JOY - (An invitation to share in Mary's gift)

 When I received Ward Tanneberg's newsletter this month, I asked if I could share it with all of you. He agreed.

JOY “… Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home.”[1] THE EIGHTY MILES from Ein Karem to Nazareth is not any shorter than it had been on her going, but it feels shorter this time. At least to Mary. Hugging Elizabeth tightly, holding little baby John one more time before saying goodbye, hearing Zechariah speak after months of silence. Highlights of an amazing three months. She has so much to tell Ima and Papa and her sister and her forever friends since childhood. Each step on the dusty trail helps close the circle back. Of course, neighbors must be talking … whispering … not to her sister or her parents, but word gets around …. even faster, it seems, when not true. She knows this. There is uneasiness, but there is contentment, too, an inner joyfulness. She is going home. MEANWHILE JOSEPH IS DEEPLY TROUBLED learning of Mary’s pregnancy and decides to release her from their betrothal vows. Then in a dream an Angel tells him, “Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”[2] But while Joseph is getting his head around this amazing turn of events, her parents send Mary away for three months. Granted the Angel assured Joseph he has nothing to worry about. Everything will be okay. Mary is pregnant with the Son of God. Your job is to give him the name Jesus. That’s it. When he is grown, Jesus will do the rest. God always has the big picture. Joseph is a righteous man so he believes this. Adonai  knows what he is doing. But sometimes, let’s face it, Adonai can be short on the details. Either he forgets to pass them along to us, or he thinks we can figure them out on our own. For Joseph, this is one of those times. Where to begin? Her father, Joachim, of course. Man to man. A woman they both love is carrying Israel’s long awaited Messiah. She must be protected and provided for. These are difficult, even dangerous times. But this is only part of it. Like any red-blooded male about to marry the woman of his dreams, Joseph has enough angst over bringing a wife into his home and raising a family. But God’s Son? Really? How do I bring up God’s Son? Will he ever disobey me? And if he does, what am I supposed to do? Punish him? Make God’s Son sit in the corner? Send him to bed without his supper? After Jesus is born, wouldn’t it be better if we just dropped him off at the Temple and let the priests and teachers take care of him? After all, that is his real Father’s house, right? Teach him a trade? Won’t he know everything before I explain it to him? What will he be like? Will he fit into the family if we decide to have more kids? Joseph may have gotten the message straight from God’s Angel, but he and Mary have a lot to talk about when she gets back. WITH THE LATE AFTERNOON SUN in her eyes, Mary makes her way up the familiar path. There is her sister by the well. There is her ima standing in the doorway. Mary’s tired feet grow lighter when she sees her ima’s face light up with recognition. Her sister screams with delight and dropping her water vessel runs to greet her, their ima hurrying after. The three of them laugh and cry and embrace. There is great joy. Mary is home at last. That evening, a family dinner features all of Mary’s favorites. And many questions. How is Elizabeth? Did she have her baby yet? What was it like living with them? Excited responses. Joachim and Anne and Mary’s sister, the other Mary. The family around the table. With Joseph there, sitting next to their beloved Mary, her face aglow in the candle light, her hand in his hand. And God is in the room. Like it used to be. Like it will never be again. “Joy unspeakable and full of glory.” WHAT IS JOY? An idea? A feeling? Some words are difficult to describe with other words. A limitless potential. A repository of transformative power, waiting to be tapped into. More than happiness. A feeling we experience in spite of circumstances, in difficult times of sadness, anger or grief. It has been said that joy can share space with other emotions and doesn’t need a smile in order to exist. Happiness exists because of. Joy exists in spite of. For Mary on this first night home, joy feels like family, like the man sitting beside her, like the approach of motherhood, like her new home and new life only days away. Being with Elizabeth and Zechariah has been a coming of age experience for Mary. Leaving home a teenager, returning home a young woman. Three months during which there has emerged a greater realization of her place in the world, a further understanding of how personal actions and reactions and meaning and purpose and calling are linked to God’s design in us once we open ourselves to him.  “I am willing to be used of the Lord. Let it happen to me as you have said.”[3] It’s all so exciting. Mary now knows what we can know, too. The source of true joy is the pleasurable presence of the Holy Spirit within us, our hope in his unchanging Word. Joy is a choice ready to be made. May Jesus keep us close.     [1] Luke 1:56 [2] Matthew 1:20,21 [3] Luke 1:38