Friday 20 December 2013

Background

This is the annunciation to Mary, and Mary's response. Amysterious visitor tells Mary of an almost immediate pregnancy.Clearly the workings of heaven did not attach much weight to theidea that marriage and pregnancy should occur in a particularsequence! I'm not married yet? Can this be right?

The actual announcement to Mary is low-key, matter-of-fact,almost 'played-down' and reassuring. But there is an unmistakablehint of  wonder. It is not just that Mary will becomepregnant: the message is that the coming child will be quite out ofthe ordinary. He will have a prominent place in the story of God'speople, in line with his ancestor David. What is to happen to thisyoung woman is amazing enough on the human plane, but thisannouncement represents the intersection of earth and heaven.

In one sense this passage is not about waiting at all, thoughlater at the end of chapter two we shall read of two othercharacters for whom it was indeed the culmination of a lifetime'seager expectation (Luke 2:22-38). What comes to us as a shock maycome to others as the fulfilment of a sharply-defined hope.

To Ponder

• When life takes you by surprise, either with joy or with shock,how does your faith in God support you?

• Recall to mind any experiences in which, for you, bringstogether earth and heaven. How could you explain such an experienceto someone else?