Theotokos

Imagine your emotions when an angel of God appears to you and tells you that the baby you will give birth to (even though you aren’t yet married) will be the son of God. Disbelief? Fear? Denial?

Luke’s gospel tells us that Mary was “troubled in her heart” at the appearance of the angel. Of course she was troubled. Who could possibly imagine what might lay in store for God’s son, for her son? One has to wonder if Mary knew that to bear the son of God was to give birth to one whom the powers of the world would have to reject. The claims that would be made about the man’s life would be too outrageous, too demanding, perhaps even too liberating. Or you have to wonder if the thought that went through her mind were as simple as “I can’t have a child – I’m unwed!” The burden she must have experienced would have been heavy beyond comprehension.

The angel, sensing her abject horror at the thought of being theotokos “mother of God”, tries to calm her down. “You are favored by God!” the angel says.

“Favored?” she thinks! Who needs this kind of favor.

“Your son will be called the most High, the Son of God! He will sit on an eternal throne!” the angel offers to Mary.

And then her deep-seated fear emerges. “How can this be when I’m not married?” - which in her culture might also have been said, “You know proper young Jewish women in our village don’t become pregnant without first being married! I’ll be ridiculed and the people who have known me my entire life will think I’m nothing but a tramp, that I’ve slept with my fiancée before we were properly married. Do you really believe they will buy the whole ‘Spirit of God descended upon you’ explanation?”

The angel persists. “He will be called the Son of God,” the angel says.

“Of course I am your humble and willing servant,” Mary replies. “I will do as asked.”

The scene doesn’t really match our idea of how Mary should have reacted to the news that God had chosen her for his purpose. Shouldn’t she have been elated at the prospect of carrying the Lord’s child in her womb! Shouldn’t she have been overjoyed that she would be the one to nurture Jesus to adulthood? Shouldn’t she have found strength from the knowledge that she would be forever remembered as the mother of God?

Would you?

God comes to us for his purposes and we think deep in our hearts, “Who needs this kind of favor? Can’t you just leave me alone and choose someone else and let me serve you in peace and in my own way?”

When God comes and greets us with a blessing and says “I have important work for you to do” how often do we jerk back in fear knowing that we are completely unworthy and unprepared to be used how God wants to use us? We are certain that we are not up to what it is God has set us apart to do. We are fearful that people will think that we are stupid and ridiculous for following that voice, that call that no one else has heard and no one else can really understand. They didn’t hear the voice. They didn’t hear the blessing. And yet, God asks. And God blesses. And God tells us that we are favored.

Be encouraged and do not fear, the angel says. God favors you for the purpose for which you have been called. In your own way you bear Jesus deep inside of you and God has called you to give birth to the Prince of Peace – to make him known powerfully to others by how you live your life - by the blessing that at first no one can see but will come to know and understand as the Spirit grants you amazing and abundant life.

Mary’s response to God is really the only response we have to offer. God’s purposes for creation are going to be fulfilled.

Lk 1:38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.”