Annunciation (c. 1472–1475), Leonardo da Vinci. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
The unexpected visit of a messenger from God, the angel Gabriel, to a young woman, Mary, changed everything for her and for us.
We are relaxed, we know the plan that God instigated from long ago, we look forward to Christmas, to celebrate the birth of Jesus whom we believe to be both human and divine.
We are more than halfway through the liturgical season of Advent and echoes of the readings from the Second Coming of Christ still resonate in our minds and hearts. We remember what has not yet happened, the time Jesus comes in glory to gather all of creation together making all things new.
We are familiar with what has already happened. God’s plan put in motion that this young woman from Galilee is chosen to be the mother of the Messiah, of God becoming human. The conversation between Mary and Gabriel is worth dwelling on.
How would this happen? ‘ The power of the most high will come upon you and cover you with its shadow’. The shadow of God has a long history in the bible denoting the powerful presence of God.
Nothing is impossible to God. These are challenging words. We immediately think ‘then why doesn’t He fix things and give women children who are desperate for them? This is a point where a distinction keeps us from getting side-tracked. This is what the scriptures tell us happens. This is how God acts. The ‘hows’ and ‘whys’ deserve a different discussion.
December 10 is the day we remember Fr Thomas Merton died, the popular writer on the Church in our modern world. He wrote that the reason the Pharisees did not believe in Jesus was because he was not made in their image of the Messiah.
The scriptures remind us or tell us that God does have plans which are challenging and sometimes awkward. The first reading concerning David who became king of Israel is a good example.
The prophet Samuel is instructed to anoint the new king. God instructed the prophet, Samuel, to anoint David king, though he was the youngest son and was not present when Samuel arrived. No one would expect David to be chosen, king.
David is informed by the prophet Nathan that God will found a dynasty with him; many centuries later when the people have a high expectation that the Messiah will come, he will be from David’s line. God is faithful, Jesus was from David’s line.
The gospels describe how people struggled with God’s plan because it is unexpectedly constructed to give favour to the ordinary people of the land. How could the Messiah come from Nazareth? We are told nothing good comes from Nazareth.
Nazareth is in Galilee and no one expected great men or prophets, certainly not the Messiah to be from a humble county village. St Paul describes these events on reflection as a mystery ‘and it is all part of the way the eternal God wants things to be.’ Simply amazing!
Columban Fr Gary Walker is currently living at the Columban house in Sandgate, Brisbane.
