Seven days until Christmas.

Simplicity. Necessity. Innovation.

         I grew up near an Amish community. My father knew many of the Amish men and so, as a boy, I fished and hunted with them. It didn’t seem strange to me at all. Early on I learned that just because they lived a ‘simple’ life (which none of us could comfortably live), they did so by choice. Not because they were stupid, but because it was their way of life. I also found that they often needed to do something that might require some item from the English (their word for us) life, such as roller bearings for their wheels on their buggies. When they need something of that nature, it always amazed me how well they were able to modify something to make it work.

         Simplicity. Necessity. Innovation.

         Marsha and I were commissioned as home missionaries for the Southern Baptist Convention while we lived in Florida. To the Southern Baptist, the northern reaches of this country are far more mysterious and bizarre than the Amazonian jungle. So, since we were from the frightening North and were familiar with the dangerous natives, as well as the horrible weather, we were sent to the mission field of Ohio. We wound up in Warren, Ohio. I grew up just north of the afore mentioned Amish community. Warren was about the same distance to the south of that same community. While on that ‘mission field,’ it was necessary that I have a regular job. I fell back on what I had done while in college and seminary, that being working at an auto parts store.

         One day an Amish man walked into the parts store and came to my position. A typical Amish greeting. “Larry.” “Eli.” Then to business. He lay a worn out brake shoe on the counter. I gave him a quizzical look. He answered, “Rear, 1968 MGB.” “OK, Eli. Those are rare now, but I should have it by the end of the week.” “I’ll be back Saturday.” And he turned and walked out. My counter partner, Bruce, walked over. “He has a 1968 MGB?” “No Bruce. He put the rear axle of a 1968 MGB on his buggy so he would have brakes that could stop his horse if the horse started running if a car passed to close.” Bruce’s eyes grew big. “Wow! I wonder what else he has on his buggy?” I looked at Bruce from the corner of my eye. “Well, he has an exhaust system for the horse, but the horse isn’t too happy about it.”

         Simplicity. Necessity. Innovation.

         It always makes me bristle when I hear people say, or read what people say, when they say that Bible folks were a simple people and needed to have their myths about a God to explain the simple events around them. Poor, simple minded Israelites had no Google Search or Twitter. They couldn’t grasp complex thought. Yet, it was the ancients who worked out geometry, who could steer by the stars, who knew the weather patterns. We could not be whisked back into their time and survive, but they would be fine, after a month or so, in our time. We have not evolved because of our technology. We have devolved.

         And all of this brings me around to Mary and Joseph.

         First, Mary. We have Mary, the mother of Jesus. Mary Magdalene. Mary, the sister to Lazarus and Martha. There are a few others. Mary comes from the Hebrew Miriam, who was the older sister of Moses and Aaron. The word, in the usage of the Old and New Testaments, means ‘they rebelled.’ We have been given certain mental pictures of these women. Miriam, a loving sister watching over her infant brother. Mary, the mother of Jesus, quiet and reserved and kind of wimpy. Mary Magdalene, the repentant prostitute. Mary, the sister of Lazarus and Martha, an impulsive dreamer. All of which is nonsense. These women we adults by Biblical standards. This would be their later names which would reflect their personalities. They were rebellious women. Miriam is called a prophetess of God. Only men spoke as God’s messengers, but Miriam had something to say and did so with authority. That was her rebellion. Mary Magdalene was not called a prostitute anywhere in Scripture. That is a Roman Catholic concoction taken from thin air. ‘Magdalene’ means she was from the town of Magdalia. There is a Roman record from Magdalia (also known as Magda) that list various men as prominent businessmen and one woman, known as Mary. How dare she be a business owner. That was her rebellion. Mary, the sister of Lazarus and Martha, dared to enter in a room of men and sit at the feet of Jesus. That could be done outside, but not inside. When Martha complained to Jesus, she would have said, in Aramaic, “Have this rebellious one help me.” That was her rebellion, to sit and listen. So why was Mary the mother of Jesus called rebellious? I don’t know, but I am thinking she was a spitfire. She was early in her pregnancy and walked 90 miles from her home to the home of Elizabeth! She was no frail little thing.

         Then, Joseph. A carpenter. Skilled hands. The kind of man who was stable. A working man and yet the type of man who used his mind to figure and plan. Based on the times and customs, he would have been a young man when he made a deal with Mary’s father for Mary as his wife. Mary would have been a small child. Today we would look at that as a perversion, but it was how things were done. By the time Mary could be married, Joseph would be fully established in his career. I see, in my mind’s eye, Joseph watching Mary grow up. (Nazareth was a small town) She of the rebellious spirit. I wonder if he ever shook his head and wondered if he had done the right thing.

         But then an angel comes to the rebellious girl. In time she tells Joseph and an angel comes to the hard working and stable man. These two are going to set out on a one time only adventure.

         We will talk about that tomorrow.