Theme 2 - Holy Darkness = The Reality of Our Lives by Greg Allen The Season of Advent calls us to expectant waiting. It is, in many ways, a counter-cultural theme in America today. We live in a culture focused on instant gratification and demand. If we feel sick, we go to the doctor to get a pill or medication to make us feel well quickly. Losing weight has been put in the hands of Sono Bello body contouring. Black Friday now begins on ThanksgivingThursday. The Christmas season now starts before Halloween (I guess we can't wait for it to start so we buy our Halloween costumes alongside our Christmas lights). We have tests we can do at home to detect pregnancy almost as soon as it happens and ultrasound that tells us the gender of our child before we have even fathomed where the baby will sleep once it is born. The internet has fueled this demand by granting us instant access to information; scores, definitions, outcomes, product reviews, apps that can show us what a picture at a store will look like on our walls at home. Movies are available online before they come to the theaters; other apps project what our retirement income will be at 90 yrs old. We can turn our lights and heat on at home from miles away at work, so that we don't have to wait for the home to feel warm & cozy when we get there on cold dark winter nights. Instant on hot water, instant coffee, instant dinners, Instagram messaging. Our Advent Season calls us away from this cultural drive for the instant, the now, the answer, the solution. It calls us into the holy
darkness of waiting. It sets us in a cosmic context of creation that is groaning with incompleteness. It sets us in the context of a people who waited generationally for a messianic savior to save them from the brokenness of their human condition. At the heart of this, it sets us in the focused context of a very young woman who is called into the holy darkness of an unexpected pregnancy in a small tribal village in the northern region of Palestine. LUKE 1:26-38 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!" But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her,* "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there will be no end." And Mary said to the angel, "How can this be,* since I have no
husband?" And the angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, your kinswoman Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible." And Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her. TAKE A FEW MOMENTS TO SIT WITH THIS PASSAGE. READ IT, PONDER IT, NOTE WHAT JUMPS OUT AT YOU, RESONATES WITH YOU, MOVES YOU, SPEAKS TO YOU Now let's put this in the Context of the time. This is set in a Middle Eastern society which is tribal, sectarian, held together by religious laws, rules, and taboos. In this context there was no such period of growth that we today call adolescence. One grew as a child, and then at puberty, one became an adult and took on adult responsibilities. So Mary was most likely 13 years old or so, roughly the age of our freshmen students. Betrothals were mostly arranged, often young women were betrothed to men many years older, and these were for the good of the community, of the village,
of the tribe or clan. Women were second class citizens with minimal rights. Even today we still struggle mightily with issues of gender equality, still have a long way to go. In Mary's context, gender equality was unheard of, unfathomable. In this context, certain things were taboo, and certain actions had to be guarded against for the good of the community. Mosaic Law, found in the Hebrew books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy had clear regulations set to preserve the bond of marriage. Fidelity to the betrothal commitment was of great importance. Mosaic Law had clear boundaries set to preserve the sexual monogamy of the married couple in their society. The 6th of the Ten Commandments states: YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY. And further, we find this in the Laws of Deuteronomy: Deut. 22:22-24 If a man is found lying with a woman married to a husband, then both of them shall die the man that lay with the woman, and the woman; so you shall put away the evil from Israel. If a young woman who is a virgin is betrothed to a husband, and a man finds her in the city and lies with her, then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones, the young woman because she did not cry out in the city, and the man because he humbled his neighbor s wife; so you shall put away the evil from among you. We see from this that God is putting Mary in a very difficult position here. She is betrothed! Now she finds herself pregnant and it is
clearly not a result of her betrothed husband to be. She will be stoned if found out...and how does one hide a pregnancy? Being betrothed and now finding oneself pregnant was a very dark place to be for this 13 year old woman. She knew her husband-to-be, knew that her pregnancy was not a result of their union. She knew the Law, the consequence...stoning! Connection to our world today can be easily found in news stories from various cultures...afghanistan, North Africa, India, etc. Women have been found guilty of adultery and sentenced to death by stoning. In devout Muslin countries ruled by Sharia Law, this punishment is still commuted to those found guilty of sexual crimes. Mary knew all of this. Her culture was steeped in this. So what does it say to us today that this young woman, Mary, puts such profound trust in the Divine as to say YES to this pregnancy? What does this show us, that she so trusted God to bring light out from darkness, hope from a hopeless situation, order & wholeness out of the chaotic fear she must have felt? She chose to enter this holy darkness with no safety net, no back-up plan, nothing to grasp onto but the Word of the Divine that she had found favor with God, that she was not to be afraid, that with God NOTHING is impossible. The last line of this scripture story is the most engaging..."and the angel departed from her". It ends with her ALONE! No comforting reassurances after this. No calming presence. She is left alone in her Holy Darkness. This lays before us important questions to reflect on. What are our
Holy Darknesses? Where in our lives are we called into fearful waiting, where situations seem destined to lead to pain and loss and negativity and disaster? Where are we called to hear God's voice saying to us "Do not be afraid, the Lord is with you"? PAUSE Now I want to turn to the companion piece of this story, found in Matthew's Gospel. Often this is overlooked or mitigated. In the Advent Season we so deeply focus on Mary that we may overlook the story of her betrothed. I believe by doing so, we miss a profound part of the Advent Journey. Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit; and her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to send her away quietly. But as he considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit; she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel" (which means, God
with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took his wife, but knew her not until she had borne a son; * and he called his name Jesus. Here we have another Holy Darkness, different from the first. Joseph has found out about Mary's unexpected pregnancy. His betrothed is with child and he knows it is not his. He too is part of this Middle Eastern cultural context. He too knows the Laws and taboos, the sexual mores ruling the community, the consequences forthcoming, and the hardness of stones. In a similar though nuanced way, he enters Mary's Holy Darkness. He is called into her context, her experience with all its fear and uncertainty. He is a decent man, a good man. We see this in his decision to divorce her quietly. He will weather this quieter route, and avoid public scandal, thereby hopefully sparing her life. I imagine that as quite a sleepless night for Joseph, learning of Mary's pregnancy, knowing the consequences facing her, tossing and turning as he mulls over his options, THEIR options. This Mary is not who he thought she was. No, but what MUST have come through was her deep & abiding FAITH in the Divine to bring light & goodness out of this. And so...he chooses to walk a quieter road of divorce. Finally, he falls asleep. Fitful dreams must have tossed him about. Then God's deep abiding promise and presence comes to him too, in the midst of this Holy Darkness. I would imagine that the 3rd option of joining Mary in her
fear & uncertainty as her husband was one Joseph quickly dismissed after hearing of her unexpected predicament. No real choice here. No, the 2 feasible options were to call her out, be justified publicly, OR to divorce her quietly and move on with his life. God though draws him forth into the unlikely, the totally uncertain, the most obscure path. God calls Joseph to join Mary as her husband, to walk with her as companion in her darkness. I imagine that was no easy choice. To move on into marriage with a young woman carrying a child he knew was not his own. Here God offers a new way. It is God's way that next spring we will see so fully in the Passion of Jesus. This new way is to walk with those in darkness, sharing their fear and uncertainty and pain; offering comfort and support while being touched by the same Holy Darkness. Joseph's choice & example calls to us today, in the context of our lives. Where are we being called to join with and journey with those experiencing Darkness and fear and uncertainty? Who are we being called to support and partner with in a dark time? How is Joseph's yes an example for us today in our relationships with others? Where in our lives do we need the Deep and Abiding faith of Mary, that God will bring order and goodness and wholeness and light out of uncertainty, just as Joseph did?