Daily Bread

In the sixth month 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, favoured one! The Lord is with you.’

But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.

The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’

Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I am a virgin?’

The angel said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.’

Then Mary said, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.’

Then the angel departed from her.

I was taken aback recently, when someone, coming to the story for the first time, told me how offensive the story of the annunciation was to them. They pointed out that Mary (a female) was told by an ostensibly male angel that God (also often depicted as male) was going to impregnate her. I confess, I had never looked at it like that, and in our contemporary cultural context, I can see how this story can be difficult for some, and this is something of which us preachers need to be mindful.

We always need to be careful when applying the Bible to our daily lives, especially when detaching a teaching or a scenario out of one, very different, cultural context and dropping it wholesale into our own. It is akin to using a hairdryer bought in the USA in the UK. The plug sockets do not match and the electronics are designed to work at a different voltage. Sure, you could change the plug socket type but when you plug it in you will fry the electrics, the motor will overheat, and it will probably catch fire!

Context is everything when we approach the Bible, including this story of the annunciation, however, just because it comes from a culture and time different to our own, it does not mean we cannot learn something about the character of God.

For me, the overriding theme in the Annunciation is how God calls and uses very ordinary people — people who, like Mary, respond with, "Who, me?"

Over the centuries we have deified Mary and painted a picture of a meek, mild, serene motherly lady (probably white) who always has her head tilted to one side to look with royal compassion upon her subjects. The truth is that Mary was (as we read) a sassy and gobby teenager! She was no different to any other teenage girl you come across. She answered back to angels and questioned them, and I dare you to do the same!

We can get so caught up in the story, or its cultural misappropriation, that we forget the simple message that, in the same way that God called Mary to bear a son, God calls us to bear the Holy Spirit. As the Christmas carol 'O Little Town of Bethlehem' reminds us,

O Holy Child of Bethlehem,
descend to us, we pray;
cast out our sin and enter in;
be born in us today.
We hear the Christmas angels,
the great glad tidings tell;
O come to us, abide with us,
our Lord Emmanuel!

Holy God
Thank you that you choose ordinary people
to be bearers of your holiness.
Remind me that I am worthy to be used by you
to further the purposes of your kingdom —
a kingdom built on love.