The Option to Obey & the Ridiculous Option Not to
And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” And the angel answered 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 called holy—the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
Luke 1:34–38 ESV Read More
There are all different ways that God calls His servants in the scriptures. He appears to them, He sends angels, He gives them a vision or a dream, or He sends prophets. One thing stands out every time God shows up: freedom.
At the end of Gabriel’s proclamation, Mary says “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word,” and you realize that this is a plan that she has the freedom to accept or reject. Once she says “bring it,” Gabriel is done and leaves.
While Ezekiel had to eat bread cooked over poop and Elijah faced down 400 prophets of Baal, Mary became pregnant with her message from the Lord and raised Him. She had planned to be a mother at some point, surely, but not under these circumstances. The punishment for adultery during an engagement was stoning, but she didn’t bring that up to Gabriel.
When she asked how it could even be possible it was not out of disbelief, but out of wonder. There is a fine line between the two. Disbelief says with pride, “I understand how things work, and I don’t believe it works like this.” Wonder says with humility “I thought I understood how things work, but I don’t have any idea how this is going to work. What are you going to do, God?”
That is the humility that Mary has. She knows this is all completely in God’s hands since an angel has just appeared and said a whole list of impossible things. Instead of asking for proof or even confidence, she says “let it be done.”
What if that became our prayer after we read the Bible every day? What if that became our prayer at the end of a worship song?
“I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”
Gabriel’s last words to her, and the last of his words in the scriptures, are “Nothing will be impossible with God.” How many times would that phrase come up throughout Jesus’ life?
When trying to find a place to sleep for the night and the baby is born in a barn:
“Nothing is impossible with God.”“I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”
When all of the children in Bethlehem are slaughtered and Joseph and Mary are going to live in Egypt to hide from murderous King Herod:
“Nothing is impossible with God.”“I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”
And when Jesus is grown up and they all think He’s crazy, Mary will go with the whole family to retrieve Him and take Him home. It doesn’t work, and the next time Mary is mentioned she is looking at her boy, Jesus, hanging on the cross.
“Nothing is impossible with God.”“I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”
But that was not the last time she would see Him.