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AnnunciationWednesday, March 25, 2015
Luke 1:38 Steve Rethmeier talked on Sunday about study. What do I learn from this story of Mary's response to the angel? She was afraid, but continued to ask questions. Gabriel answered her questions, and told her more and more of what was going to happen. I think Mary earned the right to understand by first accepting what she heard. Steve is like me. He loses his way. "When I become myopic," he said, I think God has forgotten about me again. Life sucks. It's boring. What am I going to do?" Then he awakens a little. I do too. "God, what are you doing today that I can participate in? What good works have you prepared me to do?" Then we can engage in the "creative unveiling of the mysteries of God." Mary shows us how. How did our ancestors, the saints of scripture, live their lives? Jesus used scripture to orient his own work, and we can too. Bible stories are cool on flannel-boards, but they are much cooler when we read them slowly and imagine ourselves right there in the middle of things. What does the dust feel like on my feet? Can I smell the ripe olives? Listen to the sound of children playing and men arguing about some theological point. O taste and see. The Lord is good. You anoint my head with oil, Lord, and my cup overflows. Only goodness and kindness follow me every day, all the days of my life. And I shall dwell in your house, the house of the Lord, forever. |
Countless stories imagine what happened next. The Bible says very little. Mary is satisfied with the words of the angel Gabriel. She visits her aunt and returns to Nazareth and carries her child nearly to term, than travels with her fiancée Joseph to Bethlehem, where Jesus is born.