Waiting

PASSAGE FOR THE DAY:

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!”

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.

57 When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. 58 Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy.

59 On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, 60 but his mother spoke up and said, “No! He is to be called John.”

61 They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who has that name.”

62 Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. 63 He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s astonishment he wrote, “His name is John.” 64 Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue set free, and he began to speak, praising God. 65 All the neighbors were filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things. 66 Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, “What then is this child going to be?” For the Lord’s hand was with him.

67 His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied:

68      “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,

    because he has come to his people and redeemed them.

69      He has raised up a horn of salvation for us

    in the house of his servant David

70      (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago),

71      salvation from our enemies

    and from the hand of all who hate us—

72      to show mercy to our ancestors

    and to remember his holy covenant,

73          the oath he swore to our father Abraham:

74      to rescue us from the hand of our enemies,

    and to enable us to serve him without fear

75          in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

76      And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High;

    for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,

77      to give his people the knowledge of salvation

    through the forgiveness of their sins,

78      because of the tender mercy of our God,

    by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven

79      to shine on those living in darkness

    and in the shadow of death,

to guide our feet into the path of peace.”

80 And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel. (Luke 1:39-80, NIV)

REFLECTIONS:

What is the joy of waiting? We have all experienced how waiting and anticipation heightens the joy of consummation. The first example that comes to mind is the birth of a child. If babies came right after concep­tion, the new life might bring more shock and fear than joy in the mo­ment. Perhaps God’s gift to us is time—time to tell everyone our good news, time to paint a room and buy things, time to prepare ourselves for this new life. Instantaneous birth would rob us of the joy of waiting, but with nine months to prepare and imagine, the birthday comes as a glori­ous celebration!

An example of this from Scripture is Adam’s first reaction to Eve. Adam lived alone for some amount of time; he worked naming the animals and stewarding the garden. Yet, we read he had no suitable helper, and it was “not good.” Day-after-day Adam was faced with the reality that he was alone. Not without company, but without companionship. Thus, when Adam first laid eyes on Eve, he broke out into song: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” (Genesis 2:23)

Adam, I’m sure, would have been glad to have Eve from day one. But the waiting, the unnamed longing for someone with flesh and bone like his, brought about a joy he could not have otherwise known.

There is in all of us a deep sense of longing that has to do with incom­pleteness—embryonic aspirations, parts of us that remain unknown, an ever-increasing awareness of our broken world. We may be redeemed and joyful in Christ, but we know there is more—that we were made for another world. Lingering in our souls is the eerie memory of Eden and the mystery of kingdom come.

Pregnancy strikes me as one of the few things that we are required to wait for anymore. In fact, almost every occasion of waiting is now largely seen as an imposition. It’s not that life stops during pregnancy. We still have all the usual things to do. But the growing belly is a constant reminder of what is to come. There is nothing we can do to hasten it or prolong it. We can only prepare and wait. This is the kind of longing Paul speaks of:

“We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.” (Romans 8:22-25)

Advent makes us wait and take note that this is how God chose to come into our world. Not in a flash from the sky, but as a seed in the womb of a woman. After thousands of years, the Messiah finally comes, and then there is waiting. For Mary and Joseph, Elizabeth and Zechariah, it was a blessed time… time to take it all in, time to prepare and dream wild dreams, time to break out in song!

Joy is experienced so much more deeply when we are made to wait for the thing we long for. The anticipation of Advent makes the Joy of Christmas morning even more palpable.

PRAYER:

Come, Lord Jesus Come.

Come when you will.

We await your return.

Come when time is full,

Our pregnant hope due.

New life in our old world,

New bodies in full view.

Come in the morning,

Our long-awaited light.

The day breaks death,

The darkness now in flight.

Come with trumpet sound,

Our consummate song.

Resounding joy for all

Who have waited so long.