Zebina loaded her water jugs ready to make her regular trek to the well. But these weren’t the happy times they used to be when she and Mary delighted in their regular talks. The two jugs, now filled with water, sat next to the well while she sat to rest before trudging home. She glanced down at the little marks she had scratched on her jug. One scratch for each week Mary had been gone.
One, two, three, four. Then she counted up to eight. Eight weeks since Mary has been away. Suddenly her eyebrows lifted and her eyes sprarkled. That’s two months!
She gathered her water jugs, anxious to get to the road where Mary would be traveling to get back to Nazareth. When she arrived, she looked longingly down the road but no sign of Mary and her mother. “Well, she did say two months or so.” Sadly, she lugged the water back to her house.
When another month passed, she saw Joseph at the market. He mentioned that Mary was away and Zebina nodded. He seemed a bit sad. “She should be back soon,” Zebina tried to encourage.
As she walked home, her heart felt sorrowful for him. She thought of all the possible ways he might take the news—downcast, angry, resentful, questioning. Of course, he could divorce her or even have here stoned to death. Surely not that!
Two weeks later, Zebina popped up from her garden when she heard the familiar voice of her best friend calling out her name.
“Mary!” she yelled back and raced to embrace her. “Oh, I’m so happy to see you again. Sit down and tell me all about it.” Zebina couldn’t help but glance at Mary’s stomach as she awkwardly tried to sit on the ground beside Zebina.
“Zebina, it was so exciting to see my great aunt and yes, indeed, even at her age, she was definitely great with child. But the most wonderful thing,” Mary’s voice caught, her eyes threatened tears. She grabbed a quick breath. “When I entered her house, she threw up her arms and rushed to embrace me.”
She said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” And then my aunt said, “As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!”
“Oh, Zebina, everything in me rejoiced at her words. It was such a confirmation of what I have been through. We had a wonderful time together. She told me the story of how the same angel appeared to her husband, Zachariah, saying that his son will be called John and will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth and he will bring back many people to the Lord their God.”
Mary gave a heavy sigh and placed her hand on her heart. “And then my aunt told me that the angel said their son, John, would make the people ready for the Lord.” Mary grabbed Zebina’s arm and looked her straight in the eye. “Don’t you see? That means her son, John, will fulfill the prophet Isaiah’s prophecy. John will prepare the way for the Lord. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed. That means my son, Jesus!”
~ Joyce ~