SCRIPTURE: Luke 1:26-55
©Rev. Alison J. Buttrick Patton
Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.
Those are the words with which the angel Gabriel greeted Mary, the young woman destined to become the bearer of God. Of course, she had no idea, before Gabriel’s appearance, that such plans were in the offing. At least, not that we can tell. Mary, a teenaged Middle Eastern woman, was engaged to an older man, Joseph, and preparing to move to his home to become his wife, sometime within the next year. Whether this filled her with anticipation, or with trepidation, we have no way of knowing. But I imagine all those emotions paled in comparison with the mix of responses that bubbled up during her encounter with Gabriel, that messenger of God.
What does it mean to be favored by God? Is that, in fact, good news? Certainly, it is not easy news, not news that brings with it the promise of an untroubled or uneventful life. On the contrary, God tends to show up with outrageous proposals that derail a person’s best laid plans. Mary, a young Jewish woman, would have known the stories: How God asked Abram and Sarai to leave their home and everyone they knew to go on a journey to God-only-knew-where; how God appeared to Moses in a burning bush and asked him to go ten rounds with the Egyptian pharaoh, harsh dictator of the known world; how prophets no older than teenage Mary, from Samuel to Jeremiah, had been instructed by God to deliver really bad news to their people, as in: “God is not happy and you are in big trouble.” To be chosen by God – this is rarely a comforting thing. Perhaps Mary was pondering that hard truth, as the angel spoke those loaded words, “Greetings, favored one.”
All the same, she didn’t head for the hills. Though that angel Gabriel, who must have had the potential to be terrifying, went on to report that Mary would become a teenage mother out of wedlock, would bear the very child of God… Mary did not cower. She did not faint. Someone in our Bible Study group this week described her as ‘unflappable.’ She just asked for clarification: But how can that be, since I am a virgin?
In other words: Check your GPS, Gabe. I think you’ve got the wrong house.
Which is exactly how many of us respond when God comes knocking. Moses pointed out that he couldn’t possibly be God’s spokesman, because he had a stutter. Jeremiah objected that he was just a kid. And nearly every Master of Divinity candidate who crossed my threshold while I served as Director of Admissions at Chicago Theological Seminary began their story this way: “I had this moment when God sort of tugged on my sleeve, when I thought – or someone else thought – that maybe I should be a minister, only I knew that that was ridiculous, that there was no way I could pull that off, so I ran away/dismissed God’s call (or) ignored it for 3/5/10/20 years.
Being picked out of the crowd by God, even if it sounds like a profound privilege, is profoundly unsettling. I wonder whether any of us is prepared for it. God insinuates herself in our lives, says: “Grace and peace be with you! I’ve got a plan for you.” God nudges us into unfamiliar waters, toward previously unexplored territory. God says, “I am calling you to give birth to something new; to take a stand; lead a movement; change careers; go on a journey; overcome an addiction; mediate peace; adopt a child; raise up a church … I’ve chosen you.” And we declare: “There’s no way. Not me. You’ve got the wrong house. What you’re asking is impossible, as impossible as a flying pig… or a virgin birth.”
This, I believe, is the whole point. That what Gabriel declared was, in fact, impossible. We’ve inherited all kinds of unnecessary baggage because some theologians have concluded that what mattered about Mary’s virginity was that it somehow made her a suitable vessel for God – unblemished, free of sin. That line of thinking, if you follow it to its logical conclusion, implies that sexual intimacy is a bad thing – or at least makes us unsuitable to be bearers of God.
This is what’s called bad theology…theology that tries to talk us out of cherishing what God has already declared good.
Here’s what I think is really going on when Luke includes the detail that Mary is a virgin: it’s not about purity, but about impossibility. I conclude this, because when Mary responds to Gabriel’s pronouncement by saying, “How can this be, for I am a virgin?” Gabriel doesn’t say: “I know! That makes you the perfect candidate: pure, unsullied.” Instead, the angel declares, “That’s ok, God’s done it before. Go talk to your cousin Elizabeth. She’ll tell you: Nothing will be impossible for God.”
That Mary couldn’t possibly have been pregnant, not by any ordinary measure, that’s what gives this story its power. That God can do impossible things: that’s what clinches the deal; it’s what leads Mary to say, finally, “Here am I…I know I couldn’t do it, but evidently, you can.” It’s what sends her racing off to the home of her cousin. “You’ll never believe it, Elizabeth!” Except, of course, Elizabeth does believe it, because she’s already had her own impossible turned to possible. The miracle child in her womb leaps for joy as Mary approaches. Together, they marvel at the news, the most definitely good news that God is up to something life-altering in the world. Together, they count all the impossibilities:
- That God has favored a young, peasant woman – has chosen her, of all people!;
- That she will be remembered – and honored – by generations of parents and children;
- That God has scattered the proud;
- Brought down the powerful;
- Lifted up the lowly;
- And filled the hungry with good things…
God can do all that, despite all logic to the contrary; despite pie charts that show the ever widening gap between rich and poor; and reports that show how little women are still valued in many parts of the world; despite tyrants that seem never to relinquish power; and our own nagging suspicion that we are too small, weak, poor or unprepared to answer when God comes knocking… with God, declares the angel, nothing is impossible.
There is a marvelous children’s novel by Norton Juster called The Phantom Tollbooth. Its hero, Milo, is bored all the time, until he drives a toy car through a mysterious tollbooth and ends up in the land of Expectations. He makes several friends, meets a king and is sent on a quest. Before Milo embarks on that quest, the king informs him that there’s something important that he can’t tell Milo until Milo gets back. Spoiler alert: If you plan to read this book and don’t want the end ruined, stick your fingers in your ears and slowly count to ten… When Milo returns, having successfully accomplished the quest, he asks the king what it was he couldn’t tell. The king replies, “It was impossible. Completely impossible. But if we’d told you that then, you might not have gone.”
What seems impossible to you, this season? Just getting through your holiday to-do list may feel impossible, or living up to someone’s Christmas expectations – maybe even your own. Resolving a family conflict that threatens to erupt or relocating joy in the face of a recent loss. There’s the big stuff, like dismantling racism, feeding hungry families, preserving God’s environment or building healthy communities … Talk about daunting. Or How about our own move back to Saugatuck Church? Moving is never easy: Getting re-oriented, settling in, listening for God’s messengers to guide our way, finding the resources to help this church to thrive, so we can fulfill God’s purpose for us here in Westport… There, too, is a hill that can feel very steep to climb.
But here’s the thing, Sisters and Brothers in Christ: whether we think we can pull it off misses the point. The question is: has God called us to this work? If so, then surely God’s spirit will come upon us, and the power of the Most High will overshadow us and amazing new life will spring forth, for nothing, said Gabriel, nothing, confirmed Elizabeth, nothing, sang Mary, is impossible for God.
If your knuckles are bent by arthritis, or your body is weakened by chemo or your memory is not what it used to be; if you are too young, so that others dismiss your ideas; or too shy, so that no one seems to listen; if you feel ill equipped for the tasks set before you, or overwhelmed by the size of the hill, if your heart is pounding or your knees are knocking, because God’s Messenger has just come calling and you are unconvinced that you – or we – have what it takes, know this: we are all utterly unprepared, wholly inadequate to the task. Like Mary, we are all virgins, when it comes to bearing the light of Christ within us; who can do that, really? It’s impossible! Nevertheless, this season we look to Mary, courageous, unflappable Mary, who pondered Gabriel’s greeting, and then said, “Yes.”
Look to Mary, and then ask: What about us? What would God have US do? Because in the words of Jan Richardson, “during this season we share with Mary and Joseph in giving birth to the holy. …When we create with our hands, offer hospitality, work for justice, or teach a child. We share in giving birth whenever we freely offer ourselves for healing, for delight, for transformation, for peace. And we become, as German mystic Meister Eckhart wrote in the Middle Ages: “mothers of God, for God is always needing to be born.”
Sisters and brothers in Christ, this season, this holy Advent, this season so pregnant with potential; so round and full of messengers and miracles; this season, when God comes calling, as God surely does – in your own life, in our shared lives, consider that grace-filled greeting, listen for that invitation to bring forth new life, and before you say yes or no, ask yourself not, “Is it possible?” but rather “Is it faithful?” Then, with Mary, might we all say, “Here am I, servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your Word.”
* * * * * *
Luke 1: 26-55 – NRSV Translation
26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” 29 But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. 30 The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 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. 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” 34 Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” 35 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. 36 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. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 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. 39 In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, 40 where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit 42 and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 43 And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? 44 For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.” 46 And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. 50 His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. 51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. 52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; 53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, 55 according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”