Letters from a Handmaiden

 

 

Dear Elizabeth and Zachariah,

I hope Yahweh has blessed you both!

So much has happened in the past three months. I have been betrothed! My fiancé is a young man named Joseph. He is a carpenter just starting out here in Nazareth.  But I have news even greater than that! Yesterday I was out working in the garden…

The sun beat down on Mary’s veil as she stooped over the plants in her little garden. Ever since being betrothed to Joseph two months ago, she was working hard to make sure they would have a good supply of food for their first winter together. Mary straightened and shaded her eyes against the intense glare of the sun.  She chuckled as her younger sister, also named Mary, raced her friends down the street. Turning back to her work, Mary put her tools down and picked up the skein of water. She made her way to a grove of trees, and sank down in the refreshing shade. She leaned against the trunk of the tree and closed her eyes, listening to the birds sing sweetly above her.

“Mary.” A voice whispered gently through the peaceful grove.

Mary opened her eyes. There was no one there. After looking around her, she settled back against the tree trunk and closed her eyes.

“Greetings, you who are highly favored! Yahweh is with you!”

This time Mary fully sat up.  A huge man stood before her. The sun shone behind him, lighting him up. Or was it heavenly light? What had he said to her? Highly favored? Her? Mary? The simple girl from Nazareth, favored?

“Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.” The man’s powerful voice said, “You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus.  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”  

The Messiah! Yes! Finally! Israel had waited so long! But Joseph and I won’t be married until fall, nearly six months away! How can this be? Mary thought.

 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

The angel smiled and said, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age and is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.”

“I am the Lord’s servant;” Mary said, head bowed “Let it be done to me as you have said.” Mary looked up, but the angel was gone.

Was it all a dream? No! I cannot doubt what the Lord has promised to Israel and to me. I have to tell Mama and Papa! Oh no! What will Joseph think?

With these thoughts rushing through her mind Mary ran to her house, where she knew her mother to be preparing supper. As she entered the house, Mary’s nose tingled with the aroma of freshly baked bread. Her mother Miriam stood at the table working with the bread. Miriam looked up and saw her eldest daughter and smiled.

“Oh Mama! Something wonderful has happened! I was out working in my garden and I took a rest by the tree and all of a sudden a man came to me! He said I would be with child and bear a son and his name would be Jesus and he would be the son of the Most High, and I asked how can this be since I am a virgin and he said ‘the power of the Most High will overshadow you and you shall bear a son’ and I said ‘I am the Lord’s servant, and then he disappeared! Oh Mamma! This is the day Israel has longed for! And to think I am the vessel that Yahweh will use to accomplish this!” Mary cried gasping for breath at her exciting news.

“Mary, are you saying you are pregnant?” Miriam asked her daughter in disbelief.

Mary nodded “As the angel said. Mama, I’m not lying! Don’t you believe me?” The pain was evident in the young woman’s voice.

“Mary, you must admit this is a lot to take in. But yet, you’ve always been truthful before, so yes I do believe you. But what to tell your father! And Joseph! How will he take this?”

“Mama, I am afraid of what Joseph and papa will say, and all the rest of the village, but Yahweh is Jehovah-Jira, he will provide. He would not have promised me this son, if harm was to befall me. Meanwhile the angel said that Elizabeth is pregnant! I must go to her. Maybe it will be for the best, just a couple months, give Joseph a chance to take in the news.”

“Perhaps you’re right. You will tell Joseph and then make preparations to go see Elizabeth and Zachariah. May Yahweh bless you for your trust in him.

…And so dear Elizabeth and Zachariah, I told my betrothed my news. It hurts more than anything to see him distrust me and think that I was unfaithful. But the Lord will work on his heart, and one day he will believe. I look forward so much to seeing you both! Mother and father send their love, as do Mary and Salome.

 May the Almighty keep you until I see you!

Mary

 

As Mary approached the home of her cousin and her husband, her heart beat rapidly. This was the defining moment, soon she would see if what the angel had spoken was indeed true. Not that she didn’t believe what the angel had said but this would be proof that she needed to encourage her. Mary saw a figure bent over a little table, instantly she knew it to be Elizabeth.

“Elizabeth! Yahweh be with you!” Mary called. Elizabeth turned and when she saw Mary she grabbed her very large stomach. Mary rushed to her. “Are you well?”

“Yes! As soon as I heard your voice the baby leapt in my womb for joy! Mary! Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!” Elizabeth embraced Mary, tears rolling down her cheeks.

Mary held up her hands and said, “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me, holy is his name!”  

Elizabeth giggled, belying her sixty-nine years and hugged Mary once again. Elizabeth looked up as something caught her eye. “So now the priest decides to join us!”

 Mary turned, and saw Zachariah leaning against the door, smiling at the joyful scene before him. Mary rushed to him and hugged him. “Zachariah! How are you! I have so many questions for you!”

“Unfortunately if you are to ask him any questions you will have to write it down. Ever since his confrontation with the angel, he hasn’t spoken a word, and won’t, I understand until our son is born.” Elizabeth had come up behind her, “My dear husband it seems did not believe in God’s promises.” Elizabeth looked at her husband sternly. Zachariah looked sheepishly at Mary.   “Well you must be very hungry after such a long trip, come I was just preparing supper.” And with that Elizabeth led Mary into the house, with Zachariah following closely after.

Mary had been with Elizabeth and Zachariah for about three months, when a messenger came with a letter for Mary from Nazareth.

“Open it child!” Elizabeth insisted when the letter was delivered.

“I can’t! What if it is bad news? What if something has happened to my family or to Joseph? No you open it, please.” Mary thrust the letter into Elizabeth’s hands.

“We’ll open it together.” Elizabeth decided. The letter was opened and placed on the table.

My dearest Mary,

I don’t know how to apologize for not believing you and thinking all sorts of terrible things about you. Will you ever forgive me?

An angel appeared to me in a dream. He told me that the child you carry is indeed the Holy child, and I should not be afraid to take you as my wife. He said you will have a son and we will name him Jesus.

Mary if you will still have me, please return to Nazareth as soon as you can.

May Yahweh keep both you and the one in your womb,

Joseph Ben Jacob

“Praise the Lord! He has opened Joseph’s heart and eyes!” Mary whispered with tears trickling down her face .

“Mary! You must leave at once! Joseph needs you and wants you by his side!” Elizabeth cried as soon as she had read the letter.

“But Elizabeth, your time is quickly approaching! How can I leave you now?”

“Mary, I will have no lack of help, every woman and midwife wants to midwife the woman who is ‘a modern day Sarah,’” Elizabeth chuckled, “Yes I will have so much help; I will have it coming out of my ears! Now you, get yourself ready to go home and to your beloved!”

 

Dear Elizabeth,

            I am so glad to hear that both you and your son are doing well. Thank Yahweh that Zachariah was born right there in your village so you did not have to travel! This census forced Joseph to go back to Bethlehem, and I agreed to go with him. Joseph insisted on me staying in Nazareth because my time was so close, but the law is the law. The journey for the most part was quite enjoyable. Joseph and I talked about so much, things we never thought of before. I think it was a great help to both of us.

            We had just gotten through Jerusalem, when I knew the time had come. I have never felt such pain before! I was sure I was going to die there on the road. Poor Joseph had no idea what to do!  But Yahweh must have given him wisdom, because he kept the little donkey moving and comforted me as best as he could. We soon got to Bethlehem. It was so crowded! It seemed as if the whole world was there that night. My pains were coming stronger and faster. Joseph rushed to the inn to ask if there was any room. The answer came back very grumpily. No room! My poor husband was at a loss at what to do. Then the innkeeper’s daughter, a young thing probably not more than nine years, suggested the lambing cave. We had no choice and Joseph was supporting me the entire way to the cave because I was in so much pain. When we reached the lambing cave we discovered it to be a snug, warm place, albeit smelly and dirty. Joseph found a clean pile of straw and helped me settle down for a long, painful delivery.

             I have never before in my life been as aware of the spirit world as I was during that delivery. Just when we thought I was making progress, something would happen to my body. I had no control and was too weak to deliver my child. When this would happen, Joseph would recite verses and pray, and eventually the fit would leave me and I received a new burst of strength. Just when the baby was about to be born, the biggest fit came upon me and I could hardly breathe. As Joseph prayed with all his might, I saw an evil, dark shadow poised above me. Suddenly I saw a burst of light, cut into the shadow. It jumped and disappeared. A sweet peace descended upon the cave and within a few minutes the child was born.

            Elizabeth I hope one day you will be able to see him! How can a child, barely able to see, look as if he has seen indescribable things? I know he is God, but he is so human! His tiny feet, his perfect lips, those small ears; and yet those same feet have trod in the Garden of Eden, and those lips called Enoch to him, and those ears have heard the praise of angels.  How is this miracle possible?

            I feel so unworthy for the task before me, but I was chosen as the vessel to bear in me this joy and pain. This little one will change so many lives; he has already changed his father’s and mine. Someday I hope our sons will meet, and then their mothers can talk about these miraculous things that they have pondered in their hearts!

May Yahweh bless you,

Mary