Mary

Our "message" at church tonight was a series of Scripture readings and reflections. Here's my part of the evening, formatted for easy reading-out-loud.

Hear me read it here. Scroll down to the 12/20/09 message. I start around minute 10:30, and the relevant Scripture reading precedes me. Or, if you are up for more than 5 minutes, listen to the whole service. My friends are amazingly talented...and they presented the Christmas story well.

Mary Reflection
Luke 1: 26-38


When Judah learned that Tamar, his widowed daughter-in-law, was pregnant--and clearly not by her late husband, Judah ordered that she be burned to death.


It was his right. She had sinned before the law. When she proved that Judah himself was the father of her unborn twins, he rescinded his order with proper shame.


But . . . he had the legal right to kill her.



Tamar gave birth to her twins. She named one Perez. He grew up and had a son, who had a son, who had a son... and so on for many generations. Eventually, the family turned to carpentry.


A few miles down the road another woman -- a girl, really -- found herself pregnant and unmarried.


She was young -- barely grown -- but old enough to know what happened to "girls like her." Old enough to know that her people still believed in Judah's right to kill Tamar.

_________________________


The angel Gabriel had come to her with a message "The Lord is with you."

God is with you.

God is with us.

Emmanuel.


And the mighty Gabriel continued, "You are the one whom God favors. You are the most blessed among women."

In her utter confusion, I wonder if Mary looked behind her to see if Gabriel was speaking to someone else. No one had ever spoken such powerful words to this poor girl from Nazareth. And an angel of God? God had not spoken to the people of Israel for 400 years.


No prophets.

No visions.

Nothing.


Mary had faith in a silent God--and now He was sending her a message? Her?

Not the priests in Jerusalem?

God spoke not to the scholars with their scrolls, but to the least of them all, a young girl-woman,unmarried, and in Nazareth?

Did anything good ever happen in Nazareth?


Despite her stupefaction, Gabriel continued, "You will have a son. Name him Yahweh is Salvation for he will save his people from their sins. He will be great, the 'Son of the Highest.' His kingdom shall reign forever."

As the angel listed the child's divine and royal qualifications, Mary corralled her thoughts, and got practical. When the angel finished, she replied, "Um, that's nice but, I haven't, uh, been with a man."

As a messenger of God, bringing such news to such a girl, I believe Gabriel responded gently,

"Nothing is impossible for God."


And Mary believed.


Later, she would spend years pondering the events of her life, but in that moment,

she believed.

She believed that in her virgin state, she could -- and would -- bear a child. And this child would be the Savior-Messiah, God with Us. Jesus Christ, Emmanuel.


She knew the road ahead.

She knew how this pregnancy would change her reputation.

She knew how her parents might respond.

That her friends would likely desert her. She anticipated telling her godly, honorable fiance that, though she had been faithful to him, she was pregnant.


She knew that her fiance would have the same right as his ancestor Judah.



She didn't know everything.

She didn't know that she would flee for her life into a foreign land.

She didn't know that this child would be tortured and die before her eyes.

She didn't know the violence that would follow not only him, but his friends as well.



But she knew enough.

She knew enough of the suffering that lay ahead of her.

And, in the midst of that knowing, she replied,



"Let it be with me, just as you say."