Being a forerunner is very hard. Trust me. When you are a pioneer there is no road. And often there are trees, bushes, and brambles in the way. You get lots of cuts and scratches and, you make the road. If you are very lucky, there are people following you. Those early adopters make a lot of noise. And from behind you, you hear the regular sounds of “Are you sure you know where you are going?” “Are you sure you know what you are doing?” “Are we there yet?” and (my favorite), “What time is lunch?” And if you really are a forerunner, you know that you have no idea how to answer any of those questions. You don’t know where you are going. You know there are grizzly bears in the woods. You know there is no map or instruction manual. And you have no idea where to find lunch. You have to go with God, and go with your gut. And often your gut is tied up in knots. And very often, there are people who have never taken a damn risk in their lives throwing stones and dropping bombs on you from the sidelines. Jackie Pullinger once said, that God is calling us to have soft hearts and hard feet. Somehow we tend to do it the other way around. Creative people, and especially painters and poets, are often sensitive souls who are called to run ahead of the crowd. When I was young, I would get my nose bloodied very often because I lived in the most conventional church structures anyone had ever conceived. I was running ahead of the pack when the crowd I lived with was walking a mile behind normal people. Somewhere along the way, my friend Sharen Cooke explained to me about the temperament of highly prophetic and creative people. She helped me recognize that I was traveling two to five years ahead of everyone else and that I needed to recognize it, and make peace with it. I mostly have. Except when people finally arrive at the place I was five years ago, and tell me this is the way I “should” do things. Graham Cooke calls those people “grace growers.” God called Mary to be the Mother of Prophets. That is a lonely place to be. An unmarried pregnant Jewish girl in her day was guilty of a capital crime. She could have been legally, and publicly, stoned to death. I can’t imagine Joseph’s face. Or Mary’s parents’ faces. Although holy tradition makes her parents saints, the Bible ignores them. I think they probably fell into the “Though my mother and father forsake me, the Lord is always at my side,” category. The reason I say this is that Mary went off to see Elizabeth. And stayed with her for three months. Things were probably rough at home. (I’m making dangerous assumptions. Any time somebody fills in the silence of the Bible, you need to take it with a grain of salt. Some sections of the church do not understand this. By the way, dangerous assumptions often make for good reading.) Have you started to figure out that even in little bits of this story in the first chapter of Luke, God is treating Mary with value and honor? God has no favorites. And although God does have intimates and friends, the honor and value he bestows on Mary, he also bestows on you. God knew she was going to bear a difficult, life threatening, shameful, physically and emotionally painful, burden. And so God sent a forerunner whose similar burden would be nothing but a joy to travel with her. Every time Mary cried Elizabeth laughed. And Elizabeth spoke to Mary the words of the angel and re-affirmed the promise: Why should the Mother of my Lord come to visit me? Mary, you are the guest of honor, thank you for blessing me with your presence. Sometimes our perspective is a bit off, and God will send us someone to remind us of the Promise. And the Holy Spirit filled them both and they had three months of holy, happy, encouraging fellowship. And Elizabeth spoke words that would become familiar to millions of us who say these kinds of prayers: Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Alleluia. God sees you. In this Kingdom where everything is possible, the one who runs ahead is a very special person. God chooses you to build the foundation for everything else. The Kingdom is always advancing, never retreating. The lonely, stressful, misunderstood, and maligned place of the prophet is essential to the economy of the Kingdom of Heaven. And God sees you. God values you. God will provide for you. Just like Mary, God will give you a place of safety. God will give you a friend who has walked a similar journey, but is farther ahead. The pain and shame of their journey has given way to joy. Even on the days when you feel like a total failure, and feel like you have been hit in the face with a branch one too many times as you bushwhack to the promised land, God has made you the guest of honor. Blessed is she who believed the Word of God and kept it.
This is a chapter from my book Mary: Honor and Value. If my work encourages you, consider becoming a paid subscriber or buy me a coffee. Thanks.