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| Image: gruposdejesus.com |
Scripture:
"In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."
Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.
"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"
The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon 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 barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God. "I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be with me as you have said."
Devotional:
Most of us have heard these verses from Luke's first chapter every December in every church we've ever attended. Many of us might practically be able to recite them from memory as the pastor reads aloud. We are moved by the glorious greeting in verse 28 when the angel refers to Mary as "highly favored". Next we listen to the powerful conviction in the foretelling in verses 32-33 that the baby she will carry will be the "Son of the Most High; One whose kingdom will never end." And then, we marvel at the confident answer from Mary in verse 38 when she says, "I am the Lord's servant. Let it be with me as you have said."
I am so inspired by Mary's statement of obedience. She seems so sure. She teaches us in one small statement what it is to fully trust God. And we know that this young woman's trust will bring us the greatest gift humanity has ever received.
I wonder sometimes, though, if we might miss something important if we quickly skim over a specific verse in the middle of the passage. Luke tells us that Mary does not answer with powerful confidence immediately. Of course, we don't know specifically how much time passed between verses 28 and 38, but we are told that initially Mary is "greatly troubled". Other translations describe her as "deeply confused", "perplexed", and even "thoroughly shaken". If Jenn Skinner wrote a translation it might say, "Mary was kinda freaking out."
Can we blame her? Our blessed Mary is so important. Her faith so strong. Her obedience so rock solid. She is clearly meant to inspire us to boldly answer the call God has on our own lives just as she did.
But I, for one, am comforted to see that Mary seems to need a minute. She wonders. She ponders. She asks some pretty reasonable questions about biology. It is in those moments when she is confused and troubled that I would most like to know Mary's thought process because I really want to understand how she gets from Point A ("Um. Hold it. This seems super-crazy.") to Point B ("Whatever you say, Lord. I'm your girl.")
I think of her there in those moments between Point A and Point B and I am reminded of a devotional on trusting God written by Lysa TerKeurst in which she says,
"What we see will violate what we know unless what we know dictates what we see."
I can only imagine the frightening scenarios Mary must have played in her head. As she contemplated her future what did she see? The images must have been terrifying. She was only a young girl. She had no power and no money. And now, not only would she be young, poor, and powerless, she'd add unwed and pregnant to her resume. Surely, what she saw in her mind was a future of ridicule, loneliness, scandal, gossip and even the possibility of death by stoning. I imagine that if Mary had continued pondering those scenes for too long, she would have let what she saw violate what she knew in her heart to be true.
Thankfully for all of us, what we find out about Mary later in Luke is that she knew the God she served very well and it is that knowledge that dictates what she sees. In a glorious song to the Lord in verses 46-55, Mary praises the God she has known for her whole life. She knows that "He has been mindful of the humble state of His servant". (verse 48) She knows that "the Mighty One has done great things for {her}". (verse 49) She knows that "He has performed mighty deeds with His arm". (verse 51) She knows that "He has filled the hungry with good things". (verse 53) She knows that "He has helped His servant Israel and remembered to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever". (verse 55)
In my mind, I picture Mary refusing to let what she sees in this uncertain, frightening future violate what she knows about God. And then I picture her listing all those wonderful characteristics of Him, realizing that He had loved her and her people with an everlasting, fierce devotion and that He had always kept His promises to them. Holding on to that knowledge, she was able to answer the call so confidently, knowing that whatever came to be, her God would never let her go.
Although the call on our lives might not be as significant as the call on Mary's and the future might not be as daunting, we still have the ability to look toward our future in the same way that she did. When there is uncertainty and challenge in our lives, we can choose to play out the worst case scenarios in our heads. We can let all the fear and anxiety take hold of us and allow those emotions to violate what we know to be true of God. Or we can ponder for awhile. We can consider what we know to be true. We can remember all of the ways He has loved us, protected us, and comforted us over the whole of our lives. Then we can move forward letting what we know of Him, dictate what we see of the life He has set before us.
See Him in your mind's eye. He was there before. He'll be there again. Just as we was for Mary.
Prayer:
Blessed, constant, holy Lord. We are grateful for all the ways we are able to know You. Through Your Word, through our communities, through prayer, and through Your Son, we gain confidence in our relationship with You. When what we see in the world threatens to violate everything we have learned, help us to ponder, to wonder, and to remind ourselves of every good and perfect thing we know about who You are. Let us use that knowledge to walk in confidence along the path You set before us, saying boldly, "I am the Lord's servant. Let it be with me as you have said."
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