by Liz Lin
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
Make no mistake: I am a planner, and I love my plans. I thrive on knowing where I need to be and when. My Google Calendar is meticulously tended to and color-coded. Deviations from these plans – unexpected interruptions, last-minute changes from other people – bring irritation at minimum and disproportionate anger at maximum. My plans give me a sense of control over my surroundings; they make me feel like the world is orderly and manageable.
So when I read this exchange between Mary – who is a teenager, mind you – and an angel from heaven, I’m simultaneously comforted and challenged.
First, I’m comforted because Mary is initially “greatly troubled” by this angelic intrusion into her life. Though Gabriel’s greeting is kind and in no way threatening, this disruption is unusual, to say the least, and her first response is one of appropriate… concern. Alarm, really. And that’s me! That’s how I feel when I’m interrupted, when things pop up unexpectedly. (Not that I’ve ever been interrupted by an angel. But if I were ever to be, that’s exactly how I would respond.)
I’m also reassured because Mary’s second response is to question the angel. She’s not sure about this whole thing. This also feels appropriate, because what the angel is saying to her – that she’s going to give birth to the Son of God – sounds a touch beyond the realm of possibility. And that’s also how I respond to unexpected intrusions – I get stressed, and then I ask skeptical questions as I try to process what’s going to happen, how my plans are going to change. Thus far, Mary and I are very much on the same page.
However, this conversation is also challenging for me, because after the angel’s third utterance – explaining how Mary’s going to get pregnant (which sounds crazy) with the son of God (also crazy) while she’s engaged to a man she hasn’t slept with (which will have crazy consequences for her) – oh yeah, and that her past-her-prime cousin Elizabeth is pregnant (more crazy) – Mary basically says, “As you wish.” This is the point where Mary and I diverge, because this is not at all how I would have responded; I would have continued being troubled and asking questions. I would have wrung my hands, wondering how the angel’s prophecy would have fit in with my plans – and all the more so because it sounded so far-fetched. I don’t think that Mary is completely on board with the prophecy at this point; I don’t think that happens until she visits her cousin Elizabeth, who confirms it. But at the very least, Mary assents to it at this point, and that puts her way ahead of where I would be.
So when I read this story, I feel reassured knowing that Mary, in many ways, is like me and responds to unexpected disturbances like I would. She makes me feel like I'm normal. But she also challenges me, because in the face of a major wrench in her plans – even one that seems as insane and unlikely as what Gabriel says – she willingly agrees, whereas I tend to stew and resist. And what’s the difference between her and me? I can make every excuse: Maybe given the context in which she lived, Mary didn’t have a lot of life options, so her plans weren’t as significant as mine. Maybe she had less reason to doubt than I do. But maybe it’s the fact that she trusts, even in the slightest, what the angel says about no word from God ever failing.
I am not Mary. It appears that I need a lot more processing time than she does, and I have a much higher burden of proof. But I think I can learn something from this teenager who lived 2000 years ago about accepting divine intrusions – and buying into the notion that God will do what God says that God will do, even in the most unlikely of circumstances.
Tomorrow's reading: Acts 26: 2-23
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