Something happened this past week

I’ve been wondering if there are new ways to write about really old things.

This particular pondering began when I was asked to read from Luke 2 for a wrap-up breakfast at church at the end of our Bible study on following Jesus.

It’s been a great journey together, supporting and encouraging, loving and growing deeper in our friendships and knowledge of each other and God, and it was special to be asked to read. Then something really special happened.

These words of scripture in Luke 2:1-20, about the birth of Jesus, have been read so often at Christmastime, always with such clear cadence, rhythm and flow, beautiful enunciation and exclamation, that I can be guilty of not hearing them at all.

I can even, right at this moment, hear Linus in Charlie Brown’s Christmas reciting the verses. I almost have it memorized. It becomes more about the pageant I’m watching in my mind than the miracle I’m receiving.

And I realize in these moments, these astounding moments that reveal God’s incredible love for us, that I have lost the reverence God deserves, the praise within me, rising and pouring out for the outpouring of God’s grace and goodness. It’s easy to ignore the surrender and repentance that lead to the awe and wonder that’s revealed in the book of Luke and lacking in my own heart.

So with my assignment, I found myself having to go back to the beginning of the gospel because, suddenly, a great company of angels appeared! Just kidding. Because suddenly, I had a lot of questions.

Something happened this past week as I picked up The Message, the version I was asked to read from. Maybe it was a little like being given a message, like a tiny glimmer of the angel bringing the message to Mary that changed history.

I read through it in a whisper. That might have been because I have a cold. But the soft lilt of the phrasing, like water pouring gently out of a faucet, triggered something and I was amazed, like never before, by what I “heard”.

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This is longer than usual but I hope it zips right along. After all, it’s only 9 days till Christmas…or is it 8…?

God sent the angel Gabriel. Angels have names. I never thought about that. When we hear that a “great company of the heavenly host appeared in Luke 2:13, each angel has a name. Surely they do, right? Not just a number.

And then I wondered, who named them all? The Father? The Son? The Spirit? Because they were pretty busy naming all of creation—which must have taken all the years right up to and overlapping with the first angel appearing. Right down to the tiniest Dichopomoroha Echmepterygis, the smallest of insects, a type of fairyfly measuring 0.139 according to Huffington Post. What did they do?  Divide and conquer…?

One other thing, do you even believe in angels? I’d never heard much about them other than in some kind of mystical, ethereal way for a good part of my life. But that’s changed over the years as I’ve come to encounter what I believe to be real angels. They can be over ten feet tall, I’ve heard, which is probably what Gabriel is, and accounts for Mary’s shaking (and the Shepherds quaking.)

But angel’s come in all shapes, colors and sizes. Like the one who suddenly appeared in my niece’s hospital room one night. After years of not being able to identify her condition, a doctor walked into her room in the wee hours of the morning. My sister said they had never seen him before or ever saw him again. But at that hour, after several months of debilitating disease decline, this “doctor” walked right into the room and told them what the disease was that the doctors hadn’t been able to figure out. And you know what? Right. He was right. He was an angel, I’m convinced. I’ve seen others.

I know. Back to the scripture. We’ve only made it to the second verse.

So God sent Gabriel to talk to Mary, who we all know is a virgin, and that she’s engaged. Not married. Doesn’t this make you stop, no matter how many times you have heard it to ask, what is God doing here?

The Message translation says Mary was “thoroughly shaken”. Why? Because of his appearance or maybe because of his greeting? Gabriel said, “Good morning. You’re beautiful with God‘s beauty, beautiful inside and out! God be with you.”

That would surely shake me up.

The NIV translation makes the angel seem a little more stately and controlled. Gabriel says in this version, “Greetings to you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

Either way, the angel assured Mary not to be afraid because she has God‘s favor, but I imagine her heart is pounding here. And then the angel drops the bomb and says she’s going to be pregnant. 

Can we stop and take a breath here, please…?

OK, that’s long enough.

And not pregnant with just any baby. The angel tells her it will be a boy, and to, very specifically, name him Jesus. And this makes me wonder. Did she know what the name “Jesus” meant? 

It’s derived from the name Joshua, but do you know if that translates into Messiah or Savior? Did Mary know? I don’t know. 

Well, the angel goes on to let her know her baby is going to be great. Now what mother wouldn’t be thrilled with that news? The pounding in her heart must have increased at this point.

And he adds that the baby will also be called the “Son of the Most High.”

Well, what in heaven’s name does that mean? Did she wonder? Her beloved Joseph is most high…? I know she loved Joseph, so that must have either really touched her or totally confused her.

And then Gabriel says that her son is going to get the throne of his father David. Now David’s the father? We’re getting too many names here. I thought Joseph was the father.  I want Gabriel to slow down, he must have a lot of messages to deliver on this night because he doesn’t stop to breathe. He’s really on a roll and Mary is keeping up!

Gabriel says that her son will reign over the house of Jacob forever. And that His kingdom will never end.

My goodness. Wouldn’t you wonder what that means? Mary, though, with her extremely beautiful heart and apparent IQ to match, is keeping up with Gabriel just fine. She only asks,

How? 

She doesn’t say, “Wait a minute, who did you just say the father is?” Or does she ask anything about Jacob‘s house or David’s throne. No. To my knowledge, Gabriel really didn’t make it too clear when this would happen. But she doesn’t even ask, when?

I’m assuming Mary assumes that God‘s going to get right to work on this, having sent the angel to give her a heads up before she’s even married to Joseph. (See what happens when I put my heart and soul into paying attention? My head’s spinning.)

So maybe to clarify the timing as to when this is going to happen, Mary, at this point, confirms she’s a virgin. That took some gumption I think, to say to an angel she’s never met before that she’s a virgin. I don’t remember ever telling anyone I was a virgin. Well, maybe once.

Then Gabriel tells her, she is correct and that this is all going to happen outside of wedlock.

Once again, let’s stop. What did Mary think about that? 

We all know women who have become pregnant outside of marriage. And we probably all know a few who have been judged rather harshly because of this. Maybe even by the church in this regard. Maybe even ostracized. Maybe they’ve even been forced to stand up in front of the congregation and ask for forgiveness, shaming them when they have a new baby to contend with and need comfort.

Seriously though, if you’re going to make one member of a congregation do that, shouldn’t each person in those pews stand up and share what they’re struggling with in their own hearts…? And this happens today, in our time, in our current churches, with current Christians. I wonder what God thinks about that…?

Just imagine in Mary’s time, around 1 BC. It was considered a grave, moral sin in ancient Jewish society, which led to significant social ostracism. Women who got pregnant before marriage back then would likely face significant social stigma and potential legal consequences, including possible stoning to death, depending on the specific laws and interpretations of the community.

But our especially bright, young Mary asks, “How?” and not “When?” when she understands the ramifications of a pregnancy outside of wedlock.

At this point, the angel brings up the Most High again. Remember how Gabriel told her earlier that her baby would be the son of the Most High? Stay with me here, are you getting all this?

And don’t start rolling your eyes, and telling me it’s just a story written by a bunch of men a long time ago and that it couldn’t possibly have really happened. Don’t do that. Let’s ask God to open our ears instead…

OK, let’s continue.

And then Gabriel tells Mary the Holy Spirit will come upon her.

Now when I was between 12 and 14 like Mary was, I had no clue who the Holy Spirit was. Did you? In my experience, most adults don’t even know. My Mom was the one who opened Him up to me, not by her words so much as by how God worked in her and through her. It was the greatest gift she ever gave me. It’s not something you can keep to yourself.

We have to assume Gabriel knew that Mary knew who the Holy Spirit was, which I find profound. So he says, “the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.” Let’s read that again:

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.”

Do you see the parallel? This is what God is still doing today, to you and me. Like I saw with my mom, the same thing can happen to us. 

How? We might ask, like Mary, rather than, When?

By the power of the Holy Spirit. Christ is reborn within us. Now there’s the Christmas story! “Christ in us, the hope of glory,” the Apostle Paul says later in the New Testament. But let’s finish this story.

Gabriel says, so the Holy One to be born within Mary (like Christ’s spirit within you and me) will be called the Son of God.

Then for the cherry on top of this Sundae—this powerful passage of scripture—Gabriel lets Mary know that her cousin Elizabeth, who’s very old and who everyone calls baron, which is another social stigma of the time, is also pregnant!

And this is where we come full circle with the story. In my own little life, the thing that has made the biggest difference in it, is how God can be counted on to bring all kinds of people to us when he calls us to do something. That’s one of the best parts of this “being called” thing. We get something special to do and life becomes filled with wonderful people who want to help you. They may know Jesus, have been walking and talking with and following Him for quite some time. Or maybe not.

Not only do we have all the creativity and wisdom and fruits of the Holy Spirit available to us, we have a whole new family. God appointed people, brought into our lives to love and support us. That helps bring some understanding to Gabriel bringing up Jacob’s house and father David’s throne to Mary. The lineage is long and wide. We’re all related through Christ.

Imagine how God has been working to bring His family all together, Jews and Gentiles, believers and unbelievers, and… the list goes on and on. What a job. Working on our behalf since before we came to be, and will continue throughout all eternity.

Stop and take a breath of understanding over that one. Just try to conceive of what that really means.

And while we’re busy doing that, God is busy conceiving new life in us, just as He conceived new life in Mary.

It’s a mystery, so don’t think too hard. That’s why it’s called Faith. Let yourself go, open up your imagination as you once did as a child. When God says our youth will be renewed, He means it.

“You should try it,” I will always remember the young middle-schooler say about dance class. “You’ll like it! I used to not be so nice to girls, but now I’m a gentleman!”

That’s probably the best way I can describe keeping in step with the Spirit.

So maybe this Christmas can be one that becomes truly rich with new understanding, taking hold of a new message that is so very old in a new way. Why wait? You may discover you like it…

Oh, and the last thing Gabriel said to Mary that night? “For nothing is impossible with God.”

So with all the obstacles and unknowns, Mary finishes the scene for us. She says, “I am the Lord’s servant, may it be to me (Gabriel) as you have said.”

That gets me every time. Such trust. Such precious, childlike faith.

Then Gabriel left. He had more messages to deliver, I assume. He didn’t have time to sit around for chitchat.

And as things can sometimes go, my cold kept me from reading the passage from Luke at the Bible study breakfast. But see how good God is? Instead, I got to spend all this time with you in Luke 1!

I wonder what message might God be trying to deliver to us today…?

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The Birth of Jesus Foretold in the Gospel of Luke 1:26-38

26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee,27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 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, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

35 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[b] the Son of God. 36 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. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.”

38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

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Some amazing Scripture to meditate on that link to this story: Luke 1: 1-25 (Intro and Gabriel’s visit before Mary’s); Luke 2:1-20 (The Birth of Jesus); Isaiah 9:1-7 (To Us a Child is Born); 11:1-3 (the Branch of Jesse & the Spirit of the LORD); Isaiah 42 (The Servant of the LORD); Isaiah 62 (The Year of the LORD’s Favor)

Praying God’s blessing over you right now. He knows who’s reading this. ❤️