Shitty situations

I've been thinking a lot about Mary (the mother of Jesus) these days. Mary is such and interesting character in God's story. She is dynamic, confident, untroubled. And I firmly believe she'd be a feminist if she had any idea what the word meant back then (but I'll save that for another post).

I've been thinking about the way Mary just said "yes" to God without even thinking about it. She's almost annoyingly cool in her response to the angel. But I don't think this really had much to do with Mary's personality. I think it had much more to do with the promise she had heard over and over again as a Jew hearing the biblical narrative of God's action throughout history. 

You see, Mary would have recognized that this was not the first time that God called ordinary people into extraordinary circumstances. To be quite frank, this was not the first time God had called someone into a shitty situation. 

Now I don't use that word lightly. Unlike when I was in high school, I don't get enjoyment from cursing in the public sphere (okay, yeah I do). But think about it. God was asking unmarried Mary to carry a baby and claim that it was God's child. In a time where promiscuous women were stoned to death. It was, for lack of a better word, a shitty situation. 

But Mary would have heard other stories about God calling people into these kinds of situations. 

Moses freeing his people from the Egyptians- not exactly an easy thing to do. 

Jonah going into Nineveh and calling for repentance- pretty terrifying. 

Abraham and Sarah trusting that at way-too-many years old they would have a baby and that baby would be the father of nations- a basically impossible situation.  

Calling on Rahab to protect the very people that would destroy her city in a matter of days- not a great situation in which to be. 

But there's a common thread that Mary would have recognized and that I am coming to recognize more and more. God is going to call us into shitty situations. But the good news is that God isn't like an absentee parent sending us off to college with a "good luck kiddo." 

God goes with us. God is in the dregs with us. And the situation might suck, but we aren't alone in it. God promises to walk beside us through everything (or carry us if you like that poem). 

And as Mary heard from the angel that she'd be carrying the savior of the world in her womb, I imagine her thinking, "Well dang. Alright... But you better be with me through this, Lord." 

And as she looked into her son's beautiful face, I'm guessing she realized that God was not only with her, but within her. 

We are quickly entering the season of Lent, a season when we remember Jesus' temptation, the trials, the burdens that he endured. And before we realize it, we will be confronted with Holy Week - when Mary watched her son be betrayed by all of his closest friends, watched as they lashed him, watched as they drew him up onto the cross to die.

Mary's fortitude, her strength in these situations comes from that promise long ago: "I am with you." And God was her, providing her with strength, comfort, and assurance throughout her entire life.  

I can promise that God is not done sending God's people into pretty shitty situations, but I can also guarantee this one important promise from our Lord and Savior: we are not alone. God is with us.