"So has the Lord done for me at a time when he has seen fit to take away my disgrace before others."
In today's gospel the elderly couple, Zechariah and Elizabeth, are blessed with a visitation and a revelation. They have been sadly disappointed throughout their lives by their barrenness. Through all the months of their young marriage, through the years of adult maturity and ever-deepening affection for one another, as the two became one flesh, they suffered a growing and persistent disappointment. Beginning as a vague, fearful suggestion, it had become a daily fact. They could not get pregnant; they would have no child. There was no reason for this misfortune. Surely, they thought, they had not earned or deserved it.
Neighbors, acquaintances and family pitied them; close friends learned not to ask. Some people must have wondered if the Lord -- who sees all -- had punished this devout couple for some hidden sin. A cloud of shame hovered over their marriage and darkened their daily conversation.
Finally, with today's epiphany the mystery is resolved. Or, if not resolved, given a whole new and unexpected dimension. Their many years of disappointment were a small part, a facet, of God's complex plan of salvation. Their son
will turn many of the children of Israel
to the Lord their God.
He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah
to turn the hearts of fathers toward children
and the disobedient to the understanding of the righteous,
to prepare a people fit for the Lord."
But their son would also play only a part in God's broad scheme. He would not be the Messiah, he would go before him.
Naturally, the human animal, like all animals, prefers pleasure to pain, assurance to anxiety, knowledge to uncertainty. Life is full of those polarities and we inevitably have our favorite. We choose wealth over poverty, power over helplessness, wisdom over folly, purpose over futility. There seems to be an opposite side to every valuable coin, and that's the one we don't value.
But God in supreme generosity invites the human animal to transcend our animal nature and see the dark side of every brilliant treasure. If we are to experience eternal life with our God we must be able to appreciate and even welcome disappointment. Where others pursue the extraordinary the faithful delight in the ordinary. Why drink spirits, wine or coffee when water is so satisfying? Why smoke tobacco or marijuana when clean air is so beautiful?
This divine wisdom is surely not alien to our human nature. Students know they must study; athletes know they must train; investors know they must take risks. That ordinary wisdom points to the deeper wisdom of the cross, which Jesus embraced and carried as if he were born for it. Because he was born for it.
The wise learn to wait with persistent patience. If we cannot see where this trial, grief, sadness or disappointment is going we believe that God is leading us there. Zechariah went home and revealed to his wife their part in God's plan, and suddenly it all made sense. Even his silence, which seemed to be the punishment of an impatient Gabriel for his asking the same question Mary would ask six months later, bore fruit in a magnificent praise of God. Christmas teaches the blind to see light in darkness.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.