. Fortunately the baby Jesus had not as yet
been place in the manger. There is some hope however. As if on cue, this being
almost the end of this advent season, Daniel Henninger,
a columnist for the Wall Street Journal, Friday proposed a ceasefire,
suggesting that in fact Christmas involves a lot of different activities and
meanings. That is the way it has always been for
“The
concurrence applied this mode of analysis to the
In
short, Christmas as we all know it!
Indeed, I think that I have
seen similar displays on some lawns around town and maybe it is
time for us to have a ceasefire and embrace and celebrate Christmas--- in all
its rich diversity!
Besides, I have no intention
of giving up my Hallmark movie watching!
Of course, we’re here in
church, so our focus is as it should be—spiritual. And yet, today I wonder
whether we would have any of all this had it not been for the response of Mary,
when first addressed by the angel Gabriel--- a remarkable moment in history
when we have God, an angel and all of creation waiting upon the response of an
already engaged Jewish teenage girl who, being told that she is the ‘favored
one,’ would soon be pregnant and carry to full term a child she will name
Jesus. And by the way, she was also told that he would not only be her son but
will be the Son of God.
Her response is somewhat of
a surprise. One might have expected her to say first something like: If this is
what it means to be favored--- I’d prefer to be less favored, thank you!
Or, perhaps we might have
expected her to ask a few more questions than the only one she did ask----the
singular and most basic kind of question:
How can this be? Since I am a virgin! (Luke 1:34)
Indeed,
she doesn’t ask any other questions… perhaps many of the questions we might
ask.
I sometimes think that this
is one of those passages in scripture for which it helps to have the
perspective of a woman—especially a woman who has been pregnant!
Barbara Brown Taylor does a
wonderful reflection on it. (Pulpit Resource, Vol. 27, #4. p. 29) Thinking that---- had Gabriel come to her,
she would have a few more questions than Mary--- such as:
“Hey wait just a minute
here… answer me these!”
Will Joseph stick around after he hears about all this?
Will my parents understand ------and still love me?
Will my friends stand by me, or will I be the laughing
stock of my high school for sleeping around?
Will
the labor be hard?
Will there be someone there to help me when my time
comes?
You say the child will be king of
If such questions occurred
to Mary, she did not ask them. Neither does she ask any questions about any of
the details in her son’s future. According to Luke, she simply listened as the
angel told her the barest details about how it would all come to pass and what
was generally planned for her son. Of course, we read this story knowing a lot
more! I’ve always loved that song---
“Mary Did You Know?”- poignant and powerful in its
pondering what Mary might not have known!
Solo: “Mary Did You Know?”- Peter Johnson
But, how could she have
known all that? None of us knows very much about any of our pregnancies do
we? (Matt and Megan?)
Indeed, perhaps it was
better that she not know, ---- better that we not know—leaving all that to the
glorious mystery of giving birth and then raising our children to embrace their
fullest God given potential and promise and then to raise them in such a way
that they might be able to live their best life.
For Mary it meant her saying
‘YES’ to God’s plan for her and the world… Maya Angelou, in her poem,
“Amazing Peace,” which was read at the lighting of our ‘National Christmas
Tree’ on
AND ITS NOT MUCH DIFFERENT
FOR ANY OF US—IN FACT, the birth any child is ‘a holy instant’
and implicit in our celebration of the baptism of Mason and his mom- Megan this
morning is the explicit ‘yes’ to God’s plan for them… a plan, if will, that
includes nothing less than agreeing to smuggle God into the world in our own
bodies…
When that happens the mystery of Mary’s
pregnancy becomes the mystery of our own--- making the gestational story of
Christ’s birth ever new and ever our own… that all are called to carry Christ
and give him birth in us and our own time and culture!
And what better time to give
Him birth than during this ‘Ceasefire?’
I have always had a special
fondness for the words of one of the great Christian mystics, Meister Eckhart:
“We
are all meant to be mother’s of God…. What good is it to me, he said, if this
eternal birth of the divine Son takes place unceasingly but does not take place
within myself? And what good is it to me if Mary is full of grace and if I am
not also full of grace? What good is it to me for the Creator to give birth to
His Son if I do not also give birth to him in my time and my culture” This then
is the fullness of time: when the Son of God is begotten in us.”
During this last week in
advent, let us all be pregnant along with Mary and prepare for the mystery of
Christ’s birth to unfold--- that Holy Instant--- when hope is reborn and love
shines and peace is given a chance. The fullness of time awaits its moment yet
again this --- when not just once in the royal David’s city the Son of God is
born but today and in us.
Amen