God needs you. That is one of the lessons we can draw from the story of the annunciation. Since the fall of Adam and Eve God had been working at the divine plan to save the world. He sent Noah during the time of the flood. Abraham and Sarah were called to create a people for God. Moses led that people from slavery into freedom. The kings and the prophets were creating the environment where God’s plan could be fulfilled. This whole history led to Mary. Yet, as the angel Gabriel made clear, God needed Mary’s consent for this plan to come to fruition. Without her consent God would have had to go back to the drawing board and come up with something new. God has chosen not to force us to comply with the divine will but relies on “the consent of the governed” (to use a phrase from the US Constitution) to accomplish God’s plan. When things are going poorly in our world some people wonder why God doesn’t intervene. The short answer — God needs us to bring about the world which is the divine desire: a world of peace and joy. Mary’s “yes” set in motion the subsequent history of salvation. When we say “yes” to God we make possible “tidings of comfort and joy.”
