A Christmas Tale

part i
He was born into this, he would die in it. People talked of options and how everyone had them, the priesthood made no room for such. Once you came from the lineage of Levi, service in the temple was a matter of when, not if. Unless you were a leper, had your testicles crushed or toed the line of Hophni and his brother Phineas.

He had been serving for a really long time—a fact he did not like to dwell on as his own case was an aberration. Had Yahweh not promised that if they served Him, He would bless their bread and water and take away sickness from the midst of them and none would be barren? Well, it had not worked out that way, had it? His wife, poor woman, had prayed, possibly more than he had, and given offerings to no avail. They had come to accept their lot: the priest and his wife who were barren.

As he picked up the censer a bright, unearthly light that illuminated everything yet was not blinding filled the room. It emanated from a form that was human and at the same time was not. Fear grabbed him by the neck and squeezed his bladder.
"Zechariah, do not be afraid." It said.
"God has heard your prayer. Your wife will give birth to a son, and you will name him John. He will bring you joy and gladness, and many people will be happy because of his birth. John will be a great man for the Lord. He will never drink wine or beer, and even from birth, he will be filled with the Holy Spirit..."

The angel kept adding other fantastic things about the boy. Zechariah heard them all while trying to process how. He was no Abraham who could still get it up at 125. Even his wife had long passed menopause, he was sure she was in meno-stop. How on earth was this declaration likely?
"How can I know that what you say is true?" He asked. "I am an old man, and my wife is old, too."
The angel stared a while at him before responding: "I am Gabriel. I stand before God, who sent me to talk to you and to tell you this good news. Since you did not believe, you will not be able to speak until the day these things happen."

And then he was alone. When he came out, a sigh of relief spread through the people outside, they had begun to wonder what became of him. But he could not speak to them. He only made signs but remained dumb.

part ii
You truly do not know what your capacity until you are required to bear certain burden. You may have an expectation, usually the product of past experiences and people's affirmation. But even you may be surprised by you when push comes to shove. Few are those who stay true to the character they'd ascribed to themselves.

As is often the case in these matters that moment came without warning. One instant you are all by yourself attending to household chores and mentally ticking off the boxes, glad that you'll be done presently, the next you are not. Somebody else, a being to be more precise, is in the bedroom with you.
He says to you:
"Greetings, you who are highly favored; The Lord is with you!"
Confused, you try to figure out what the greeting means. You are not done, not by a long stretch when he drops another bomb.
"Dont be afraid, Mary. God is honoring you."
And your eyes go from balls to saucers. Seeing the look on your face he adds,
"Listen! You will become pregnant and give birth to a son; you are to name Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High...and His kingdom will never end."
Your mind almost buckles under the gravity and implications of what you just heard. You are not even married for goodness sake! That thought pushes an involuntary, whispered, "HOW?" through your lips. You receive a most unusual answer that will mess up every conception process known to man.

From that instant, you know everything will change. You sense it even as you surrender yourself to a power and purpose higher than you.

Yet, you are also concerned about your affianced. You know the gentle soul and imagine how he will react to news of your pregnancy. He hadnt even once tried to check out the goods, now hed be saddled with a child. You pray that this proverbial camel's back would remain unbroken.

The messenger had said your cousin—the one whom everyone had given up on her ever having a child—was pregnant. You pack your things and set out. You have to see this yourself.

part iii
I have learnt one thing: life is the most convoluted phenomenon ever. It has a mind and timing of its own that has no respect for your projections and expectations. That is the reason when it deals certain hands, one is hard-pressed for an appropriate response. All of the first reactions that rush to the fore seem fitting.

I mean, how does an old woman, well near the grave, respond to conception? Do I dance for joy or do I hide in shame? This here pregnancy is one I have waited over two-thirds of my life for and exhausted all avenues at my disposal in search of. And now when I have left well enough alone, voila, it happens.

My husband came back, from his temple tour of duty, totally and thoroughly dumb. In addition to childlessness, I would now have to cope with dumbness? I threw myself on the ground in hysteria, wailing and rolling. I looked through tears when I felt a hand on my shoulder to see what hed written on a slate: 'It is not permanent.' That got my attention and reduced the intensity of my howling. He erased those and scripted, 'I doubted The Lord's angel and this is the outcome.' My visage must have reflected my question how does a priest doubt an angel? He helped me up and indicated with his head that we go inside. I followed.

It was a long time after when I asked my last question on his encounter with the angel. Then I went to make dinner—wafers dipped in oil.

That night the earth shook, not only our bed. For some time, my husband has not lain with me. It is not just that the urges are infrequent; it is also that we reached a tacit agreement not to engage in unfruitful acts. But this was different on a different level. A zeal I had not seen either of us display in a long time was present. And my husband, he just kept going on and on. It reminded me of days past. Long after he drifted off to sleep, I lay awake patting my tummy.

Within a month, I began seeing signs that the angel had not lied. By the fourth month I began to show. I took to staying indoors. I was not sure how people would react to my distended stomach—and how I would react to their reaction.
I was six months gone when a knock sounded on the door. It was my relative.
"Elizabeth," she cried clasping me in a hug, "It is true!"

As the words reached my ears, the baby in my womb jumped. And for the first time in my life the Holy Spirit took over me. My eyes saw and my mouth spoke... I knew that the saviour of the world had just come into my household.

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