Good News Bad News (Luke 1: 26-45)
I’m showing my age now, with this reflection that first had an airing roughly 33 years ago and in harking back to a children’s author that I’ve always loved – Roald Dahl. I’ve been a fan since I first discovered his wicked little take offs he did in books like “Revolting Rhymes”. What I especially like about Dahl and this book (with fabulous Quentin Blake illustrations) is the way he takes very familiar stories and re-tells them with a twist. A lot of this involves a bit of a reality check, if you were to look at what would have happened if the events portrayed in the nursery rhyme really had taken place.
For example, take Goldilocks and the three bears. Usually when this is told, it’s engineered in such a way that we are on Goldilocks side. Will she get away from those dangerous bears – hurrah, she does! Let’s all cheer and shower her with praise…
I don’t know about you, but sometimes I think that some of our “faith stories” from the Bible could do with the Roald Dahl treatment. Especially some of the Christmas ones which we’ve heard many times and which can sit slightly awkwardly with our different understandings about how babies come to be and what seeing an angelic host might mean to (for example) a mental health professional. Doing a “Roald Dahl” on them would not only spice them up, but perhaps point out some things that we don’t usually notice.
So, here is the “straight” version of Luke 1: 26-45... and then a Roald Dahl styled alternative.
Luke 1: 26-45 (TEV)
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent
by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man
whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was
Mary. And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is
with you.’ But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort
of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary,
for you have found favour with God. And now, you will conceive in your
womb and bear a son, and you will name him 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 ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob for
ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’ Mary said to the angel,
‘How can this be, since I am a virgin?’ 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 holy; he will be called Son of
God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a
son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For
nothing will be impossible with God.’ Then Mary said, ‘Here am I, the
servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.’ Then the angel
departed from her.
The Birth Of Jesus Announced (with apologies to Roald Dahl!)
Mused Mary sitting in her room
“What is in store for me when soon
I’ll have a man with all that means:
A life of drudge, domestic scenes”
While there she sat, musing her plight,
A shining angel hove in sight.
(Not quite what Mary had in mind –
A vision of the heaven kind!)
With golden voice so strong and clear
He said “Hail! You’re blest my dear!”
“Hail?” thought Mary, “He’s off his rocker –
It’s not raining - but heck and
bother,
What could he mean to call me ‘blest’
What has he seen that I have missed?”
“Don’t fear” said Angel, “Good news I bring
For you a baby – a little king.
The Son of God this child’s to be
His kingdom’s for eternity!”
Now Mary wasn’t at all slow
She sat and thought and said “I know
I’m not your high sophisticate,
But look here buddy, listen mate,
Despite those fancy words you say
I wasn’t born just yesterday!
You can’t have babies on your own
I’m unattached, still home alone!”
Said angel with a cheery grin
“There’s a secret - I’ll let you
in:
this child is not your average type
from parents who have got it right.
He’ll come on board when all Gods power
Will rest on you this very hour.
He’ll be God’s own and yours as well –
He’ll have the name ‘Immanuel’!
Your relly Liz is pregnant too…
There’s nothing that God cannot do!”
Well, what would you do if in the night
A mighty angel hove in sight
And dumps on you dilemma, pain…
A baby that you can’t explain?
Who will believe her, who will hear..
They’ll run her out of town, no fear!
But Mary – young and poor, alone
Says words that made herself at home
In God’s own heart – and ours as well
Listen as they weave their spell:
“I’m God’s servant” – her voice was clear
No trace of any selfish fear.
“Let God do it as he says
I’ll follow God for all my days”.
A more “liberal” interpretation of this sort of story would be to
pooh-pooh it. Babies from thin air – that’s a likely one! It’s just a story
that tries to turn an illegitimate, embarrassing birth into something much
holier and mysterious.
I don’t want to take that kind of tack but instead take the approach of
theologian Roald Dahl.
Mary doesn’t have to be the remote “plaster saint” that we’ve often
grown up with. She is a very plucky young lady whose bravery could put a lot of us to
shame.
If truth be known, she was probably around the age of 13, a poor, probably
illiterate peasant girl who was regarded as a kind on “non-person” in the
culture of the day – someone who was the property of men, of her father first
before being passed on to a husband.
What this story does is show a special messenger from God making a
beeline for her. Quite unheard of for a supposed “non-person”. God is saying to
someone like Mary “I’ve got a special task for you!”
The other thing it does is show a very different reaction from Mary, a
woman, than you get from a man earlier on. When her cousin’s husband Zechariah
sees the angel - as reported in verse 8 – he’s petrified! Scared witless! You
don’t get a sense of this from Mary.
Then, when explanations are attempted for Zechariah, all he wants is a
sign, a miracle, before he’ll believe what he’s being told.
Mary shows much more poise. Her response is one of faith – even for this
pretty tricky situation that has been thrust upon her, with its “Good news”
being potentially “Bad News”. When she said, “may it happen as you said”, she
immediately put her life at risk. An illegitimate baby meant that she couldn’t
expect any man to marry her anymore – and her only probable source of future
income would be life of prostitution.
In a strange sort of way, Mary is a very liberated person.
She’s liberated from the strictures of a society that said women were
not of worth – this simple village girl is part of God’s bigger picture for
bringing Christ into the world!
She’s liberated from the expectations that say God only works through
middle-class middle-age males – God has business with old and young, educated
and illiterate – anyone who will open themselves to the transforming power of
God’s love.
Somehow she was able to turn a potentially dangerous, bad news scenario
around into the good news it was meant to be.
Maybe one of the messages for us again this Christmas is that God is
still able to work through the most unexpected and surprising people – there’s
nothing that God cannot do, even through ordinary people like you or me! And maybe, like Mary, we might have trouble explaining what is really going on…
Amen.
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