In the Quiet, In the Waiting...
During Elizabeth’s sixth month of pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to a virgin girl who lived in Nazareth, a town in Galilee. She was engaged to marry a man named Joseph from the family of David. Her name was Mary. Luke 1:26-27 ERV
My house is in that momentary quiet lull that comes before the flurry of Christmas. We are already late with our preparations, and I don’t know how we ended up here just days before Christmas Eve without a present wrapped or a decoration hung. Jeff is hanging wallpaper on the ceiling of the dining room (yes, I know…) and waiting for the aqua and turquoise chandelier to arrive… shoot, I hope he has ordered it… and I am chopping vegetables for soup and baking chicken pot pies – not exactly Christmas oriented activities.
But this coming Saturday the children arrive to bake my sister’s sugar cookies and ice them with the greatest combination of colors and there will be gifts piled under the tree which doesn’t exist yet. So, I better get busy. But for just one more moment I want to wait in the quiet. The sky is starting to turn pink outside my window, day will be arriving soon.
Was there quiet in the dark homes in Judea before that first Christmas morn? They were living under foreign rule, and it had been a long time since God had raised His mighty voice and the heavens rumbled with lightning and fire. They had a history of their God showing up to part the sea and drop manna from heaven and make water flow from the rock. But He had been quiet for a long, long time.
What these ordinary Jewish people didn’t know was that God had sent an angel, His messenger, to terrify an old priest and a young girl and a lowly laborer named Joseph. An odd assortment, those three. Who would have thought they were worth bothering with?
The old priest was named Zechariah and he had an old wife named Elizabeth and their sorrow and shame was that they had never held a baby in their arms as their own. It was a deep sadness aching within them, one that slowed each step. Hope had long ago departed. But Gabriel had shown up unexpectantly (I guess you can never plan for such things) to meet with Zechariah behind the curtain in the Holy of Holies with the promise of a coming son named John. Zechariah scoffed at such a ridiculous prediction and had discovered what the consequences were to doubt the plans of God. Silence. His voice would not return until Elizabeth held their babe in her arms to be circumcised and the child officially named. Maybe we need to remember to hold our tongue when God shares His plans… This beautiful story is told by the physician Luke in the first chapter of his book.
And then there is the young girl, Mary. She was nobody, really. Just a girl. Not even a woman yet. A girl living in her father's house. Perhaps she was sewing her wedding garments. Perhaps she had started preparations for Joseph's arrival when he would come, maybe in the night, suddenly announced by his best man to invite her and all the townspeople to their wedding feast. Had they already signed their sacred wedding agreements at her father's table? We don't know. We only know she was 'betrothed' to Joseph, of the house of David, and nothing under the sun would change that – except a scandal of the worst kind. So, she waited, quietly. I am sure with anticipation.
And then without warning, instead of a cry in the streets that her groom was coming, her name was called out by a troubling angel in her room announcing her plans were changing. This was not good. The timing was really bad. She immediately understood the consequences of such a thing as a baby conceived before a wedding day. Joseph would disown her. The neighborhood women would scorn her. Her parents certainly would not understand. Her quiet world had just shattered.
Did she stand frozen to the spot or fall to the ground under the mighty words of this angel Gabriel? A son would arrive before her wedding day… his name would be Jesus, called the Son of the Most High, given the throne of his ancestor David, reigning over the tribes of Jacob forever, with a kingdom without end. And oh, by the way, your cousin Elizabeth is six months pregnant. Why don’t you go visit her and get away for a while?
And so, she did. It is all right there in Luke’s story. Interesting reading.
Then there is Joseph. We don't know a thing about him, except his line of work – a carpenter. A man who worked with his hands, shaping wood smooth, building necessary things. But he had quite an honorable bloodline, winding back to Zerubbabel, who was born in Babylonian captivity but returned to the destroyed and abandoned city of Jerusalem to become governor of Judah and oversee setting the altar in its place and the rebuilding of the temple of Solomon along with the priest Jeshua (Ezra 3).
Zerubbabel was encouraged by the prophet Zechariah in a vision from God, "This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: 'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the Lord Almighty. What are you, mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel, you will become level ground. Then he will bring out the capstone to shouts of 'God bless it! God bless it!' Then the word of the Lord came to me: 'The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple; his hands will also complete it. Then you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you" (Zechariah 4:6–9).
And the words of the prophet Haggai, “The word of the LORD came to Haggai a second time on the twenty-fourth day of the month: ‘Tell Zerubbabel governor of Judah that I am going to shake the heavens and the earth. I will overturn royal thrones and shatter the power of the foreign kingdoms.’… 'On that day,' declares the LORD Almighty, 'I will take you, my servant Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will make you like my signet ring, for I have chosen you,’ declares the LORD Almighty” (Haggai 2:20–23).
All this to say, this specific ancestor of Joseph had a history of God showing up to save the day with promises of capstones for the foundation of the temple and the power of His signet ring (a seal of royal authority). On that day.
Could it be that these ancient promises of temples and kingdoms to Joseph’s ancestor Zerubbabel were being fulfilled, not only then but now? Was there some connection here with the promises of capstones and signet rings? No, that is way too much to think about… and now you have just experienced how far I go down intersecting pathways!
Anyway, just glance at those names Matthew, the tax collector lists out for us in his opening lines; Zerubbabel, Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 17), Solomon, David, Boaz, and Ruth, Judah and Tamar, Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham. Not too shabby. In terms of Jewish royalty.
But Joseph is just a common carpenter, and his wife-to-be has turned up pregnant after spending three months in the hill country. It is pretty obvious what has happened. And it is pretty obvious to Joseph that this child is not his. In their culture, he was already considered married to her – although she is still living in her father's house, and they had not joined together yet as man and wife. It is his responsibility to deal with her. He is thinking quietly, to himself, perhaps he can divorce her and send her away somewhere… and then he has a dream.
Again, it is that angel. You know the one – the one who speaks for God and stands in His presence. The one who shows up to wreck your plans.
Basically, his message to Joseph is to the point: “Mary is innocent of all wrongdoing. This is on God. The son is His. You will stand in as father and name him Jesus – because he will save his people from their sins. Remember the prophet Isaiah predicting a virgin would conceive a son? Well, this is it.” Of course, all of that is my paraphrase.
It would not be the last time Gabriel would show up for a midnight chat with Joseph. He didn’t know it yet, but the world was getting ready to be shaken. He would be looking for a quiet place for his un-wife to give birth in the crowded town of Bethlehem. He would be awakened in the night to evade a blood-thirsty paranoid king. He would give up his prospering business in his hometown to hide out in the foreign country of Egypt. He would move his little family again when he was called to return to Judea - yet would find danger still lurking there. Finally, he would travel north to settle his growing family safely near Galilee in the less notable town of Nazareth.
But for now, all of that is just angel-whisper of what is to unfold. For now, all is quiet. And the night is silent. Waiting for what is to come…
Question: God often comes to us in the quiet. In these busy times, where is your hidden place where you have a moment to wait, to listen?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHWtWIcSN3U
Gabriel’s Message Matt Maher
Note: Thank you to Casey and Muriel for teaching a class on Advent – helping me think of Joseph in a new way and encouraging me to be quiet and listen.