Do you know Mary? She’s a poor young woman from a small town who meets an angel.
The angel tells her she is filled with grace and God is with her. Mary wonders about that. She’s not really feeling it today and she’s got chores to do.
The angel says that God thinks she’s pretty amazing, so she’s going to have a child who’s going to be pretty amazing. Mary nods and wonders how that’s going to happen, seeing how she’s engaged, but they’re waiting and she’s not, well … and the angel interrupts her and says the Holy Spirit will take care of it. She says okay, I serve God, so let’s do that.
She’s super excited and runs off to tell her cousin Elizabeth, who’s also pregnant under pretty unusual circumstances (she’s really old, thinks Mary). When Elizabeth sees Mary, she’s pretty excited. Her baby’s kicking pretty hard and she says he knows Mary’s pregnant and it’s the messiah she’s carrying. How awesome is that?
Mary says that’s pretty awesome. It is. So’s Mary.
That’s a pretty free paraphrase of Luke 1:26-45. But even in the scripture account, it’s pretty clear that Mary’s awesome. But maybe not in the way tradition describes her.
I wonder if what we think we know about Mary is less about what we actually know from scripture, and more about what we imagine from tradition. Mary has a variety of titles, like the Blessed Virgin Mary or Mary the Mother of Jesus, that confirm her role in the story. She’s most often described as holy, gently, meek, mild, humble and blessed. “Gabriel’s Message,” a well known Victorian carol describes her as both “a lowly maiden” and “most highly favoured lady.” The timid figure in most Christmas creches has her posed kneeling beside the manger, hands pressed together in prayer and adoration.
Okay. But the story might well tell us something else.
Mary isn’t afraid of the angel Gabriel. She’s “perplexed” and “ponders” what the angel’s greeting might mean. Sure, Gabriel says “don’t be afraid,” and maybe she ought to be, but she just isn’t. Earlier in the story, Gabriel visited Elizabeth’s husband Zechariah to tell him that their son would be John the Baptist. Zechariah is described as terrified and overwhelmed with fear. He also doesn’t believe the angel and, as a result, Gabriel makes him mute until after John is born. Mary doesn’t doubt it happening, she just wants to know how. It seems that Zechariah, a priest in the temple whose job is literally serving God, is shown how to truly serve God by a poor peasant girl.
And then there’s dealing with her family and Joseph. Even if they believe her story, it’ll be hard going with the community. There’s the journey to Bethlehem and giving birth among animals in a stable.
Maybe Mary’s young and inexperienced, but she wonders, she ponders things, she’s a deep and spiritual character. She’s strong and brave, faithful and true to God. She’s strong enough for a rough journey and an unexpected, uncomfortable birth. Mary “found favour with God” not because of her place in society or any title and not because of her age or lineage (which is never mentioned), but because of who she was. Do you know that Mary?
