Mystery: Nameable but not solvable

Some years ago, my wife was experiencing pain in her legs. We spoke to our son-in-law who is a medical doctor. He recommended my wife to see a number of doctors and specialists. But none of them could tell with certainty what was wrong. Finally I asked my son-in-law what it was. He said, in medicine we call it myalgia. I asked him to spell it for me: MYALGIA.

I asked him what is myalgia. He said, it is muscle pain. Muscle pain? Of course I know it's muscle pain. Pain in the leg muscle. I learned one thing from that experience: when you don't know what it is, give it a name.

But you know as well as I do, giving a name does not solve the problem. It does not answer the questions. But today we have become very good in explaining things by giving them names.

This is especially true in science and medicine. I am not against science and medicine. I believe in them and the benefits they bring to humankind. But we need to recognise their limitations.

There is a place and time where what we know reaches a limit. We move across to what we do not know. We may know a lot about cancer but when it hits you or a loved one, you ask, Why me? Why he or she?

We move from knowledge to mystery. From knowing to not knowing. From confidence to uncertainty.

Today we will look at one person in the Bible whose life was suddenly confronted with a series of mysteries. That person is Mary, the one God chose to bring God's Messiah into the world.

How did she deal with mystery - something you can't understand, you can't explain.