“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So, the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail. “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her. (Luke 1:34-38).
Yesterday, Pastor Anthony highlighted that Mary was receptive, “ready to hear and attend to the voice of God…But she is not well prepared to be so unquestioningly received by God. This is what greatly troubled her. That she is favoured, and that God is with her: that’s what gave her pause and sent her mind reeling.”
Among the various ways to reflect on this angel visitation, continuing with Mary’s response may be the most beneficial. Even though the events that take place with her are unique, her attitudes and response are held up within the narrative as exemplary and worthy of praise.
Let us appreciate that she is honored by God not because of her own merit or because she has done anything, but simply because she is the chosen vessel for this display of God’s grace. This is a beautiful thing. God choose her simply because. She reflects the person whom God unexpectedly chooses to use, bringing no outstanding credentials to the task and living on the edge of the nation. She brings nothing on her résumé.
Many of us live with this nagging sense that we are unusable, our résumés too thin. God will have none of that. He created us! Though we may be marred and broken by sin, we are never beyond repair. Nor are we ever beyond use for his purposes. We may ask, “How will this be" that salvation will work around all the obstacles of sin, ignorance, and defiance that I place in its path? "How will this be" that God troubles with so wretched, self-centred, inconsistent, and spiritually impoverished person as me? God simple responds, “Watch me!”
Like Mary we may initially resist when God comes calling. But we are invited to move from fright to willingness. Mary says, “I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.” She is not saying, “It’s so clear now! I get it!” nor “I love this plan and I’m excited to be part of it.” She is saying, “It doesn’t all make sense to me, but I will pursue, I will follow.”
This is an important space for us to occupy. Some of us will make no move toward Jesus unless it all comes together for us—rationally, emotionally, and personally. It is either rapturous joy in God or nothing at all. But often we can only do what Mary does—submit and trust despite the fears and reservations. That gives us a foothold for moving forward.
Mary’s response reveals her character. “Let it be to me as you have said” (38). This was no simple matter. She is being asked to bear a child as a virgin without being married. In joining God and his redemption plan, she will probably become the object of much doubt and ridicule. But Mary knows she is God’s servant, so she will allow God to work through her as he wills. He can place her in whatever difficult circumstances he desires, for she knows that God is with her.
The apostle Paul invites us to make this our permanent posture towards God. To the Galatians, he wrote, “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit” (5:25). We do not, in fact, we cannot know where the Spirit may lead us. When we cannot see how God can use us, God says, “Watch me!” When we do not know where we need to go, God says, “Trust me!”
Take time this Advent to sit with Mary. See her move from “What on earth” to “Alright Lord, I will trust you.” And let the Spirit lead you on the same journey.