Our Own Part in the Story

CONSECRATION Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.  Jesus, I belong to you. I lift up my heart to you. I set my mind on you. I fix my eyes on you. I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice. Jesus, we belong to you.  Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.  SCRIPTURE Luke 1:26–38 NIV In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.” “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her. CONSIDER THIS I love the authenticity of Mary’s question in response to an angelic visitation about conceiving and giving birth to the Son of God whose kingdom will never end. She’s practical and jumps straight to logistics: “I’m a virgin, so how’s that going to work?” My kind of girl. Upon closer examination, the nature of her question assumes that what the angel said will happen. It’s not a question of if, but how. Faith in God’s promises does not mean the absence of questions. My own journey with God, and the stories found in the Scriptures, reveal that God welcomes these types of questions. The promises of God make room for us, our humanity, and our questions. In a season that often feels shiny, polished, and glazed over with inauthenticity, Advent keeps it real and invites us to do the same. I’m curious if Mary was really asking a variation of this question: What part do I need to play in this? What do I need to do? The angel responds by explaining how in a way that is still quite mysterious but contains a core message: the Holy Spirit, God Himself, will do this. The reason: Not because you’ll do your part perfectly or because of you at all, but because “no word from God will ever fail” (v. 37). In other words, you get to play a part, but this is a work only God can do. The nature of the incarnation reveals much about God’s methods. This began with God, was conceived by God, and Mary gets to carry it out. God’s plan, even sending the Messiah to the world, always involves His people. His plans are conceived in us, birthed through us, we are carriers and co-partners. Mary, pregnant with the promise of God, is a co-laborer (all puns intended) in bringing the Messiah into the world. It’s the same for us today. God invites each of us to partner with Him in this moment in history in bringing about His kingdom on earth. Instead of becoming pregnant as a virgin and giving birth to the Messiah, it may look like loving your (physically next-door) neighbor, giving to the point you feel it sacrificially, hosting strangers in your home, honoring colleagues at work, and a million other small but significant expressions of the kingdom. We may not have the same calling as Mary, but we can embody her posture: “I am the Lord’s servant. . . . May your word to me be fulfilled” (v. 38). There’s still room for questions, still room for fear—but she said yes. The incarnation reveals much about the nature of God. Think about how absolutely gloriously wild, mysterious, and awe-inspiring the whole thing is. God could have arrived in any way He wanted. Yet, He first showed up in the womb. I recently had a friend share with me that she was pregnant early on, and in our joy, she told a handful of us that her baby was the size of a poppy seed. At one point, this is how Jesus was: the “fullness of God” (Col. 1:19 ESV) dwelling in the size of a poppy seed. The glory of God, in such a tiny form. And He chose to come as the child of a poor, young woman—dependent on her. She carried Him in her womb for nine months, gave birth to Him, and continued to care for Him. She nursed Him, taught Him to speak, and witnessed His first steps. What does this reveal about the character of God? An often overlooked but significant part of this story is that the angel shares the news of Elizabeth’s miraculous pregnancy with Mary. This not only strengthens Mary’s faith, showing that no word from God will ever fail, but also sparks a community of hope. Mary will not wait alone; she will wait in and with a community. Both women, together, are pregnant with the promises of God—not just for the two of them, but for the whole world. God’s vision for carrying hope into the world is not a solo act, but a communal one. God’s grandest promises are never fulfilled in isolation, but within the context of community. Like Mary and Elizabeth, we, too, are invited to partner with God, not in solitary effort, but alongside one another. His plans are always bigger than us, but He always invites us to be a part of them. When the invitation comes, may we be like Mary and respond in faith saying, “I am the Lord’s servant. . . . May your word to me be fulfilled” (Luke 1:38). RESPONSE PROMPTS What does it look like to participate in the kingdom of God in your life right now? Are there aspects of this that feel unfamiliar, uncomfortable, or challenging to you? Who do you carry hope with? How can you encourage them today? PRAYER Jesus, thank You for choosing to come to us in such a humble and intimate way. Thank You for inviting us into Your kingdom and giving us a part to play in Your redemptive story. Holy Spirit, overshadow me and my community so that we are pregnant with hope, and help us to embrace what You desire to do in and through us for the sake of the world. Amen.