We come to the end of this first week of Advent. As we have “mused” on what it means to watch and wait, we realize that there are neither coincidences nor fulfilled expectations that we should attach to what it means to watch and wait upon God by Faith. When we look back at the two visitations in the first chapter of Luke’s Gospel we get contrasting choices. The Scripture – first Zechariah:
Luke 1:5,
8, 10-13, 18-20
In the days of King Herod of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah,
who belonged to the priestly order of Abijah. His wife was a descendant of
Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth…
Once when he was serving as a priest before God and his section was on
duty...
at the time of the incense offering, the whole assembly of the people was
praying outside.
Then there appeared to him an angel of the Lord, standing at the right
side of the altar of incense. When
Zechariah saw him, he was terrified; and fear overwhelmed him.
But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your
prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will
name him John.
Zechariah said to the angel, "How will I know that this is so? For I
am an old man, and my wife is getting on in years."
The angel replied, "I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God,
and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.
But now, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in
their time, you will become mute, unable to speak, until the day these things
occur."
We can see
that Gabriel was not requesting Zechariah’s permission, and he was not willing
to let Zechariah live in the realm of impossibility. Zechariah – and I am too much like him – was a
faithful man of God who saw God in terms of black and white. He’s too old…no use whining about not having
children. He tried; it didn’t happen…move
on. What about God? What about faith? Well,
they are true things, but…
Mary’s
visitation of the angel Gabriel comes six months later, but it is similar in terms
of the unexpected, surprise aspect, but different in the responses. The Scripture on Mary:
Luke
1:26-33
In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee
called Nazareth,
to a virgin …whose name was Mary. Gabriel
said, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you."
But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of
greeting this might be.
The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found
favor with God.
… you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him
Jesus.
He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the
Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign
over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom, there will be no
end."
Again, we
see the unexpected…the surprise announcement that comes directly from the
throne of God. God had sent Gabriel to
Mary, and God had sent Gabriel to Zechariah.
In both cases, they had not expected, and in fact, showed emotions of
fear and perplexity.
Both Zechariah
and Mary said, “How can this be?” which I would say is a normal response
to this divine epiphany. In Zechariah’s
case, he claimed that he was told he was too old to birth a child. In Mary’s case, she said “I am a virgin”. In many ways, we can understand the plight of
both when it comes to this news.
There is an
interesting play on words that helps us understand the difference between the
two responses. Zechariah’s response to
Gabriel literally (i.e. in the Greek translation) is “According to what will
I know this?”, which is more than doubt, it’s sort of a “prove it”…” “By
what means are you certain this will happen?” Zechariah’s faith is dictated by his desire
for proof before believing.
In contrast,
Mary’s response literally (in the Greek) is “How can this be since I have
never known a man”. Mary isn’t
doubting the message, she’s doubting herself.
Mary’s response demonstrates her lovely child-like humility. She wants to believe the message. She is more than willing to let God do what
he is telling her but also wants to be faithful in her sexuality before
marriage.
In
Zechariah’s doubts, and lack of faith, the answer is “You will be silent”. In Mary’s question of believing but wanting
to obey the commandments, the answer is “blessed is she who believed that
there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord." (Luke
1:45).
That’s
really the issue of living by faith and not by sight, right? Mary is the first believer of Jesus
Christ! She embraces all of the mystery,
fear, and insecurities that accompany it, and the willingness to let go of control
of her life and let God rule! Mary is an
example of the kind of faith God loves. “Mary
kept all these things, pondering them in her heart” (Luke 2:19).
Faith is
not understanding everything in advance.
Faith is not the perfection of our trust in God. The great St. Anselm said it best: “Faith seeking
understanding”, i.e., Faith is always in a quest to understand what God
wants and is doing in our lives.
Why? Because ultimately our Faith
comes back to a simple prayer: “Lord, I trust you”.
Peace
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