Tuesday, September 8, 2020 Feast of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary     (today’s lectionary)
Thoughts along the way
Joseph and Mary bump along the road to Bethlehem, obliged to return there for the emperor’s census. Joseph and Mary have not been banished from Nazareth, although no one knows what to think about Mary’s early pregnancy and their quickly arranged marriage.
From you, Bethlehem, shall come forth for me
One who is to be ruler in Israel.
Mary’s mind races, as her body and the body of her baby absorb the donkey’s jerks and lunges. The angel came to her in the afternoon, while everyone was asleep. She awoke, he sat beside her bed, his whole face glistened, and he smiled.
Do not be afraid, Mary.
When you have given birth to this One,
He shall grow and stand firm and shepherd his flock
By the strength of the Lord,
And he shall be peace.
Mary’s body spoke through her words. “How can this be? I haven’t had intercourse with a man. There can be no baby.”
But the angel wove natural law together with spirit, as he told her God would create the baby inside her without a human male gamete, without the sperm of Joseph.
Those he foreknew he also predestined
To be conformed to the image of his Son,
So that he might be firstborn among many brothers.
Mary told Joseph her news, and that night the angel came to him also. Together, Mary and the angel opened his heart. Joseph himself, the step-dad I guess you’d say, was the first “firstborn among many brothers.” Jesus and Joseph were going to have quite a time together.
I trusted in your mercy
And my heart rejoices, let me sing,
“Oh, the Lord is good to me, and so I thank the Lord, for giving me the things I need …”
What a pair they make on the road to Bethlehem, sharing a donkey, eating bits of bread getting drier by the day, wishing the baby would come, hoping the baby will not come yet! There are a few springs along the road, but only a few. They know even a slight deviation from their course could mean death. Whenever he can, Joseph carefully fills their water skins. And they talk when they stop. But carrying on down the highway, Mary again becomes lost in her thoughts, and Joseph his.
I wonder how it was for my father Jacob, as he waited for me to be born.
And before that, how was it for Matthan, his father, and Eleazar, his, and before Eleazar, Eliud, and Achim, and Zadok, and Azor, Eliakim, Abiud and Zerubbabel. Those long generations flow through me now, blood in my veins, memories in my soul. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, that first Jacob hundreds of years ago, my own father is named after him, our holy ancestor.
But now! Now the generations narrow into a new beginning with Jesus, the baby my sweet virgin Mary carries by virtue of God’s gentle touch, God’s choosing. Surely he will love his grandfathers Jacob the Younger and Jacob the Elder and so many more, but already I think he will be speaking of his Father in Heaven even as he honors the old ones. This son of ours (can I call him that?) changes everything.
From him shall rise the sun of Justice.
And he shall be peace.
            (Micah 5, Romans 8, Psalm 13, Matthew 1)
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