The Ring In Witness Protection

Have you ever had one of those moments where, as the words are leaving your mouth, you know you're making a terrible mistake?

I had one of those back in 2014. I had just started my first real job at an advertising agency, and I was so excited that I went straight from work and bought an engagement ring for my girlfriend, Cassy. Which would have been great... if I hadn't immediately called to tell her about it.

For those of you who are single, or who have been married so long you've forgotten how this works, let me give you some free advice: if you buy an engagement ring, maybe don't tell the person you're planning to give it to. And if you do slip up and tell them, definitely don't then wait 18 months to actually propose.

Yes. Eighteen months. I can see some of you doing the math right now, and yes, it was exactly as bad as you're thinking.

See, shortly after buying the ring, I lost that job. And I just couldn't bring myself to ask her parents for permission to marry their daughter with the stellar pitch of, "I know I don't have a job right now, but I'll definitely get one. Probably. Eventually. Maybe?" So I waited. And Cassy practiced patience. A lot of patience. The kind that occasionally came with pointed questions like, "So... remember that ring you bought? The one that's apparently in witness protection somewhere?"

We did eventually get married. But that season of waiting, that feeling of anticipation mixed with uncertainty, mixed with "is this ever actually going to happen," is something most of us know well.

Now multiply that feeling. Not by days or weeks or months, but by centuries.

That's where the Jewish people found themselves when Mark's Gospel opens. They had been waiting for the promised Messiah for over 400 years, clinging to the words of Isaiah: "A voice crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord." Generation after generation told their children the same promise. And still they waited.

The wait was real. The promise was real. And when the voice finally came, it came exactly as God said it would.