Strange Story: The Birth of Jesus Part 3 Cousins

Because of an angelic message to her husband, “The One Who Has Bound Herself with an Oath to Give All Her Allegiance to God”  (we’ll call her simply “Bound by an Oath” from now on) knew that the child she bore would be the forerunner of the Messiah. No doubt she had given considerable thought to what the Messiah would be like; He had become the primary topic of discussion among those that came to visit her ever since she had broken her silence. Then one day an unexpected visitor came to see her. Immediately the spirit of “God is Gracious” inside “Bound by an Oath” sensed the connection to the spirit of “God Saves” inside of “The Rebellious One” and seemed to shout, “Hey! I recognize Him. He’s the one!” The strong reaction from the child in the womb of “Bound by an Oath” communicated to her as clearly as if God had spoken in an audible voice saying, “That person you are always talking about these days – he’s here.”

The ancient record gives us the Spirit-guided proclamation of “Bound by an Oath.”  Her proclamation focused on the fact that “The Rebellious One” was blessed to be carrying the long-awaited Messiah (starting in Luke 1:42) (see my comment called What Does it Mean to Be Blessed? . And we have the beautiful response of “The Rebellious One” which came from a humble heart full of gratitude to God (starting in Luke 1:46).

This must have been followed by many questions and stories. At some point, probably after “The Rebellious One” and “Bound by an Oath” were alone, ”The Rebellious One” told her “the rest of the story” – that she was pregnant without ever “knowing” a man. This didn’t even phase her wise, old cousin. She was living with a miracle inside her, so other miracles were no surprise.

“Bound by an Oath” understood that the same God who had performed a miracle in her life had performed a similar miracle in the life of “The Rebellious One.” She was able to give her young cousin the confirmation she needed to hear, something along the lines of, “What God has started He will finish. Do not listen to your fears and do not focus on the obstacles; God is bigger than any obstacle.” “The Rebellious One” had been thinking these very things and had been acting on them too, but to hear her cousin say them out loud, without any explanation or prompting was a powerful confirmation. It soothed her soul and strengthened her resolve to face any rejection or ridicule with her head held high.

Their conversations took them many places, including why her cousin’s husband could not speak. His name means “The Personal and Eternal God Remembers,” but there was a problem with that name. Although he was a priest, he had convinced himself that his name was a lie, that God had totally forgotten his wife and left her childless. He had come to the point where he had stopped praying for the miracle of pregnancy; they were too old to raise a child anyway. Then a messenger had appeared to “God Remembers” at the place where God’s followers showed that they were giving God every aspect of their lives, and told him that his prayers, now old and stale, would be answered and his wife would have a child in her old age.

He wanted to believe the message, but he had given himself negative messages for so long that he convinced himself that no such thing could ever happen. Now here it was, a super-human messenger with the exact message he thought was impossible. He wavered. He started to accept it, and then pulled back into doubt once again. The messenger read his face and could tell that he wavered. This happened several times.

Finally, God’s messenger told him that the consequence for wavering and not believing would be that he could not speak until the child was born. And that is exactly what happened.

Afterward he kicked himself. He should have known better. He was a priest; he knew the Scriptures. Why did he doubt? It was too late to change things now. What’s more, his punishment was actually light; his wife would have a son who would serve the Lord mightily. What more could he ask for? He could endure being moot for a few months, but from now on he would believe his own name; he would never forget that God does indeed remember us. Because of His great love, God is incapable of forgetting us.

  “The rebellious One” hoped she could be present for the birth of her cousin’s son, but she had no control over that. Her father had arranged for her to travel to Judea with another family or group of people that he could trust. Similar arrangements were made by her cousin for her return trip. She had no way of knowing which would come first, the baby boy or her traveling companions. The important thing was that she had received encouragement from this visit to “Bound by an Oath.” Here was one person who understood her and believed her story.

Now it was time to return home where she figured that no one would believe her story. But she was determined to face whatever hardships lie ahead with resolve and confidence in God.

To navigate to Part 4 of this story click on The Birth of Jesus Part 4 Dilemmas