SOMEONE WHO UNDERSTANDS

A very young Jewish girl, from the region of Galilee, has her life turned upside-down by an angel's visit.  (Angels, it should be said, often show up looking like very ordinary people...)  She is told she is favored, and that the LORD is with her.  The angel tells her not to be afraid (this is a common message angels deliver), and that she is going to conceive and bear a son.  She is to name the boy Jesus, he will be the "Son of the Most High," and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever.  This pregnancy will be a God thing.  This pregnancy will be a good thing.

Mary has to be stunned by all of this.  I suspect she was within shouting distance of shock (if not smack dab in the middle of it).  The young girl is reeling.  Her life plan is being sharply altered by God's action.  Then, the angel mentions that her older relative, Elizabeth, is also pregnant -even in her old age.

Luke 1:39 says Mary hurried south to Judea.  She headed straight for a town in the hilly country where her older relative (a cousin?  an aunt?) Elizabeth was living with her husband, Zechariah.

Why does Mary head straight for Elizabeth?  Because she needed to be with someone who would understand what she was going through.  Elizabeth had some experience with the mystery and activity of God.  She was dealing with her own unexpected pregnancy.  Elizabeth would understand.  Elizabeth would be able to give her a place and some time to begin to sort out this new reality. 

When the child inside Elizabeth hears the voice, the boy leaps.  Then, Elizabeth tells Mary she is blessed and she will, in fact, be the mother "of my LORD."  The older woman tells the younger woman it will be okay.  She reassures young Mary that God is up to good.  And, I am sure, she does a lot of listening over the three months of Mary's visit.

To whom will you go when your life flips upside-down?  Who do you trust to understand you?  Who will you look to for help in sorting out where you are, what is ahead, and how God may be at work? 

And is it possible that there are people looking in your direction for your blessing, your mentoring, your understanding, and your encouragement?

Mary heads south to the hilly country and her relative, Elizabeth.  She is in a hurry.  What we know, of course, is that the child she is carrying will be the Christ who understands us, who knows our heart and soul and life better than we know them ourselves, and is not frightened off by our confusion, our shock, and our ache. 

Jesus is the one to whom we can go....when life is more than we can handle.  It is good to have a place to go, isn't it?  It is good to know someone understands.  It is good to know we're loved. 

In Christ and for Christ,

Mark