Last week I met with one of our recent high school graduates at Calvary, whose family's transition from their former congregation to Calvary happen right around the time of confirmation. Since she is now a good bit older than our usual confirmation kids, we'd decided to do something that combines our confirmation program and our new member class for adults. One of the things I've taken from our confirmation program us reading the gospel of Luke together (Calvary uses Willimon's Making Disciples confirmation program). I'm notoriously bad at being faithful for reading programs (yeah, I was THAT person in Disciple who read at the last minute or just skimmed...and yes, I was the teacher...) so I thought I'd try to do this by reading one chapter a day and posting some thoughts to my blog. Hopefully hte knowledge that perhaps SOMEONE will notice when I don't post will in fact keep me faithful to posting (and reading) that one chapter a day. Luke has 24 chapters, and we've got about that much time before she joins Calvary, so hopefully it works out. But maybe I'll try a couple chapters some days.
I invite you, if you don't have a Bible reading plan, to join me. Feel free to post and leave your own comments on the chapter. Or, if Luke isn't your thing, maybe take the challenge yourself (one chapter a day) using another book of the Bible that interests you. Some good summer reading!
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LUKE 1
Luke 1 is surely a packed chapter. I love that it has the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth—this is a great but often overlooked part of the story of Jesus’ birth. This morning as I read it, I was struck by that story alongside Mary’s story. Specifically, here you have two women who conceive, but with very different implications.
We are told that Elizabeth has been barren, and this has been a source of shame for her among the people. We’ve seen this before in scripture, so we know that the lack of a child was indeed a source of shame in their time. Lacking birth control as we have today, there could be little question about WHY a woman hadn’t borne a child. Today, one could just as soon assume a couple had chosen not to have children (or have them yet) for a whole host of reasons (professional reasons, health reasons, financial reasons, etc.) but at that time, it seems it would have almost universally been related to some biological issue, which was, as was common of many things at that time, to be attributed to God’s will, often by way of punishment.
So for Elizabeth, this is indeed joyous news. Absent are any of the concerns of a late-in-life pregnancy you might have today, and right in the forefront is her joyousness at this evidence that there is nothing wrong with her. Gone is her shame.
Meanwhile, you have Mary. For her, the news of her pregnancy is not the same joyous occasion. She is, as will be laid out even more as Luke continues, in a precarious situation. Engaged to Joseph, she has to contend with a fiancé, her family, and her community as she has gotten pregnant out of wedlock. I imagine how each woman reacted when they discovered they were pregnant. If they lived today, I imagine Elizabeth would have posted on Facebook. Everyday. May have posted ultrasound pics. News of her latest baby shopping trip. There would be a baby shower. Or two. Or three. It would have been great fun.
But what about for Mary? I can’t help but think of the episodes I’ve seen of 16 and Pregnant on MTV. I imagine Mary may have shared some things in common with some of those girls. Like the one who hid her pregnancy, not even sharing it with her closest friends, until she was 6 or so months pregnant. I wonder if Mary hid it at all. Or did she push on, proud that she was carrying God’s child. But how do you explain that to people? What a difficult thing it is to be doing God’s will when you just cannot explain it to others in ways they will understand. When God’s will puts you outside of what the community expects.
For me, this chapter is not only a great start to the story of Jesus, but also a call to all of us to celebrate each life. Each child of God is loved. And the truth is, it can be easier to judge a situation than to see God at work. New life is a wonderful thing. And those who bring a child into a difficult situation have enough to contend with without adding the condescension of others. Who are we to declare God’s will? Who are we to try to decide who is favored? Is that not God’s work? And are not all children—at their birth and throughout their lives—deeply loved by God? I believe they are.
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