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Reading
Luke 1.26-38
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you.’ But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.
The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him 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 ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’
Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I am a virgin?’
The angel said to 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 holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.’
Then Mary said, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.’ Then the angel departed from her.
Reflection
We can be fairly certain that Mary, the one destined to be the Mother of God, was just thirteen or fourteen when Gabriel appeared to her in her home in Nazareth. Setting aside our astonishment and accepting that this would have been the cultural norm of that time and place, let us put ourselves in the place of Mary on that world-changing day.
We are told no more than: the angel Gabriel was sent by God … to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph. What must it have felt like to the young girl who was suddenly confronted with this strange visitor. We are told that he was the angel Gabriel, but what does an angel look like? How would we know that the stranger standing before us was, or was not, a true messenger from God, an angel?
Then, the angel Gabriel said to her: Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you. Assuming, as we can imply from the narrative, that Mary understood that he was from God, how must it have felt to have been addressed in this way? The humble peasant girl from the relatively obscure town of Nazareth was being greeted as one favoured by God himself. Did Mary pause and wonder, or was she already prepared to offer her all in the service of God, no matter what he might be asking of her?
Then, comes the core of the message: you will conceive in your womb and bear a son … The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Mary, if she paused to think about this message would have understood the danger she would be in if she accepted the challenge that was being laid before her by Gabriel, the messenger from God. To become pregnant outside of marriage was punishable in one way, stoning to death.
Then, Mary uttered those amazing words of commitment, discipleship and true faith: Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word. Mary, the simple, young peasant girl, did not question. Instead she offered her all to God’s will. No matter what danger she may come to face, Mary said, ‘Yes!’ to God, and human history changed for ever.
Let us pray that we might know ourselves to be favoured in the eyes of God. Let us pray that we might always be ready to copy Mary in the simplicity and honesty of our response to God’s call in our lives. Let us pray that we might set aside human indifference and suspicion and accept that God wants us to be his servants too. Let us pray that we might never hesitate, but always be ready to say: Here am I; let it be with me according to your word.