Friday, December 4, 2015

Risky Business

December 4, 2015

Sometimes we read the Gospels as if they were biographical novels instead of the Gospels they are. While factually accurate, they are not concerned with some of the things we believe to be important. Only two of the four record anything of Jesus' birth, and even they are quite different from each other. All four deal mainly with the final three years of his life, all four completely skip over the years from childhood to the onset of his ministry, and fully a third of all four narratives deals with the final week of his life. If this is biography, the Gospel writers were not very skilled at it.

While both Matthew and Luke contain birth narratives, they approach it from completely different angles, giving us a fuller picture of those early days, even if their contrasting perspectives also give us a few chronological headaches. One thing stands out however: the Incarnation was risky business. A pastor friend posted a quote from Frederick Buechner that touches the heart of the matter:

She struck the angel  Gabriel as hardly old enough to have child at all, let alone this child, but he'd been entrusted with a message to give her, and he gave it. He told her what the child was to be named, and who he was to be, and  something about the mystery that was to come upon her. "You mustn't be afraid, Mary," he said. And as he said it, he hoped she wouldn't notice that beneath his great, golden wings he himself was trembling with fear to think the whole future of creation now hung upon the answer of a girl.

We tend to read the Biblical stories as a fait accompli, something that of course would happen because God wills it so. We read the story of Daniel in the lion's den and knowing how it turns out, imagine that we are there with him staring down those ferocious felines. But Daniel was not given any assurance that God would save him. When it comes to the birth narratives of Jesus, knowing how it turns out takes some of the tension away from what Joseph and Mary experienced. From the moment he was born, Jesus was a target, and they became instant fugitives, refugees who didn't know at the moment how or if they would survive. Herod was ruthless and would brook no challenge to his rule. Jesus' parents had angelic visitations and the promises of God, but so do we, and we can understand how hard it is to trust God when there is a price on our heads.

There were no guarantees that things would turn out well for Mary and Joseph. Simeon actually warned Mary of hard times to come. That "the whole future of creation hung upon the answer of a girl" is a telling insight into the slenderness of the thread upon which God himself gambled our salvation. Mary was not forced to yield; she was not a robot nor a slave. She freely chose, and could have chosen pass on the offer. I have to pause and ask myself, "When was the last time you risked anything for God?" It's been awhile.

Every so often I hear someone say that the safest place to be is in the center of God's will. I disagree. That center is actually a bulls-eye. To say 'yes' to God is risky business. I am grateful tonight that Mary answered in the affirmative, and pray for grace to do the same.

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