Saturday 25 March 2023
The Annunciation of the Lord
Isaiah 7:10-14, 8:10. Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will – Psalm 39(40):7-11. Hebrews 10:4-10. Luke 1:26-38.
God is with us
Mary is young yet she’s been landed with the responsibility of bearing a child. Not any child. One who the angel Gabriel pronounces ‘Son of the Most High’. Mary’s much older cousin Elizabeth is also pregnant. Pregnancy is not what either woman expected. How quickly and shockingly Mary’s vision of life must have altered on hearing the angel’s news.
Are we ever adequately prepared for life-changing news? Young people especially, like Mary, can experience challenging situations that crash against their fleeting childhood like huge waves against rocks.
Gabriel isn’t offering the ‘Mother of the Son of God’ role to anyone else. Mary is it; chosen by God. Yet the manner of Mary’s response is a choice. Her acceptance seems to come from a place of love, humility, trust and immense courage. Courage because pregnancy, childbirth, child-rearing isn’t easy, and she’s in a socially fragile position. In Mary we witness the holiness of a young woman who – realising something big is happening to her, whether she likes it or not – takes a breath and decides to make the best of it, knowing God is with her.
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