Have you ever felt small or unimportant? On the job, at school, within an organization you belong to, or even in your family, have you ever felt that your opinion did not matter, your contribution was not valued, or your presence was not even noticed? Have you ever felt insignificant, as if you could not possibly make a difference?
In today’s reading, we meet someone who, by all rights, should have felt unimportant and powerless, insignificant and small. As a female, Mary belonged to her father until she married when she would belong to her husband. She was young in a society that valued age. Her family held no lands, owned no wealth, and wielded no power. She lived in a small town, in Galilee—a backward frontier state, rather than in Jerusalem, the center of Jewish culture. She was Jewish when the Romans ruled the known world.
By all that mattered, Mary was unimportant, powerless to make any kind of difference in any sphere of her world.
And yet, it is she the angel Gabriel visits. It is she, among all other people, who has found favor with God. It is in her response to Gabriel’s greeting that we begin to see why Mary is extraordinary. For she is perplexed, greatly troubled by the angel’s greeting. Mary remembers her Jewish history well enough to know that visits from divine messengers generally preface challenges. She understands there is more to this greeting than “Hello, Mary. Did you know that God finds favor with you?”
The news that she will deliver a son, is neither surprising nor unwelcome. After all, bearing children is expected in the marriage contract her parents have entered into with Joseph. And sons were more welcome than daughters in this time and culture. What is surprising is what she is to name her son. Instead of Bar Joseph—son of Joseph, she is to name him Jesus—Yeshua, in Hebrew, which means “God saves.” Then there’s this talk about of her son on David’s throne. Revitalizing a Jewish kingdom means wrestling out of the Roman emperor’s iron grip. I imagine it’s the name and the throne that put this wise Mary on her guard. Is this angel suggesting her son will be born outside of her betrothal? Is this angel proposing sedition?
So, Mary asks, “How? How can this happen when I am a virgin?” But behind this question is “How? How can God consider me favored but deliberately put me in danger?” For if Mary does become pregnant with a child who is not his, Joseph can have her stoned to death. And renewing David’s monarchy, revolting against the Romans, is a capital offense. What did I say earlier? Divine messengers tend to preface challenges.
So how does Gabriel propose to ease Mary’s concerns? He tells her, “God will take care of you. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, your son will reign over a kingdom that will have no end—not enclosed by geographical or physical features, not bounded by time, not subject to any person or power other than God. He tells her, “Through the power of the Holy Spirit, you, Mary, will bear God into the world.” And Gabriel concludes, “For with God, nothing will be impossible.”
This week I found many different images for Mary’s annunciation. I want to share 3 with you that illumine her response.
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/rossetti/annunciation.jpg (1849 – 1850 painting by Dante Rosetti)
Here, is a Mary backed into a corner, a fatalistic Mary, a Mary who feels she has no choice. I can almost hear her response to Gabriel. “Okay, let it be with me just as you have said.” I don’t like this perspective of Mary. For in it, she is just a pawn in God’s chess game.
http://hoocher.com/Lorenzo_Lotto/Annunciation_ca_1527.jpg (Lorena Lotto, 1534 – 1535)
This Mary is not backed into a corner. She is not meekly accepting an unwanted fate. This Mary appears to be running away from the angel. This Mary recognizes she has a choice. And her response seems to be “No Way! I am not going to do this!” It’s a valid response, a response with which many of us are well-acquainted. And it may well have been her initial response to Gabriel’s message.
http://stmaryskerrisdale.ca/centennial/files/Annunciation-full.jpg
Here, is a Mary who chooses to work with God, a Mary who will be empowered by the Holy Spirit. Here, Mary has heard Gabriel’s message, has thoughtfully considered it and all its implications, and now eagerly embraces God’s invitation to bear God’s son and in so doing to help bring about God’s purpose for humanity.
This painting reminds me why Luke tells the annunciation story—to emphasize the following.
1. God acts in human history. Our relationship with God is not other-worldly.
Our relationship with God involves all that is us—seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, smelling, feeling, knowing, intuiting. God is with us in the physical here and now!
2. God enlists human agency in achieving God’s purpose for creation. God invites us to work with and for God to re-make, to re-purpose creation into what God originally intended—a place where all are loved and valued and cared for.
3. With God, nothing is impossible. With God, expect the unexpected. Hope for the unbelievable. Reach for the unachievable.
So, if God is with us here and now, not only acting within human history, but also inviting us to be a part of God’s work, none of us is unimportant. Each of us can make a significant difference. Like Mary, each one of us is called to bear God into the world—to carry God’s presence in a unique way.
How might you bear God into the world?
Carol, a single mother, wanted to join a Sunday evening counseling group. But she could not afford a weekly babysitter for her kindergartner son. So, the parents of one of his classmates invited him to come over and play with their child every Sunday evening. A weekly playdate—that’s no big deal, it’s insignificant—or so these parents thought. After a few months, Carol shared with this couple that she could not have gotten through that time without the support group. And it was only because her son was playing at their home each Sunday evening, that she was able to attend the group meetings. How did this family bear God’s presence into the world? in a weekly playdate. Did they make a significant difference? For Carol, they did.
Each one of us is important in God’s plan. Like Mary, we can choose whether and how we respond to the challenging invitation to bear God into the world. Yes, each one of us is called to carry God’s presence into a world that hopes for, longs for, aches for it. Listen . . . what divine invitation is being offered to you? Will you respond, “Here I am, the servant of the Lord. Let it be with me according to God’s word.”
Let us pray:
Living God,
Who gave to Mary anxious questioning,
faith to believe, and the space to say “yes,”
Keep us alert for visiting angels,
to hear your call,
to be honest yet faithful,
and know that for you,
nothing is impossible, in Jesus Christ. Amen.
(prayer from Brian Wren, Advent, Christmas, and Ephiphany: Liturgies and Prayers for Public Worship. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008. p. 66)
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