Genesis 3: 1-15-,20 + Psalm 98 + Ephesus 3: 1-6,11-12 + Luke 1: 26-38
Just briefly today I want to draw your attention to a parallel found in the Gospel of Luke. Two different people experience a message from the Angel Gabriel. They both have very different responses to the message of the angel, and it is their responses I invite you to examine and ponder.
The Angel’s news to both of them was basically good news, but there is no doubt that the news was a surprise, an interruption of their plans, and demanded a complete change of life and direction. Neither understand, but without understanding, one doubts while the other accepts and moves on.
The first to receive a message from Gabriel was Zachariah. He was old, very old. His wife had born no children. He was a member of the priestly tribe, and so his life was full of ritual, consistent, regular, scheduled, and dependable. Add to that, as I said his age, and you have a fairly rigid, old man who had every reason to be set his ways. The will of God is revealed to him by the Angel, and his response to the message was doubt; and why not? Who at his age would have wanted a child? Who at his age would have wanted to start life over again as a father with all the responsibilities. I mean who was going to teach the boy to drive? Zachariah was old enough to have his license suspended! And with a wife as old as Elizabeth? How as that going to work? The whole idea is not only preposterous, it’s impossible, and so in the face of the impossible and the unexpected, Zachariah doubts, and as a result, he is silenced by God: “Struck Dumb” as most translations put it.
The next one to receive a message from Gabriel was a Virgin betrothed to man named Joseph in the town of Nazareth. The will of God again revealed by this busy angel is no less surprising, unexpected, impossible to imagine, and it posed just as many problems for her as the Will of God posed for Zachariah. When it comes to how they respond, their stories differ. Unlike Zachariah who doubts, she simply accepts the sudden and unexpected change that is announced to her, and she decides to make something of what some might think of as an unwelcome turn of events. And so, rather being struck dumb or silent, she heads for the hill country to tell it all.
Basically what Luke gives us is examples of behavior options that come when God’s plans do not match our own plans. One option is the Zachariah option: doubt. The other option is a creative acceptance that suggests that working with or doing God’s Will is an opportunity to share in God’s plan for creation and redemption.
I can’t count how many people I have seen in my life time who have faced sudden surprises, changes, tragedies, the unexpected and unplanned and ended up doubting God, angry with God, and in the end losing their faith and all their hope. At the same time, there are some people I can think of who have faced the unplanned, unexpected, and sometimes unwelcome surprises like the loss of a job, a medical crises, or a death; and rather than doubt God, give up on God, or get angry, they simply take what they can best perceive as part of God’s plan and make something of it that is life giving, hopeful, and even joyful. Two options with the wonder of which we shall choose.
We might think of that today as we honor this woman who holds the promise of what we can all become by her example of trust in God and willingness to work with God’s plan even when it is different from our own.