It was baking day as I recall. I was standing at the kneading table, working the dough. Sunlight spilled in the open doorway onto my hands, catching the dancing flour dust in its rays, when a shadow fell across me.
Glancing up, I saw a stranger in the doorway looking in. Thinking him a traveler passing by, lured in by the smell of baking bread, I looked for a loaf and cup of water to offer him. He stopped me with the strangest of greetings:
“Greetings favored one, the Lord is with you, you are blessed among women.”
He then told me I would bear a son, Jesus, who would be called the son of the Highest and would sit on the throne of David. Extraordinary words to have addressed to me. Extraordinary, but not unfamiliar.
You must understand, every young maiden of the House of David knows the words of the prophet Isaiah:
“Hear ye, House of David,…the Lord himself shall give you a sign! Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”
Whenever these words are read in the synagogue we maidens standing in the Women’s Court look under our lashes at each other and smile softly.
“What if it were you?” We whisper to each other.
“What if it were me?” Nobody says this, but I see the thought in their eyes and I know it lies hidden in my heart ,the unspoken, inexpressible, terrifying yet wonderful possibility. Generations before us have waited for it, yet though it tarry, one day it shall surely come to pass.
What if this were that day ?
At his words, the favor of God, the grace the angel spoke of [I knew now it was an angel who spoke to me] settled on me, a warmth spread through me, the slow awakening and blossoming of a dormant hope stirring and daring to come to life.
But what if he spoke of a child born of my approaching union with Joseph ? I asked the question:”How can this be since I know no man?”
In answering, however, he did not mention Joseph but confirmed the prophecy. This child would be the son of the most High, the son of God, conceived of the Holy Spirit. Surely he spoke of the long awaited promised Messiah!
Then he told me my cousin Elizabeth, who had been barren so long, was now with child!
Such rejoicing and wonder flooded me, I cannot explain. My spirit yielded to the will and purpose of my God which suddenly seemed so clear to me . I spoke the only words possible in that moment of sweet surrender :
“Behold the handmaid of the Lord . Be it unto me according to your word .”
When I looked up the angel messenger had disappeared. With him the certainty and rightness of all things felt in that glimpse of the Holy of Holies left me too, a prey to chaotic thoughts . What happens now? What do I say to my family?…to Joseph!!! Would they believe me? The words of the psalm came to comfort me :
“ Fret not yourself, oh my soul , trust in God who keeps you .”
All the details were best left in the hands of God. At that moment I knew what I had to do.
I would go to Elizabeth .
