Friday 20 December 2024
Day of penance
Isaiah 7:10-14. Let the Lord enter; he is king of glory – Psalm 23(24):1-6. Luke 1:26-38.
For nothing is impossible to God.
Images of Mary as a shy, passive and compliant young girl are not borne out by this interchange. The angel Gabriel would intimidate most of us. Mary is not over-awed. She listens as he says she is pleasing to God and that God has a special design for her, then outlines what it is. Mary does not passively accept the plan; rather, she debates its possibility. How many of us would debate an angel? The kicker is ‘for nothing is impossible to God’. Then she agrees to let it happen.
The Jesus who challenged those who abused authority and overturned the tables of the money changers needed role models. He did not grow up with wimps. Table conversation must have included attitudes to exploitation and injustice and the plight of the poor.
Maybe Mary had more in common with Greta Thunberg than we think.
