Dec. 21: Fourth Sunday of Advent
Luke 1:26-38
How does Mary, the mother of Jesus, sound to you? We hear her in her own voice just twice: First, in her strange encounter with Gabriel; then on the road from Jerusalem, when she sounds like a loving mother of a precocious son (Luke 2:41-50). Later, others speak on her behalf (see Luke 8:19-21).
In the sequel to today’s reading, Mary goes to visit her relatives. They are also celebrating a miraculous conception. She speaks scripture, paraphrasing Hannah’s song from 1 Samuel (Luke 1:39-56).
Today we meet her in Nazareth, in her own home, in her own words. We hear her first response to Gabriel’s fantastic message. She has a right to ask, “How can this be?” How do we hear her last words? “Here am I,” she says.
Here I am. It’s me, God’s servant girl. Tradition praises her straightforward commitment to God’s plan. She really has no choice but to submit. Tradition often stresses the submission, both lifting her up as the chosen bearer of God’s promise and putting her down as a mere vessel God used to fulfill a great purpose. Emphasis on God, not on Mary.
Or tradition has made her the God-bearer, necessarily of miraculous origin, worthy after her service to be Queen of Heaven. The little girl is lost along the way. Emphasis on a being touched by divinity, not on a young woman from Nazareth.
Can we still hear her voice? In Sunday readings and Christmas pageants her voice is often soft, faint. A sound of resignation to the inevitable. She’s meek. A good girl, who will do what she’s told.
What if she’s loud? What if her whole life shouts, “Here am I?” What if God doesn’t go with the humble handmaid this time, but chooses the bold, assertive woman who can get a job done? Try saying “let it be with me according to your word” with the emphasis on “be” and “me.” God has a worthy partner.
What if she’s eager? What if she gets it, and wants to get on with it? Say, “Here am I.” Fast. And “Let it be.” Gabriel leaves in a hurry to report success. God picked a winner.
What if Mary has more questions? She’s still not sure about this. She’ll believe it when she sees some results. Read her words after a little pause. An ironic twist. An implied “Right…” before “Here am I.” God has to keep an eye on this one.
What if she’s reluctant, as the chosen often are? She knows enough to know there will be trouble ahead. What if she’s angry? What choice does she have? God will use her whether she’s willing or not.
If we take seriously the couple other things she says, and all that’s said about her, we can find support for more than one reading of her words to Gabriel. We also know she “treasures in her heart” many, many things we don’t know.
What if she can say no? Can we stay with her in the story and allow the possibility that God is waiting for her answer? This is an unusual story. Most of the time God’s partners and prophets just hear they’ve been chosen and there’s work to do. Mary gets to give Gabriel a message to take back to God.
What if that answer is, “No?” Take time with the story. Make God wait for an answer. The future of God’s world depends on one person’s choice. This is a big deal. Let Mary be human. Before, as the poet Jane Kenyon wrote, “…inside her the mind / of Christ, cloaked in blood, / lodges and begins to grow.”
As “the Word [is] stern-sentenced to be / nine months’ dumb— / infinity walled in a womb…” (Luci Shaw).
About laurencedewolfe
Rev. Dr. Laurence DeWolfe teaches at Atlantic School of Theology, Halifax.
