Luke 1:28-29 "And he (Gabriel) 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."
I started receiving Christmas cards this week. Of course the first included a plea for money from my college alma mater and the second was from my alderwoman. None of them have been particularly striking so far, but every once in a while I get a card that I just can't seem to figure out at all. What in the world were they trying to communicate when they picked this?
Surprisingly, this is a bit how Mary felt about the angel's greeting. She was perplexed and had to think about what the words meant. Yet the greeting, at least to me, doesn't seem that strange. In many churches, worship begins with the phrase, "The Lord is with you," and responded to with "And also with you." We assume that God is with us always and everywhere. Or at least that is what we proclaim on Sunday mornings, even if we seem to forget it during much of the week. I forget, sometimes, just how radical an idea it is that God is with us. And how much more radical it might have been for Mary. Think about the previous verses. Zechariah is a priest, one of the few people in all of Israel designated to serve in the sanctuary of the temple. One of the few people allowed to stand in God's presence. Before Christ's death on the cross, the tearing of the curtain in the temple, it was assumed that God was not always with us. At least not in the way we understand it. God was on top of the mountain, or in the inner sanctum of the temple, or present to only a few special chosen people... to the prophets and perhaps a king or two. God was not with the ordinary. It was too dangerous for God to be present all the time. The holiness would be overwhelming. It could kill you.
And yet, the angel tells the young Mary that God is with her. Not only is God with her, the power of the Most High will overshadow her. Holiness will dwell within her. And from now on, holiness will dwell with each of us.
Each season God seems to bring to mind different themes as I write these reflections. This Advent it seems to be all about the reality of God's presence with us. The overwhelming sense of the holy walking with humanity. A sense not only that God came down, but that we are more than mere flesh and blood. That there is a holiness to humanity created in God's image as we were.
God is with you this Advent season. God is with you, O favored one. May it cause us to ponder as Mary did.
(By the way, as a side note... by pop-music association for the day was Adam Ant's Goody Two Shoes... don't you just think of John the Baptist when you here the phrase "Don't drink. Don't smoke. What do you do?")
4 comments:
This doesn't have anything to do with your reflection other that the greeting card part. When we went to Ecuador we met an older man from Maine (who died shortly after the trip) and Clara Adamson from Duluth who were good friends. A story she told us after he passed away was a card he sent her (humorously) which the verse used was "Joseph too went to Bethlehem" (can't remember what verse it is or from what version). We get a good laugh at that one every time.
I absolutely love your blog and thank you so much for a beautiful post, it truly blessed my heart.
Sending you warm smiles and blessings from sunny South Africa!
Nisha(^^,)
So good to see Clara's name! And I'll try to remember Joseph a bit more in my future reflections! He does get lost a bit in Luke, doesn't he!
Nisha,
Thank you so much for your comment! It is hard for me to believe that my little blog makes it all the way to South Africa. Thank you for returning the blessing.
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