I Never Saw It Coming

As I watched and heard the testimony of a couple who had struggles with infertility from the beginning into fifteen years of marriage, I was dumb founded. I had heard similar stories like theirs but this one caused my emotion of joy to well my eyes. After employing the latest reproductive technologies that didn't work; thousands and thousands of dollars, advanced age, they concluded, as a result of all this, and their advanced age, they gave up the possibility of having a child and sought to adopt. In search of God's will, they began traveling the world in finding that one precious soul. Found; they were overjoyed to envelope this little one into their family.  Then surprise! Little did anyone know at the time they were pregnant; nine months later this couple welcomed a biological child into the world. They were truly overwhelmed with what God had done by this unexpected and unlikely turn of events. Hence, I've been thinking, even though Bettyann doesn't like surprises at all and I'm always a little leery of them, they have been more often than not, some of our greatest blessings.  

I particularly notice that Luke’s gospel narrative begins with two women, who were both, like this couple, unlikely candidates for mothers. Elizabeth was a woman beyond child-bearing age. She was barren. Mary was a young, unmarried girl. Yet, these two women were the mothers of two of history’s most famous individuals: John the Baptist, the last prophet of Israel, and Jesus, who would be called, Messiah. The announcement of these pregnancies must have been disconcerting at best. As if this strange news wasn’t enough, it was announced to both families by an angelic visitor. The first words spoken were “do not be afraid.” Do not be afraid! Do I need to think anymore! These births would turn the world upside down, and would change the lives of these women; both women were the unlikely recipients of unlikely blessing.

Despite the improbable circumstances, Elizabeth praises God by saying, “This is the way the Lord has dealt with me in the days when He looked with favor upon me, to take away my disgrace among men.” Elizabeth and Zacharias were both from priestly lines: Zacharias from Abijah, and Elizabeth from Aaron. Now I'm alerted that they “were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of God.” However, Elizabeth’s barrenness would have called her “righteous” status into question. Childless women were a ‘disgrace among men’ in her day. Childlessness was naturally looked upon as a grave misfortune or even as a sign that one was cursed by God. The wife who presented her husband with no such tangible blessings or supporters felt that her aim in life had been missed. So the announcement that Elizabeth would bear a child beyond her child-bearing years was as unlikely as a virgin having a child.   

Mary, unlike Elizabeth, was a young girl from a backwater town, as Dad would say. No priestly line, nor royal heritage. No one would have noticed her, or thought twice about her. Yet like Elizabeth, a strange blessing was bestowed upon Mary indeed! As Alan Culpepper, in his New Interpreter’s Bible notes: “Mary, God’s favored one, was blessed with having a child out of wedlock who would later be executed as a criminal. Acceptability, prosperity, and comfort have never been the essence of God’s blessing.” Mary, despite the disgrace and the suffering she would endure declares in verse 38: "Be it done to me according to your word.”

  

There's no doubt this “blessing” would cause Joseph to want to end his betrothal to Mary, leaving her alone and with child. Angelic intervention was necessary to change his mind. And after Jesus was born, Mary would watch her son grow, watch his itinerant ministry unfold, and behold the wrath and anger of the religious leaders he challenged and confronted. Then, she would watch in horror as her son was crucified, falsely accused and innocent of all charges.  She must have struggled to understand why God would not save him from that fate. Indeed, God’s blessing must have seemed very strange, or very cruel.

In general, thinking about it, for the most part, I've equated "blessing" with the good life. I realize when I use the term, I rarely ever use it to refer to the unexpected and unwanted blessing of suffering or hardship. I'm thinking. How often do I see blessing in lives cut short, or in the pain of losing children far too soon? I would like to know more about what Mary or Elizabeth thought about these unlikely events, or how they must have felt as their sons’ lives unfolded. Although, perhaps they uniquely understood that God’s blessings are not wrapped up in doing everything and anything I ask God to do for me. Thinking about my history, haven't I experienced God's blessings in ironic, unexpected and strange ways—life emerging from death; joy from sorrow; becoming first by being last in all sorts of ways and circumstances?

I'm positive this middle aged couple must certainly know this to be true, just as Mary and Elizabeth did. Their youngest child, the one God had sent them searching for, not yet seven, died from a rare form of ocular cancer. They still witness grief in her loss every day, even as they rejoice in the blessing of her short life; a strange blessing, indeed, and one that is filled with sadness. Of course, I don't know for a fact but can't help but to think that they have come to know a strange joy that Mary and Elizabeth must have also experienced. 

Father, God, thank You for the grace of recognizing this foible in my walk with You.  Thank You for Your work in my life through the joy filled testimony of this couple, the story here in Luke and the words of Frederick Buechner who wrote "joy is a mystery because it can happen anywhere, anytime, even under the most unpromising circumstances, even in the midst of suffering, with tears in its eyes….” I'm ready Lord for another unlikely surprise!  Amen