12/04/2011 THE ETERNAL FIX

THE ETERNAL FIX

            Nazareth, the town name, comes from a Hebrew word meaning “branch.”  Specifically, it’s the kind of new branch, or shoot, that grows from a stump after a tree has been cut down.  How obscure.

Nazareth was obscure in name & location.  If they had MapQuest 2000 years ago, Nazareth would not have appeared on the drop-down menu.  I say that because in Mary’s day, the two primary lists of cities & villages, big & small, didn’t include Nazareth.  A population under 400, largely comprised of shepherds, farmers, & laborers didn’t rate.[1] 

That’s understandable when one realizes that the many persons in or near poverty who lived there were cave-dwellers, literally.  “Neander-thal cave-dweller” isn’t a flattering description in our day.  It wasn’t much better then, either.  The disciple Nathaniel’s prejudice captured it well: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth” (John 1:45-46)!?!

Presumably settled over a spring, so necessary for life in the ancient near east, the area’s soft limestone allowed for houses to be hewn out of rock.  They could be one room or multiple rooms, one story or more, used by animals & humans, cool in the hot, arid climate, & complete with open-air shafts for lighting.  No matter how you describe it, though, a cave is still a cave.  The home & its inhabitants symbolize humility.  Building it was good hard work, but cheap.  Inhabitants truly “scraped by” physically to make a house & financially to make a home.  Such was life in Nazareth for Mary when growing up.

Mary of Nazareth was a young woman when Luke introduces us to her.  Women in her time, upon reaching the age at which child-bearing became a possibility, around age 12, were engaged for a year, then married & had children.  Women conceived, bore, & delivered children annually.  Many of those women & their newborns died.  Life was perilous, as the average person lived only 35 years. 

Mary’s plight was little different.  Yes, this visitation by a heavenly messenger & an unheard-of Holy Spiritual conception were 100% unique.  Their incredible, beyond-fantasy quality only added to the precariousness of Mary’s situation.  For example:  the least of her problems meant that there would be no big, fancy wedding.  That dream’s dashed.  Things only got worse from there.  With no one, potentially, to support her & the child, being an unwed mother was almost a death sentence in that culture.  Worst of all, to be pregnant by someone other than the one to whom she was pledged could mean an actual death sentence (Deut. 22:23-24).

Mary’s choices were staggeringly stark, yet she responded with a resounding, “Yes!” to the angel.  Go figure!  Specifically, she said, “Here I am, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”  Wow!

One could suggest that Mary was crazy when she said “Yes” to God.  I think, however, that the gospel writer, Luke, would have told us, if her sanity were in question.  He wrote elsewhere about mentally/emotionally unbalanced persons, but made no such accusation for Mary.[2]    

Others, more gracious, might consider Mary naïve.  Young & without formal education, the description of naiveté could fit.  I’d prefer to nuance that idea.  There’s a difference between naiveté & child-like innocence.  Innocence possesses a purity not always associated with being naïve.  Scripture adds to what I’m saying. 

I consider Mary to be the real-life example of the child-like faith Luke praises elsewhere in his gospel.  In 9:46-48 he portrays Jesus placing a child by his side to illustrate true greatness.  And, in the Bible’s most famous passage about children, Jesus blesses little ones while proclaiming, “…whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it”(18:17).  I wonder, did he have his own mother in mind when he uttered those words?  Purity & innocence are different than naïve.

Admire, even exalt, Mary as we will for her decision to serve God, the humanity in each of us realizes how frightened Mary must have been of her reality & the hard choices it posed.  Risk abounded!  Some of us might look at Mary & say to ourselves, “It must be rotten to be Mary!” 

How many of us feel that way about ourselves?  How many of us are thinking, “I feel alone, hurt, confused.  It’s rotten being me!”

In the early 1980’s when I was interning to be a forensic psychologist, daily I saw lots of people with problems.  That’s what a psychologist does: help emotionally hurting individuals.

2011 is the only year since that compares in terms of the many deeply hurt people looking for help.  When you see me preaching or at a meeting or serving at the men’s breakfasts, you don’t usually think about what I do the rest of the week.  That’s normal.  A lot of time these past months has been binding up persons’ emotional wounds. 

Pastors are customarily the court of first resort when a congregant experiences a tough time.  You know us & trust us & are glad we won’t bill you for the visit.  Recently, these needs have been extraordinary.  Pastors are not alone in that reality.  Kim Bainbridge reports increasing demands as the guidance counselor at Hatfield Elementary School.  The counselor at my daughter’s school reports an exceptionally busy year, too, as do other therapists in the community.  These are hard times, financially hard times, transitional times.  People hurt for a variety of reasons.

Many persons don’t seek help.  They blithely hope the feelings will pass or run away from problems or act out in hurtful ways.  Others seek help by naively going for the quick fix, especially this holiday time of the year.  Whether it’s the gift you hope will get you over the hump or the one session with a counselor who’s a good listener or the pastor who offers up a brief prayer, quick fixes are in.[3]  Ironically, even though we talk about the poor economy, Black Friday spending was at an all-time high of $11.4 billion, $1billion more than last year.[4]  And we talk about the government’s crazy spending!  The point is: money & materialism are often the quick fixes.  If we put that kind of spiritual energy into real solutions to our life problems, more of us would end up like Mary, doing what was best, what was previously deemed impossible!

There was no ignoring Mary’s plight.  God sent her a message that the One who loved her more than anyone else was there to help, but it was no quick fix.  She didn’t claim to understand it all, but went with what she knew, namely God’s love, God’s grace.  They were certain. 

How is it for you?  How well are you doing?  Is God sending you a message today that the same One who loved Mary so much, loves you more than you can imagine, too?  Ignoring the situation hasn’t worked.  Quick fixes are notorious failures.  A solution that begins now & extends to eternity is the way to go.  It’s not a quick fix, but an eternal one, an eternal fix, a true healing.

Let me be clear:  faith is not magic.  Things didn’t magically change for Mary.  The baby inside grew in her womb & was delivered in a stable.  Not easy stuff.  And the problems didn’t end there.  Being the loving parent had many trying, disappointing days.  How about the day when Mary thought Jesus was lost, only to find him in the temple of all places?  How about when he seemed to reject her & the family for his disciples?  How about when she watched him being executed on Calvary? 

Our problems don’t just evaporate, either.

Mary, however, made a commitment to the God who was so committed to her.  Her situation was beyond her control, but how she responded to it, the choice she made, was in her control.  Her choice entailed risk.  No denying it.  But the blessedly assuring knowledge that she responded to God’s call, was doing God’s will, & would find eternal joy, allowed her to say, “Here I am, God, your child; let it be as you will.”

That’s how it is for the many persons who come to my office – often distraught, hopeless, tearful, frightened.  I admire how they cooperate with God’s grace to be profoundly transformed & find true spiritual joy amid such unhappiness.  As the angel says, “Nothing is impossible with God!”  Amen!  All the old ways, the reliable supports, everything else is stripped away, but miraculously, against the odds something new grows – a new shoot, a new branch, a fresh start.  That’s what Nazareth means.  That’s where Mary was.  That’s where we can be, too.

In the Name….                  Copyright 2011 by G.D.Knerr at Lansdale, Pa.  All rights reserved.