Blessed is She Who Believed
I have often wondered at what Mary’s life looked like prior to being chosen by the Lord to carry Christ. We get a bit of a glimpse into the devotion of her relatives Elizabeth and Zechariah’s life of devotion. They are righteous before God, waiting on promise, and Zechariah is serving in the temple when he is visited by the angel of the Lord. Mary’s story is missing a few of these paralleled details, and yet the Lord knew her heart. I often wonder at what her prayers entailed to give the Lord such trust.
In Nazareth, in Galilee, all the particularities of Mary’s story are known to the Lord. So when the angel Gabriel enters to greet her, the angel calls Mary “favored one.” In fact, her favor is reiterated when she is trying to discern this odd greeting from this frightful image of glory in front of her. Because she has found favor with God, the power of the Most High will overshadow her. She will carry the One who will be great, whose kingdom has no end.
We don’t talk much of the favor of God, and when we do, I wonder at how biblical our ideas really are.
“Favor ain’t fair” we declare when we find ourselves in delightfully advantageous situations.
Didn’t think I’d get an A on that essay—favor ain’t fair! …. Didn’t think the check would come in time and it did—favor ain’t fair!
Mary’s favor not only found her the blessed mother, but also a scorned woman. Before divine intervention, her fiancé almost broke off their betrothal. Even after he chose devotion, we can believe that the whispers continued for Mary, an unwed pregnant woman. She gives birth in a stable surrounded by animals and all the natural reality that comes with that. They are then visited by magi, gifted with extravagance. After their visit, however, Joseph flees with his family, becoming refugees seeking asylum in Egypt. Favor ain’t fair?
Favor is both the joy and cost of the invitation to God’s plan. Favor is the spotlight of heaven to the heart of devotion. Favor is the invitation to carry the promises of God as they have come, come, and are still to come.
Favor caused Mary to be overshadowed by the Lord and she said a resounding yes to the costly invitation. “I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” If we are honest, we can all think about the moments when we encountered the goodness of God and our response was closer to a silent fear and trembling than a “yes! Let it be!” Are we so audacious to hope like Mary when the Lord invites us to defy what we believe is the natural progressions? “Um, angel, did you miss something? There’s something missing in this equation of how babies are formed!” And the angel kindly, full of the reality of heaven, reminds Mary that nothing is impossible with God.
I need the heavenly reminder because I am too quick to remind God of typical, natural order. I am too quick to quench desire when hope begins to stir. I need to be reminded that there is another Kingdom reality beyond my own capacity and the broken world around me.
Advent invites us to wait with our unmet desires and breathe fresh hope upon them. We are invited once again to sing with Elizabeth, “Blessed is she who believes that there will be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”
Can I dare to believe that favor would also lead me to a place of hiddenness to nurture a promised destiny? Can I dare to dream that a young woman could carry the promises of God into a place that causes others to sneer? Can we be so courageous as to bless our desire in this Advent season? Can we whisper in hope to a sister that we believe for generations others might tell of the promises we’re carrying?
Advent is the announcement that hope is available.
We can wait with God to name the wild, risky hope that bubbles up when we realize who God is. Because God is the One who chooses a simple young woman to carry the seed that has been germinating for generations. God, so full of kindness, waits for our partnership to birth the impossible.
So in this season we wait with kind, bold beckoning to hope.