26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called[b] the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.”
38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.
Mary Visits Elizabeth
39 At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, 40 where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! 43 But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”
Mary’s Song
46 And Mary said:
“My soul glorifies the Lord
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is his name.
50 His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
53 He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
55 to Abraham and his descendants forever,
just as he promised our ancestors.”
56 Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home.
My next thought is, does it matter?
God promises us that the world will someday reflect the values and mores of the kingdom. There will be a day when bigotry is no more, when wealth and poverty are abolished, when imagination and creativity and kindness are the things to which our cultures aspire. And they do so unified on one safe planet, resting in peace ever evening and rising in hope every morning. in short, Star Trek.
But what f that is all it ever amounts to? What if "the kingdom" is science fiction? What if Go never wields God's mighty arm?
How would that change our posture today? Would we stop being kind to one another because the kingdom was not coming? Would we choose to be cruel because there is no reward? Would we hoard our resources and starve our neighbor? Would we destroy our fragile island home because what-the-hell? Are we just doing these things for transactional reasons - "I do this and I get the kingdom" ? Are we compassionate to our fellow child of God, but really we are holding our nose until Jesus comes back?
Would we stop following Jesus because the road is endless?
I don't think so. I think that there is something inside of every human being at their birth that yearns to be good, yearns to love, seeks just relationships and desires to live in safety, compassion and peace all the days of their life. Now, the world may intervene. Violence begets violence, avarice and greed beget crime, children are traumatized and monsters are created. But even then, in our simplest, most centered selves, the world we desire is the one we describe as the Kingdom. And we know well that to the degree that we have power, we can use it to realize or destroy that dream.
Every day.
Regardless of whether today is number 739,295 of the endless count into eternity, or day 628,184 in the countdown to the perousia. Either way, the lessons Jesus taught us, the example he set, the guidelines he gave, the guardrails in the Hebrew Bible, all of them still resonate within us. We KNOW that is the right way to behave.
Whether God brings the End Times today or never, the way of this world is in our hands.
Act like it.
Set Your Intention:
Today I will act like I believe what the Bible tells me.
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