A Christmas Carol: W2 - TUE
The announcement made, no turning back now Luke 1:26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, 27 to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. 28 Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!”
29 Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. 30 “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!”
34 Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.”
35 The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God. 36 What’s more, your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren, but she has conceived a son and is now in her sixth month. 37 For the word of God will never fail.”
38 Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” And then the angel left her.
It’s such a common formula in Scripture. God calls the most unlikely people, to do the most unlikely things, and their first response is to make sure God knows why they are the wrong choice, as if God didn’t already know.
Gabriel comes to Mary with what comes across as an incredible greeting. I’d love to hear an angel says this to me. But Mary’s response is “confused and disturbed.” Why?
Well, likely, Mary has never gotten this kind of a peak into the world of the divine. This is new to hear. Beautiful, holy, new, and frightening. She’s never seen anything like this before. And it’s possible that she knew her stories enough to know that an appearance like this meant that something was coming; a call.
When Gabriel tells her what is to happen and what her role is, she immediately looks to her limitations and why she can’t possibly do what God is calling her to do. She follows in the footsteps of the giants before her who did the same thing; Moses, Gideon, Jeremiah, and the many who would follow her example through the ages - the apostle Paul, Mother Theresa, Paddy McCoy, and even, I’m guessing, you.
It is unlikely that Mary understood everything that Gabriel says, and she likely had a mound of questions; how would the Holy Spirit come upon her, why is she the best choice for the most important event to ever occur, how can her cousin be pregnant at such an old age, who is Mary to raise the Messiah?
But instead of voicing all those questions and concerns, Mary simply says, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” And in her response we get a glimpse as to why she was chosen. She is humble. She has faith. She will go forward even when she doesn’t understand because her God has asked her to, and she knows he is good.
Our job today is the same as Mary’s was then. We’ve been called to carry the Savior into our world; where we work, go to school, live, etc…. We may not feel worthy, or that we have the right skill set, but that doesn’t change the call. I pray regularly for us all to have the courage of Mary, to simply, humbly, and obediently say, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.”
29 Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. 30 “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!”
34 Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.”
35 The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God. 36 What’s more, your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren, but she has conceived a son and is now in her sixth month. 37 For the word of God will never fail.”
38 Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” And then the angel left her.
It’s such a common formula in Scripture. God calls the most unlikely people, to do the most unlikely things, and their first response is to make sure God knows why they are the wrong choice, as if God didn’t already know.
Gabriel comes to Mary with what comes across as an incredible greeting. I’d love to hear an angel says this to me. But Mary’s response is “confused and disturbed.” Why?
Well, likely, Mary has never gotten this kind of a peak into the world of the divine. This is new to hear. Beautiful, holy, new, and frightening. She’s never seen anything like this before. And it’s possible that she knew her stories enough to know that an appearance like this meant that something was coming; a call.
When Gabriel tells her what is to happen and what her role is, she immediately looks to her limitations and why she can’t possibly do what God is calling her to do. She follows in the footsteps of the giants before her who did the same thing; Moses, Gideon, Jeremiah, and the many who would follow her example through the ages - the apostle Paul, Mother Theresa, Paddy McCoy, and even, I’m guessing, you.
It is unlikely that Mary understood everything that Gabriel says, and she likely had a mound of questions; how would the Holy Spirit come upon her, why is she the best choice for the most important event to ever occur, how can her cousin be pregnant at such an old age, who is Mary to raise the Messiah?
But instead of voicing all those questions and concerns, Mary simply says, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” And in her response we get a glimpse as to why she was chosen. She is humble. She has faith. She will go forward even when she doesn’t understand because her God has asked her to, and she knows he is good.
Our job today is the same as Mary’s was then. We’ve been called to carry the Savior into our world; where we work, go to school, live, etc…. We may not feel worthy, or that we have the right skill set, but that doesn’t change the call. I pray regularly for us all to have the courage of Mary, to simply, humbly, and obediently say, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.”
- What does it mean to you to be a person of faith? Is it having all the answers, or trusting in God even without any answers, or something in-between?
- What are the ways that you and I bring Jesus into our world today?
No Comments