How you ask something can carry more weight than the actual question itself. Zechariah responds to the angel’s announcement of the birth of John the Baptist by asking, “How shall I know this?” Mary responds to the announcement of the birth of Jesus by asking, “How shall this be?” Zechariah’s question has an edge of cynicism in it. How could God possibly improve the painful situation in which I find myself? Mary’s question is open to hearing what God has in store — instead of cynicism, curiosity. Do we feel like Zechariah, that we are stuck, that the difficulties of this time are overwhelming? Or do we feel like Mary, that God has a plan and that God can make a way out of no way?
