disgrace

meaning: often implies humiliation and sometimes ostracism

Zechariah and Elizabeth are a pair of cute old codgers. They always go to temple and say and do the right things, make the right sacrifices -- they're even descended from the line of priests. If you can earn your way to heaven by goodness, then they're right on track.

But they had never been able to have kids. In spite of their moral purity and kind hearts, God's favor was not on them. Elizabeth believes she is disgraced.

Very randomly one day in their golden years, there's an angel and Zechariah's struck mute and Elizabeth's pregnant and the world is upside down. 'The Lord has done this for me,' Elizabeth says. 'In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.'

Six months later, her cousin Mary, another nice little girl, gets her own visit from an angel. This time, the angel flat-out tells her she is highly-favored. She gets a baby, too, and her 'soul glorifies the Lord.' Only it's God's baby and she's not supposed to have a baby yet, technically. She has been given both grace and disgrace.

To be perfectly honest, I don't know why the word disgrace catches my eye so much here. Is grace or disgrace a human conception of life circumstances here? Or is grace passed out apparently willy-nilly -- and disgrace, too, for that matter, regardless of your track record?