by Mike Clement
Luke 1:26-38
26 During Elizabeth’s sixth month of pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin. She was engaged to marry a man named Joseph from the family of David. Her name was Mary. 28 The angel came to her and said, “Greetings! The Lord has blessed you and is with you.”
29 But Mary was very startled by what the angel said and wondered what this greeting might mean.
30 The angel said to her, “Don’t be afraid, Mary; God has shown you his grace. 31 Listen! You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of King David, his ancestor. 33 He will rule over the people of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will never end.”
34 Mary said to the angel, “How will this happen since I am a virgin?”
35 The angel said to Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will cover you. For this reason the baby will be holy and will be called the Son of God. 36 Now Elizabeth, your relative, is also pregnant with a son though she is very old. Everyone thought she could not have a baby, but she has been pregnant for six months. 37 God can do anything!”
38 Mary said, “I am the servant of the Lord. Let this happen to me as you say!” Then the angel went away.
I remember this passage from growing up. This was the reference to the immaculate conception and the spot in the Bible where we learned source of Jesus’s name. Yes I asked my parents where are the angels now.
There are a few other things I have thought about since then. First, God may call upon us to do difficult and challenging things. These days the call may be a lot more subtle and perhaps harder to pick up than a visit from an angel. But we need to listen and to take up the call.
It could be donating money to a charity, stopping to help someone, thanking someone for something they did, protesting some injustice in the world, listening to someone who needs help.
Second, Mary was doubtful that this could happen. The angel told her about Elizabeth’s pregnancy. We do not quite know why it was impossible for Elizabeth to have a child but Mary was convinced. God can do anything.
All too often we dismiss doing the right thing because it does not seem possible, convenient or cool. Mary did it. She was probably ostracized and in a later passage, Joseph had doubts about marrying her.
The stories in the Bible remind us of that and inspire us to go forward when we get the call. If Mary did it so can we.