When I was in Jersey City I used to go to the local public school on Dr. Seuss day to read Green Eggs and Ham to the first grade. This was not a new book for the children but one that they were very familiar with. So as I would come to the punch line they would all chime in: “I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam-I-am.” That’s the way it is with stories. We never tire of hearing them and we know what the punch lines are. It can even be true with Bible stories – like today’s gospel from St. Luke. We call this scene the annunciation and it tells a story we have heard many times. It has a wonderful punch line: “Nothing will be impossible for God.” But our very familiarity with it can inhibit our ability to hear what a strange and shocking story this is. A fresh hearing of the annunciation produces a sense that Mary’s willingness to bring the son of God into the world is not a historical memory of the long ago and far away, but is a challenge for us to act as she did. This story is not given for our admiration, but for our imitation. Our response to the reading should be: How can I bring God into my, home, my family, my neighborhood, my world as Mary did into hers.
The first surprising thing in the narrative is Mary’s reaction to the angelic greeting. “She was greatly troubled at what was said,” St. Luke reports. Now you could understand someone being upset at an angel appearing. That is not an everyday occurrence. But it wasn’t the appearance of the angel that upset Mary. St. Luke is careful to say it was what the angel said that was upsetting. And what was that? “The Lord is with you. You have found favor with God. You are full of grace.” What could be upsetting about those words! It sounds like good news. And it is. But when you think about it there is some cause for discomfort in hearing one is blessed, graced and favored by God. Since the word “angel” simply means messenger I’m going to serve as your messenger, your angel, today and give you a word from the Lord. Hail, you are full of grace. The Lord is with you. You have found favor with God. Sounds good – but if you have good sense like Mary did, it sounds scary as well. For if the Lord is with you, if you are full of grace, then there are no longer any excuses. You can no longer say, I’m only human. I find it hard to forgive because I’m only human. I’m selfish or greedy because I’m only human. I get angry and yell because I’m only human. The angel, the divine message says differently. You are blessed and God is with you. You can be the kind, forgiving, generous, compassionate, peaceful, loving person you were made to be not by a change in your personality but by a reliance on the fullness of grace that God has given you. Here then is the first lesson if we are to imitate Mary and bring God into our world: we have to KNOW who we truly are. We have to know that we aren’t confined by our humanity but are the children of God who have been given the grace to live a divine life. We have to know that one of the impossible things God does is transform the likes of us into God-bearers, by whose actions Jesus becomes present in our world.
After Mary got over the initial shock of hearing how blessed she was, she was puzzled about the way all this was going to work out: “How can this be?” How can the likes of me bring God into the world? What does the likes of me have to do with the son of the most high and the throne of King David? How can my little corner of the world in Nazareth have anything to do with a kingdom where there will be no end? So the angel instructed her, helped her to understand that “the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you.” We might have a similar puzzlement. How can this be? How am I supposed to live as a child of God when my family is driving me crazy, the city is full of dangers, my doctor is giving me bad news and the bill collectors are beating at my door? The angelic message to us is the same as to Mary – because of the Holy Spirit and the power of the most high. So the second lesson for us who are to imitate Mary in bringing God into the world is that we have to GROW. We have to grow in our appreciation of the presence and action of God in our lives — say your prayers, read the scriptures, come to church, attend Bible study, become involved in ministry. When we do that God does impossible things in us.
Once Mary got to know herself as beloved of God and began to grow in her understanding of the ways of God she had to make a response. “May it be done to me according to your word.” Mary had to SHOW by her actions that she was going to be who God made her to be – the one who brings God into the world. Church, in a similar way we must show that we take our faith in the message of God to us seriously as well. We have to say to God with Mary, May it be done to me according to your word. Whatever you want God that’s what I want. If you want me to follow your commandments, that’s what I want. If you want me to reach out a hand to those who are in need, that’s what I want. If you want me to get over my resentments and grudges, that’s what I want. If you want me to do the loving thing even if it’s tough love, that’s what I want. I will show by my actions that know myself to be a child of God and that I have grown into the faith I received. When we show by our actions that we are living as God wants us to live, then truly God becomes present in our world.
Finally, Mary demonstrates you’ve just got to do it, you have to GO into the situations where you can bring the presence of God. Notice that the angel merely mentioned that her relative, Elizabeth, was pregnant. He didn’t instruct her to go visit. He didn’t order her to help out. But as the story continues we know that Mary did go, did care for someone who needed her. And, as the story makes plain, she brought Jesus with her when she went. The child in her womb couldn’t go anywhere without her. Where she was, God was present as well. Church, that is our challenge as well. We have to GO out into a crazy and hostile world and as we do so we are bringing God with us. Go in service. Go in charity. Go in generosity. Go in compassion. It is part of the divine plan that we bring God with us when we go and if we don’t go that God won’t get there. Here then is our reflection on the day before Christmas. If we are to make the story of Mary more than just a history lesson then we must imitate her in bringing God into the world. We do so when we KNOW ourselves as full of grace, blessed and chosen of God, when we GROW in our understanding of how the Holy Spirit strengthens to live as according to God’s will, when we SHOW by our actions that we take our life in God seriously and when we GO in love and service to the people who are hurting. That is the true meaning of Christmas. That is the way we genuinely celebrate Emmanuel, God-is-with-us.
