How do you think you would have reacted had you received the same invitation as Mary?
But let’s start out by being honest- was Mary’s reaction really quite so serene as is generally pictured? Yancey does a good job of pointing out that to understand the incredible nature of the Christmas story there are some phrases we need to pay attention to. Gabriel is excited. He’s telling Mary she has an invitation to be a key player in the greatest celebration in history. But the Bible also says Mary is “greatly troubled” and “afraid”. Her reaction to the news of a baby, “But I’m a virgin”.
No, Mary was not the picture of serenity immediately. Now she does respond appropriately, “let it be as you say, I’m a servant of the Lord”. That doesn’t mean she understood it all or even liked it all. I’m sure she was still afraid- afraid of the consequences of being pregnant before marriage, afraid of having a baby already, afraid of Joseph’s reaction, and more. Maybe it’s hard for us to get in touch with these fears in today’s society, but in a tightly knit and profoundly religious rural community, Mary had much to fear.
And perhaps that’s what makes the story all the better. It’s not that Mary was nearly so serence as the side picture would suggest. It’s not that a halo actually appeared over her head. It’s the fact that even though she was troubled, she trusted. It’s the fact that a young teenager who literally was now bearing the future of the world was able to keep putting one foot in front of the next and to somehow trust enough that she even sang God’s praise when she was speaking to her cousin Elizabeth. What an incredible reaction!
I was speaking to our youth last Sunday about all the different reactions people can have to parties and the corresponding reactions of the characters of the nativity (our youth director’s idea). Think about it. Joseph who tried to avoid the invitation but once he accepted put himself completely into it. Elizabeth and Zechariah who were probably confused at first, but overjoyed to be part of the story. Shepherds who weren’t even expecting an invitation, but attended enthusiastically and told everyone about this, inviting them to participate in the story as well. There’s even Herod who was upset that the party wasn’t about him, and he tried to destroy it.
The beautiful thing is that God is still sending out invitations to this party and even though our reactions won’t be the stuff of saintly pictures, that’s fine with God. In fact, that’s what makes our stories great. God keeps inviting us and working his way into our lives, joining the story of Christmas, of Emmanuel (God with us), to our story.
