“There has been a slight change of plans.” When pulling together a wedding, good news rarely follows this announcement. As in the case of my wedding: There has been a slight change of plans. Instead of waking up healthy on your wedding day, you will have a fever of 101 and case of laryngitis so fierce that you will barely be able to croak out “in sickness and in health” when asked to do so, thus causing the entire congregation to laugh at the irony. Or in the case of my friend’s wedding a few weeks ago: There has been a slight change of plans. Instead of enjoying a long and lovely reception along the water, a sudden storm will roll in with a wind so strong it will very nearly rip the tent off of the dock causing all your guests to rush inside for safety, half of them in fancy clothes and looking like drowned rats.

Or how about in the case of Mary? There has been a slight change of plans. Instead of approaching your wedding day above reproach, you will be pregnant. The whole arrangement will be on the up and up, of course, being God’s child and all, but no one except you and Joseph will know that with certainty.

How about in the case of the Church? Yes, the church. We are the bride of Christ. This whole schmegegge is about approaching a Wedding Day. Or didn’t you know that? Try this on for size: There has been a slight change of plans. Instead of a faith journey in which you find yourself singing “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah, everything’s going my way”, you’re gonna suffer. You may not have enough money. You and your loved ones may not always be healthy. You may even lose one before you’re ready to. As part of your engagement to the King, you will be asked to you love your neighbor, even if they beat or berate you because they disagree with you.

Any number of “change of plans” may be announced during our engagement. But not to worry, the Wedding Planner has got it all under control. Christ wants everything to be just perfect for our Big Day. Here’s some Fast Fuel for thought: The pre-wedding plan-changing may all be part of the preparation in the first place.

“And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.” – 1 Peter 5:10

Great jobs come with great benefits. Isn’t that how it works? Medical, Dental and a matching 401k? Or in the case of some of our favorite Biblical heroes, if you work for the Big Fella, aren’t you granted the likes of leadership, land, wisdom, and riches? God has been known to really pull out all the stops for those who serve him in the most special of roles.

But sometimes, when God’s got a special job for you, it doesn’t come with an enticing benefit package. Take Mary, for example. Her job offer started when a blindingly shiny angelic messenger announced, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you!” We all know that Mary accepted with that admirable, “let it be with me” line. But what we don’t know is what this young Jewish girl expected might become of her life as she raised the Son of God. I rather wonder if there wasn’t a small part of Mary that anticipated the “leadership, land, wisdom and riches” of her most revered ancestors. I mean, if YOU were God, with all eternity’s resources at your fingertips, wouldn’t you go out of your way to take care of your Son’s Mom?

Whatever it was that Mary expected, what she got was this: an out-of-wedlock pregnancy that almost cost her dignity, an all-natural child birth experience with the odor of farm animals to help keep her focused, a life of humble means married to the local carpenter, and many years of child-rearing that were so ordinary no one chose to write about them (Of course, except that one time when she lost God’s kid at the festival … thanks for documenting THAT). And let’s not forget the worst…she had to watch her son die in the most unbelievable manner.

So why did Mary accept the job? Simply put, Mary got Jesus.

No land. No leadership. No wisdom. No riches. Just Jesus.

As it turns out, the shiny messenger mentioned this perk when he spelled out Mary’s benefit package in the beginning: “Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son. His name will be Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”

Did you catch that? No land. No leadership. No wisdom. No riches. Just Jesus.

Hey reader! Guess what? You have found favor with God! You get Jesus.

You get Jesus.