Thoughts for the Day

Luke 1:5 In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendent of Aaron.

All four gospel writers make the connection between Jesus and John the Baptist, so perhaps it should come as no surprise that in ‘investigating everything from the beginning’ Luke finds himself drawn back to the remarkable details of the announcement of the conception of John the Baptist.   After all the years of Israel’s waiting – 400 years since the last of the Old Testament prophets – God’s apparent silence is broken in the shape of Gabriel’s exchange with Zechariah in the temple in Jerusalem.  Luke places this firmly in real history and gives the characters not only names but ancestry, almost inviting verification of his narrative.  As the story unfolds, it becomes evident that Elizabeth’s pregnancy will already be well under way long before the angel Gabriel speaks to Mary.

So, what if Mary should then say “No”? How can the unthwartable plans of God be dependent on our free will choices?  And not only Mary, but Joseph too, and Zechariah, Elizabeth, the Magi, the shepherds, Simeon, Anna and even (sadly) king Herod.  All have roles to play in the unfolding Christmas story.  There is undoubtedly mystery in this!  But does it need to be a big philosophical dilemma?  We all know some people we can rely on, for good or bad, without having to cast them as robots.  And we know we make choices, every day.  Dare I suggest you have to be very wise and clever in the world’s eyes to imagine you are no more than a pre-programmed computer?  Nevertheless, how does God do it?

I imagine it has something to do with God knowing our hearts better than we do, perhaps such that our free will choices are as predictable to Him as our autonomic responses are to us.  But I’ll admit that’s hardly compelling.  Perhaps rather it is that we tend to be “either ..or” people, “free-will or pre-destination”, “justice or mercy”, “love or hate (or judgement)”, “blue or red”.  But God is a “both … and” God, not sitting somewhere along the spectrum, not holding the extremes in balance or tension, but somehow gloriously in harmony.  God is beyond us, which should be no surprise, but it is a mystery!