Mary’s Going to have a Baby!

Earlier and earlier each year, Christmas decorations appear in stores.  Halloween is not even past before the first Christmas items go on sale.  Surprisingly, even with the commercialization of the Christmas holiday, the first sign of the coming Christmas season appears in early spring.  Nine months before Christmas, the Christian calendar is marked by a special event:  the great announcement that Mary will have a baby!

Yes, on March 25, the Christian calendar causes us to remember that the angel Gabriel visited Mary to announce that she was pregnant.   While the feast draws our attention to the birth of Jesus, there are significant lessons about the sacred story of the Annunciation for our lives.

Remember the story:  the angel appears to the young girl, Mary, and tells her that she is pregnant.  Of course, Mary wonders how this could have happened.  The angel explains that her child is the result of the power of God overshadowing her.  She is to call the child, Jesus, for the child will be the salvation of the people.  Mary’s response was simple:  let it happen to me just as you have said.

The first striking lesson in this story is that the angel, a messenger from God, appears to Mary.  The story doesn’t tell us what Mary was doing.  Over the centuries, artists have depicted her doing any number of things from household chores to being absorbed in prayer.  But we really have no idea what she was doing before the messenger appeared.  Our best assumption is that until that point, her day was much like any other day.  It was in the midst of her ordinary day that something extraordinary occurred: the message from God was received.

In this, Mary is like us and we are like Mary.  Our encounters with the Holy One are part of our ordinary lives.  It’s in the midst of day to day events that we have the opportunity to encounter the Divine while working with others, in nature, and, as hard as it may be, even driving on the freeway during rush hour! Spiritual moments are essentially any moment; it’s about our awareness and openness to the Mystery.

The second lesson in the story is found in Mary’s simple acceptance of what must have been unimaginable.  By her own admission, she was sexually abstinent.  Yet, somehow, she was to have a baby.  Of course, it made no sense.  She asked, “How can this be?” While the angel provides an answer, it’s not an answer which offers a great deal of detail.  Mary demonstrates the purity of heart to simply trust.

Throughout our lives, events do occur which make no sense.  Sometimes we wonder, “Why me, Lord?”  Other times we wonder if we will have the faith to see us through difficult situations.  We aren’t sure how to make it through life’s confusing realities.  Mary’s response to something beyond belief is a faith-filled trust in God who will provide grace to sustain her in the midst of difficulty.  This is the God of Exodus who journeys with people of faith and sustains them in difficult times.

The third lesson in this simple story is Mary’s willingness to allow her life to be very different than she had imagined.  It’s one thing, at the moment, to willingly accept a challenging task.  Living out that task day by day becomes the real challenge.  But that is what Mary does.  After the visit from the angel, Mary allows the message to change her life.  This event will fundamentally alter Mary’s life forever.

Any parent knows how much raising a child alters life.  Gone are the days of freedom with minimal responsibility.  With pregnancy and the birth of a child, the life of the child becomes one’s entire focus.  The same is also true when one cares for an aging parent or loved one:  one’s own life is shaped and colored by the needs of the other.  Mary is willing to turn her life over and make the needs of the child, yes, the needs of God, as her first priority.

Christian spiritual practice is an opportunity to turn our lives over to God’s purposes and make God our first priority.  That’s usually easier said than done.  Unlike an infant, God doesn’t wake us up in the middle of the night crying, needing a dry diaper or a warm bottle.  Because of this, it’s relatively easy to say pious sounding words about the priority God has in our lives while following whatever pursuit captures our imagination.  Mary embodies what it is to truly live for God by her willingness to turn her life over and upside based on the message she received.

While the Annunciation is the first glimpse we have of Christmas, it remains a vital story for us in this Advent season.  We are told the simple story of a young girl who is open to God’s message whenever it comes; who accepts the way in which God stirs within her, even when it makes no sense; and who gives herself over to truly make the life of God the priority of her own life.  Doesn’t the Advent preparation call us to live just as she did? Yes, in this way, we will encounter the Presence of God in a new way at Christmas.

Photo by irinaraguel on Foter.com/CC BY