Mary did you know…
Mary did you know… we have a very serious problem here.
It is a right and proper scandal we have here today and a good one at that.
Mary’s pregnant and it ain’t Joe’s kid.
But Joe is a righteous dude—he is going to dismiss Mary quietly. While he’s chagrined, clearly he is noble. He’s keeping the scandal under wraps and that’s a good thing. Otherwise, Mary could be executed for her shameful transgression. Oh yes, friends—we got a scandal on our hands.
Mary is reckless- she impulsively said Yes to God. Didn’t talk to Joe first, didn’t consult her favorite crone cousin Elizabeth. She just foolishly said yes. Yes, to risk, yes to possible public humiliation and shame, yes to possible execution.
Mary did you know—you are an absolute fool. You impulsively said yes to scandal.
Speaking of scandal, if any of you like to play with genealogy, I invite you to take a gander at Jesus’s lineage outlined in Matthew’s gospel—do a little research into Rahab and Tamar and Uriah’s Wife—its all so very scandalous. I love the fact that Jesus’s family tree is riddled with scandal—its messy. Families, beloved are always messy—dodgy characters right alongside sunny sided folks. Stepparents like Joe who after dreaming, decide to raise the boy—Jesus-- as their own.
As an aside—I wonder have you ever noticed in Matthew’s Gospel—there’s loads of dreams. The Magi dream, this Joseph like the one in Genesis dreams, Pilate’s wife dreams. God speaks in our dreams. Do we pay attention?
Ok, so we’ve avoided one scandal—Joe is going to raise the boy as his own. We’re off the hook, right? Not so fast. There are 10 more scandals where that came from in this sweet little story.
And beloved here’s the thing—our human psyche—our souls are built for story. Jesus is a storyteller. The gospel—the good news is riddled with parables. Parable literally means that which comes alongside us. These stories of dreams and scandals are parables too. They are meant to come alongside us, we are invited to play with these stories, see where they take us, and these parables invite us into more questions—not answers. These stories are truth that is parable, metaphor, and questions not truth that is in biology, accuracy, and fact. In the ancient world, there were two kinds of truth known. Too much dangerous religion only knows accuracy instead of the larger truth of story and parable.
When we take this as parable we get to play and ask will this scandalous story take us?
Many years ago, I was at a conference in Atlanta and the legendary Phyllis Tickle was the keynote speaker. In one way or another, the notion of Virgin Birth was put on the chopping block. There were microphones set up around the church for people to ask questions and immediately people lined up to speak their truth about Virgin Birth.
Arguments arose—it happened; it didn’t happen. It was a historical set up to announce that Jesus was a king as all deities of the ancient world were announced as Virgin Birth. The Caesar was born of a virgin. It had to happen because that’s what tradition says! Nothing quite like a good church fight, beloved. Oy!
Finally, a young man one of the youth volunteers for the day came to a mic. Ma’am, he said (because after all it was the South) “why is everyone so upset?” I think it’s a beautiful story.
Everyone stopped. It’s a beautiful story.
It’s a beautiful story with biological scandal that makes no sense. A beautiful story of a man, Joseph who dreams and chooses to follow his wife’s calling. Now, I must admit—even today a man willing to follow a woman is a bit of an unusual circumstance. I’ve talked to men who chose to let their wife’s or partner’s career or path take precedent over theirs. It’s not an easy path to tread NOW. Imagine making that choice in the ancient world—a man’s world. What is this story pointing to? I sincerely doubt that when some of our Christian cousins talk about “biblical manhood” they are willing to consider Joseph who submits himself to following his wife’s God given calling. What a scandal!
Born of a woman, we blithely say—Jesus is born of a woman. And THIS beloved is the biggest scandal of all! So what? So what-- it’s a beautiful story—so what if there’s scandal? So what?
Beloved the scandal at the heart of the incarnation is this—It’s all very ordinary and messy. Jesus God comes in ordinary ways to us. Not sprung from the head of a deity but born of an ordinary woman who was quite impulsive to say Yes to God.
A woman who was willing to say, My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord.
God has cast down the mighty from their thrones, *and has lifted up the lowly.
God has filled the hungry with good things, *
and the rich have been sent away empty.
That’s not Karl Marx, beloved—that’s Mary!
Mary did you know… you’re an absolute radical? Mary did you know we’d try to paint you as meek and mild when you are impulsive and poor and seeking to see the empire overthrown? Meek and mild? No way—Mary is a wild child!
Today I’ve given you a copy Ben Wildflower’s amazing art—his image of Mary. I hope you will take into your imagination and allow Mary the wild child to come along side you.
The scandal beloved is that this is faith of ours is about God coming to us in ordinary ways. That humanity is being made divine through and in Christ being born in us. IN US.
We are invited in our heart soul and mind to be ready for action, ready to take on the divine in us to be light in the world—filling the hungry with God things, men brave enough to follow women, women brave enough to endure scandal and risk, people foolish enough to say YES to overthrowing the powerful lies and dark forces that we still live with today. That’s where this story leads us.
Yes to a story that is built on a messy scandal ridden family, yes to over-throwing empirical powers of the principalities, Yes harrowing HELL itself, Yes to bringing light into the world, YES to God.
Beloved Did you know—you are Mary now—the God bearer? The one impulsively saying Yes?
This is our parable—the story that comes along side us is that we are scandalous ones now.
Beloved did you know—your story is scandal and you impulsively said yes to God?
It is a right and proper scandal we have here today and a good one at that. Beloved, did you know?
If you are reading this online, you will find Ben Wildflower’s art below.