Word to the Wise
Monday, December 19, 2011 -
[Judges 13:2-7, 24-25a and Luke 1:5-25]"You will be with child and bear a son. So take neither wine nor strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for the boy shall be consecrated to God from the womb, until the day of his death." [Judges] "Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall name him John.....He will drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb...."
Unexpected pregnancies are part of the big story of God's plan of salvation! The figures of Samuel the prophet and Samson the "judge" are prominent Old Testament examples. The stories of the annunciations of the births of these two figures seem to have served as models for the evangelist, Luke, in relating the stories of John the Baptist and Jesus! The scholarly exegesis involved need not detain us at the moment. The power of the story is what gives this liturgical season its dynamic quality.
God's power to save is manifested through heavenly messengers and barren women! Good news of great joy comes to Hannah, the mother of Samuel, to the unnamed mother of Samson, to Elizabeth and to Mary (who is intentionally barren). Then these women become the bearers of good news by giving birth! The great Dominican mystic, Meister Eckhart, speaks of the birth of Christ in the soul: "What good is it that Christ was born so many years ago if he is not born daily in me?" The women in the scriptures are caught up in God's plan at a particular moment in human history, but their heroism has a transcendent purpose. Their "preaching" makes that "daily birth" possible for all of us. They have brought us "tidings of comfort and joy!" AMEN