On Line Bible Study - For the week December 14 - 20, 2009

Lesson 418

Luke 1: ²⁶In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, ²⁷to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. ²⁸The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."

²⁹Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. ³⁰But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. ³¹You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. ³²He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, ³³and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."

³⁴"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"

³⁵The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. ³⁶Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. ³⁷For nothing is impossible with God."

³⁸"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her.

Well, there you have it. You know the story, and you have heard it over and over again for the past week or so - in church, in Christmas Carols, over the radio, as you pass by community creche sets. Is there anything "new" to be said about it? Perhaps not; but note some parallels between this announcement and the one we have studied previously with regard to the message given to Zechariah:

• The angel Gabriel is the messenger.
• The recipient of the message is startled (Zechariah) or troubled (Mary).
• Assurance is offered.
• The significance of the child is described.
• The role of the Holy Spirit is outlined.
  

One parallel that is interesting - While Zechariah was in the Temple, in a public place, the angel comes to him in a private moment. So too with Mary; the message is given to her and her alone. Note, however, that with regard to John, it was his father that received the message from the angel; with Jesus, it was his mother who receives the word.

What about the fact that Zechariah is punished for his doubt, while Mary is unscathed following her questioning of the angel - How will this be? Perhaps the difference is in the question that is asked. Zechariah wants to know: How can I be sure? It is almost as if he is looking for some kind of proof. Mary, on the other hand, asks: How can this be? It's not a question of proof, but of process.

After our first child was born my wife told me: You have to go get a job and support me and this child. That was it. No question as to the end result: I was going to get a job and support my family! The "how" of that was left pretty much up to me. In a sense, Mary does not question the end result; she is inquisitive with regard to the process. Hers was not a "Prove it to me" response.

Do you have any sense of God being "on your side" - not in a competitive way, as if it is you against someone else, but in an ontological way - that God is with you in life and working toward your own good? For a person of faith, the question is not whether God's presence will make itself known, but how. The angel drives the point home - Nothing is impossible with God! Mary would find that to be true enough.

In the next lesson we'll speak a bit more about the Virgin birth.