When Mary said yes

The words of an angel helped Mary keep going when the path was hard.

Many people today are fascinated by angels. Perhaps this is evidence of a push-back against secularism, coupled with an innate awareness that there is far more to this world than what we can see and touch.

These days, angels are often portrayed as comforting figures, something that is perhaps influenced by the words an angel shared with the shepherds near Bethlehem on the night Jesus was born:

Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.

This angel was then joined by a ‘great company of angels’, who proclaimed: Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests.

Great joy or great hardship?

One of the most commonly depicted angelic art works is of Mary being visited by the angel Gabriel and receiving her own ‘do not be afraid’ message:

Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favour with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. Th e Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end. (Luke 1:30-33)

Typically, paintings of this encounter —known as ‘The Annunciation’—show Mary humbly bowed before the angel with a look of serenity on her face.

But clearly that’s not the whole picture, because Luke’s gospel tells us the angel had to calm Mary, who was at first totally terrified at this supernatural being.

Perhaps Mary’s initial response was wise. After all, those chosen by God in Jewish history rarely had easy lives. Mary would have known that to find favour in God’s eyes was not a guarantee of ‘great joy’ throughout life, it could instead mean hardship and even persecution. Just as it does today.

Consider Jesus’ words from the Sermon on the Mount as further evidence of ‘mixed blessing’ of God’s favour:

Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matthew 5: 11-12)

Mary understood that if she truly had found favour with God, there was likely to be a hard road ahead.

Impossible news

Essential to Christianity is belief in the incarnation—that Jesus was God in human flesh. As startling as the appearance of an angel was to Mary, the news she was pregnant by God seemed even more impossible. ‘How will this be, since I am a virgin?’ she asks.

Mary listens to the angel and then responds in humble obedience, saying, ‘I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.’

When Joseph learnt his fiancée was pregnant, it didn’t sit well with him at first either. He planned to quietly end their relationship, rather than shame Mary in public. But then an angel appeared to Joseph, reassuring him that this baby was God’s plan. Over the next nine months and beyond, Mary and Joseph would have replayed their angelic encounters and clung to the truth: this was God’s child, sent to save the world.

Saying yes to God’s purposes

Mary shows us what is possible when one person agrees to go God’s way. Yes, there were difficult consequences, beginning with the shame of being pregnant before marriage. Then, as Jesus grew, Mary saw her son take a path that separated him from his earthly family, from siblings who did not accept his teaching until after Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Mary knew the Jewish religious leaders saw her son as a threat to the status quo and that they were rallying Roman opposition against him. She heard of Jesus’ arrest and that he’d been sentenced to death, she witnessed the scars of his beatings and stood vigil at the foot of the cross. Any parent can imagine the deep pain and heartache Mary experienced as she watched her son die. When Jesus told her John would take care of her in his place, this would have brought no comfort—not in those moments of utter dejection and grief.

But through Mary’s obedience, her willingness to play a part in God’s plan, came blessings. Some came to Mary, but others came to us—to the entire world. A son was born, a saviour who was God in human form, sent to save humankind from the sin that kept us at a distance from God.

We are chosen by God, just as Mary was chosen. And, like Mary, this can lead us into surprising, even amazing, situations. We can find ourselves heading in directions that, left to ourselves, we could never have imagined. We can find ourselves experiencing joy, but also hardship, misunderstandings and even persecution. And in such times we will need to draw on the comfort of knowing God has his hand on our lives.

There will also be times when we want to dispute God’s plans. ‘How can this be?’ we might ask, perhaps listing the many reasons why the direction God is setting before us is too impossible.

Such questioning is commonplace in Scripture. All those beautiful paintings of Mary easily accepting the angel’s message are not an accurate picture of what went down. The truth is more like our own experiences of God’s leading: a path is set before us, we are surprised and don’t feel up to the task, we see all the difficult implications and obstacles, and we point these out to God.

Yet God’s leading remains strong and, over time, becomes compelling and irrefutable. And so we find ourselves echoing Mary’s words: ‘I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.’

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by Christina Tyson (c) 'War Cry' magazine, 12 November 2016, pp 20-21
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