Responses

As I was reading the Christmas stories this year, I was struck by how people responded to unreal news.  When Joseph found out that his fiancee was pregnant, and he knew the Child wasn't his, he was probably hurt... and justifiably so.  When the people in Nazareth heard that Eli's teenage daughter was pregnant, they probably judged her... much like we do today.  The Magi felt compelled to follow a star, for reasons we don't know, and were obedient to that compulsion.  And the shepherds, well, the shepherds were filled with excitement and curiosity.

Two responses, though, were remarkably similar and yet vastly different.

Zacharias and Elizabeth were old... too old to have any hope for children.  Zacharias trusted God.  He believed.  And yet, when the angel appeared to Zacharias and told him that Elizabeth would have a son, his first words were "Do you expect me to believe this?  I'm an old man and and my wife is an old woman."  (Luke 1:18, The Message)  Zacharias, even though he knew God was trustworthy, had seen Him work in his life, couldn't bring himself to believe unbelievable news.  And he paid for his unbelief with nine months of silence.

And then there's Mary... sweet Mary.  She wasn't stupid.  She knew where babies came from.  And she knew that, in her life, there were a couple of things missing.  But when the angel came to her, told her that she too would have an unlikely Child, her response wasn't "That's not possible."  She didn't ask "Who are you trying to fool?"  She had questions.  She was uncertain.  She asked the angel, "But how can this happen?  I am a virgin!"  But she didn't argue.  Even though she didn't understand what the angel was telling her, she accepted it as Truth.  

How many times have I tried to argue when the Holy Spirit spoke to me?  How often to I try to talk Him out of His plan by telling Him that it just doesn't make sense?  Why can't I simply trust Him that He has a plan, that His ways are higher, that there are some things that I just can't understand?  How many more chances will I get before I too am stricken with silence?