And the angel came to Mary and said, Greetings, favoured one!"
I can imagine Mary’s response to the angel.
Who me? Favoured? No way! I’m just a poor peasant girl living in a backwater village in Judea. I’m a nobody. Look at my rough hands - calloused from tilling this small patch of earth to grow a few grains and vegetables, worn from pounding grain and kneading bread, cracked from washing the few clothes we have. Look at my feet, dirty and dusty from walking to the well and to market each day. Look at my face, browned and weathered, damp with perspiration and streaked with grime from a hard day of work. Look at my tunic, patched, threadbare and dulled by the sun.
Look at me! I am a far cry from all of those paintings and portraits you have of me hanging in galleries around the world, a far cry from all of those statues of me posing in chapels, churches and cathedrals, even a far cry from all of those sweet young girls who take my name and play my part each year in Nativity pageants.
Look at me - do you see a blue robe of fine expensive cloth? Do you see a halo of light around my head? And where are the brushed and shining locks of hair? Where is the soft and unblemished skin? Where is the serene and demure face, full of peace and innocence?
And yet, in the wisdom of God, it is to this Mary, to it is this poor unadorned peasant girl that the angel messenger comes. It is this Mary who will bear the child Jesus, the Messiah!
It is scandalous!
Why she is uneducated and illiterate; she has no connections and no credentials. What can God be thinking?
Is God’s most precious gift of love to be entrusted to the care of such ordinary folk? Shouldn’t there be some kind of application process? Shouldn’t there be a list of key prerequisites? Shouldn’t there be a test or an exam to weed out the riffraff?
What can God be thinking?
As we continue to follow this bizarre story, we travel with Mary to the hill country. And we hear Elizabeth’s greeting, "Blessed are you among women!" I can imagine Mary’s response to her cousin Elizabeth.
Blessed? It’s not a word I would have chosen right now! I’m still feeling pretty stunned, not to mention a bit nauseous - it seems that even the Messiah can give his mother an upset stomach! Blessed! Do you know what it is like to be a young girl, barely out of puberty, unwed and expecting a baby? Do you know what people are saying about me? Do you know the threats on my life and the malicious gossip that cuts me to the heart? Do you know how scared I am, how concerned Joseph is and how bewildered the rest of my family is?
You call this a blessing?
And so there you have it - a God who makes scandalous choices and a God who offers mixed blessings. How can this be the good news of the gospel for us today?
If you read the Bible closely, you’ll know that this isn’t the first of God’s scandalous choices. Those chosen by God to be messengers and leaders of God’s wisdom and way don’t have much of a reputation for sanctity, purity or perfection. God’s leaders, prophets and servants have been murderers and prostitutes, thieves and felons, cheaters and betrayers. Very few have had any worldly credentials or power.
But God is rarely concerned with worldly credentials or power. God isn’t deceived by outward appearances. God is attuned to what is at the heart.
And whether they happen to be illiterate or educated, rich or poor, whether or not they’ve made mistakes in their lives, whether or not they feel up to the task, God chooses people who have dared to open up the doors of their hearts.
Sometimes the door is only open a crack, but often that’s enough, enough for God to enter and wake up hopes and dreams, gifts and strengths that may have been dormant for quite some time. The angelic messenger of God woke up a poor peasant girl named Mary. And in her awakening, Mary discovered within, that she had an amazing strength and courage to accept the gift and responsibility of bringing the Messiah into the world.
Gathered here today, we are just ordinary folk, like Mary. We have our own history of failings and mistakes, and in the global context, we don’t have much power or influence. And the good news is that God doesn’t really care about that. God only wants to nurture and strengthen what lies deep within us; God only wants to open the doors of our hearts wider so that we too can participate in bringing God’s liberating and healing love into the world.
But much of the time, we don’t feel that we are capable or worthy of accepting this invitation from God. We don’t feel very gifted, and we know all too well our faults and weaknesses. We look at the invitation of God and worry that we might mess it up and become a curse rather than a blessing.
I can’t help but believe that being human like us, Mary felt all of these mixed emotions.
In the Advent discussion and reflection group earlier this month, the participants in the group wrote their own thoughts about Mary’s response to the angel. I’d like to share some of their thoughts with you now.
My soul is aflame and yet it is in my boots!
I was aflame while the angel spoke,
I was uplifted - everything seemed right and possible.
Now, I wonder - what if it was a dream,
what if it is just the hopes of my subconscious
for a better life for our people?
I am afraid - I have nothing to offer a child.
I don’t know how to be a mother.
I don’t even have a husband.
What if Joseph rejects me? Who can I turn to?
The angel said I shouldn’t be afraid - but I am…
The angel mentioned Elizabeth. I will go and visit her.
And in the company of Elizabeth, Mary hears for the first time from the lips of her cousin that she is blessed. Listen to Elizabeth’s words again.
And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb… For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leapt for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.’
Like Mary, I think that we all need the affirmation of those people like Elizabeth who perceive and name for us the blessings that we carry in our lives. Their words may vary from Elizabeth’s, but they carry the same meaning, affirmation and encouragement.
Words like…I couldn’t have done it without you.
You have just the right touch.
Your creativity has brought new life to this project,
your kindness and thoughtfulness mean so much to me,
you have been such a comfort,
you are inspiring,
your companionship is so important to me,
do you know the difference your life makes to others?...
Who are the Elizabeths in your life? Who calls you a blessing? Can you imagine how your life would be without them? Think of who you are because of their affirmation and encouragement.
And how are you an Elizabeth to others?
It is my firm conviction that we are all called upon to be discerning and attentive to the blessings that others carry and bear in this world. For I believe that as we affirm and name these blessings in each other, we are all encouraged and strengthened to be the blessing that God creates us to be.
And in that strength, in spite of whatever uncertainties or fears we may have, we heed the message of God’s angels and become willing to take the risk to work and pray and live for a world where all people can experience the blessings of God.
In the gospel story we heard today, it is only after Elizabeth calls Mary blessed that Mary dares to sing the song proclaiming God’s mercy and gracious activity in her life and in the affairs of world.
Let’s listen again to some of the writing of the Advent discussion group as they reflect upon and interpret Mary’s song.
Holy is your name O God!
Our Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer
Your grace is for all,
the strong and the weak
the poor and the rich
male and female, black and white, brown, red and yellow.
You chose a woman, young, untested, of such lowly stature
as to have no place to birth God made incarnate.
Surely God, you can lift up the lowly
You can give hope to the hopeless
and strength to the weak
You call us forth no matter our state.
With your grace, your spirit, your love
we too can give birth to your kingdom.
May it be so. Amen.
