Readings for the Day:
Sermon:
Original Manuscript:
Often times when we are looking for comfort, we like to say that God has a plan for us.
And often times, people focus on certain aspects of that plan. They are resigned to what God is doing, maybe even bitter. Or perhaps they think that God will one day make things better for them, as if they have no control over what is going on. As if God's Plan is just something being done to them. As if they are only passengers on a voyage.
That's the exact opposite of what we see today in our Gospel. Here, Mary is approached by the heavenly messenger, Gabriel. And she's told that she "will conceive and bear a son."
It doesn't just happen. She's told about it first.
Mary is understandably confused, and what she literally says here is "How is this, since a man I know not?" Physiologically, this is impossible.
And Gabriel's response is always "will" when he tells Mary what is to happen. Never that that the Mary has conceived, but that she will conceive. Not that the Holy Spirit has come upon her, but that it will come upon her.
God is in complete control here, don't get that wrong. There's no "This will happen if you do this or that." But God is looking for something from Mary first.
He's looking for her consent.
And Mary turns to Gabriel and says "Here I am, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word."
This is no small thing God is asking of Mary. Saying yes means others might kill her, thinking she has cheated on Joseph, her betrothed. It means that even if she survives, people will say ugly, albeit untrue, things about her behind her back.
God doesn't force Mary into His plan. Our God, is foremost, a god of relationship. And so our God, most of all, is a god of consent.
God isn't a blunt force, mashing our lives into the shape He wants it to be in. He wants us to take part in His work in the world. He wants us to consent to take part in that work.
Like Mary, we can only fulfill our potential if we let God in, if we open our hearts to what He asks of us in this world, if we too say 'yes'.