The Annunciation
Posted by Isaac Butterworth | Filed under Liturgical Year
This day on the Christian calendar occurs exactly nine months before Christmas Day, and for that reason it is the day on which we celebrate the Feast of the Annunciation. It is in Luke 1:26-38 that we have the account of the announcement to Mary that she will give birth to the Savior of the world. Read it, and you will see that something is afoot.
If you had the technology to trace it, you would see it taking shape. Angels are coming and going. Common people see them with their own eyes, hear them with their own ears. Backtrack a few verses, and you will find an old priest, one of many, putting in his time at the temple. For years he has prayed that he and his wife Elizabeth might have a child, but it is now next to impossible. They are both too old. However, on the day that he is to go into the sacred place of the temple alone, he finds himself not alone. An angel meets him there. And the angel tells him that Elizabeth — despite her advanced years, despite the impossibility — will have her baby yet. It is a remarkable thing.
Move forward a few verses into chapter two, and you will see the familiar scene of “shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night” (Luke 2:8). And an angel appears to them — and not just one angel but “a multitude of the heavenly host” (v. 13). And they, too, have news — news of an amazing birth. The word impossible is all but stricken from the dictionary.
What is happening? What does it mean that these celestial beings are appearing so often and so close together in time to so many different people?
Mary knows. She, too, is visited by one of these shining messengers. It is in the second trimester of Elizabeth’s pregnancy — although Mary her cousin has not yet received word of it — and Gabriel, the angel of the Lord, shows up at her house. And he has news of a plan, God’s plan, and he wants Mary to be a part of it.
The amazing thing about all this is that — while we may not be in the habit of seeing angels, at least, not so that we’re aware of it — God still has a plan and wants us to be a part of it. The question is — for us as it was for Mary — will we consent to it? Will we embrace it?
There is no doubt that God’s plan can be intrusive. It certainly was for Mary. Look again at what Luke says. Beginning at verse 26, we read: “In the sixth month [that is, in the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy] the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.’ But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.”
Well might she be perplexed, because in this greeting was the disintegration of what was for her a preferred future. Mary’s head was filled with dreams, dreams of life on her own terms. She contemplated her upcoming wedding — simple but traditional — her friends and family gathered as she met Joseph, her intended, before the rabbi and they promised themselves to each other. Like many other girls about to be married, she had visions of what marriage would be like — some realistic perhaps, some not so much. She could picture pleasant scenarios of her husband hard at work in his carpenter’s shop with her bringing lunch to him. She could see him lay down the tools of his trade, wipe his brow with his forearm, and cast an appreciative smile her way. Her days would be filled with caring for his needs, washing his clothes, preparing his meals, listening to his heart. She was in love, and nothing could spoil it.
Until the angel arrived. Who invited him anyway? He showed up and, quite frankly, interrupted her fantasy of a perfect future with all this talk of God’s favor and her part in what must have seemed to her a far-fetched plan. She would have preferred God’s favor on the life she had dreamed about, the life she had planned, the life that was now so close to being realized. Or not.
She was afraid, yes, and no wonder! It was not just the appearance of an angelic visitor that caused her heart to race with fear; it was the prospect of giving up her plan, her hopes, her desires for the plan of another — even if the other was God!
Don’t we all think we know what is best for us? Especially when God’s plan seems to run counter to ours? We want to take a certain path, believing that that path and that path alone will lead to our happiness. But we find the path blocked. There is no access. God has another path in mind for us. “How can God do this?” we protest. And we are certain that we are to be denied the only thing that could ever make us happy.
God’s plan can certainly be intrusive. Will we embrace it all the same?
Photo Credit: The Annunciation by Henry Ossawa Tanner
March 25, 2010 at 9:50 am
interesting and thought-provoking.
March 25, 2010 at 4:10 pm
Carla, thank you for your comment. I follow the Christian year because I like the way it shapes my perception of life. The surrounding culture provides us with one rhythm for living, punctuating the year with various holidays and remembrances. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, but I also like to think that the rhythms of faith can shape us in some subtle and profound way. It may be very much like dancing to the beat of a different drummer, and it connects us not only with the holy but also with people of faith across the centuries and around the world. I appreciate your taking time to read the blog. See you soon.