"Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word" (Luke 1:38).

Dear Brother and Sisters,

This Friday, we will be celebrating the Feast of Annunciation. This is the day when we hear Mary (the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ or Theotokos in Greek) say the words: “behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to thy word”  - Luke 1:38. 

Mary was in short saying: thy will be done Lord 

She was visited by the angel Gabriel at the tender age of 13 or 14 years old and given the message that she would be pregnant and become the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ. The visitation by the Angel Gabriel is one of the “Joyful Mysteries”,  but is Joyful News always Happy news? Gabriel was conveying news of great joy (chara in Greek) but did this news make Mary happy (charoumenos). She was after all a virgin. How could be with child? 

Joseph Mary's husband to be was also not happy about this joyful news. In fact, planned to disengage himself from this betrothal. But the same Angel spoke to him as well according to Matthew 1: 20 and Joseph as a consequence, changed his mind turning his wrath into acceptance. 

Mary's humility in accepting to be the Theotokos – or mother of our Lord Jesus Christ – presents us with what our model response to God's vocation should be. That is to say: Yes Lord. And for this, Mary became known as Blessed (makarios in Greek). 

We should always say Yes to God and allow Him to direct us. We should respond to Him with humble obedience irrespective of where his call wherever might take us, because “nothing is impossible with God” (Luke 1:37). Our response should not be like that of Zechariah, the temple priest at the time who, rather than having faith, doubted when the same Angel Gabriel told him he was to be the father of John the Baptist.

Brothers and sisters, my message in this thought for the week is: we should be humble (in Greek- “tapeino”). This means we should be lowly and stoop to any measure to what is needed. We should also be obedient (in Greek “hupoakouo”). That means being willing to listen to what a superior authority is saying and carrying out the orders given to us. Mary's humility and obedience led to the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

When you and I compare ourselves to this level of humility and obedience what do we see? Are we satisfied with where we are? Or do we find ourselves far short of this level of humility and obedience? If we sincerely feel we find ourselves short, then let us continually ask for God's Grace – that is, His unmerited favour to redeem us. 

My brothers and sisters, the Bible passage in Luke 1:38 should mean the following to us: 

a) God does not act according to human expectations when He intervenes in ordinary life like that of Mary to fulfil His purposes. God can call anyone.

b) God is looking for people like Mary, who will respond to Him with complete trust.

c) We cannot set God our own agenda, but must be willing to obey His call, no matter how impossible this might appear, because to God nothing is impossible.

d) God wants to bring Christ's character to and into all of us, irrespective of where we are in life, our part is always to respond to God when He calls. Let us respond humbly to Him and make space for His presence in our lives.

 e) Lastly, let us trust and obey God at all times. 1 Corinthians 1:27 says “God chooses the weak to confound the wise”. God chose Mary – the humble servant, let us also humble ourselves that we might also be chosen. 

Prayer: Dear Lord, help us follow the example of Your dear daughter and our mother, Mary whenever you call on us to fulfil Your purposes in this world. Let us always say Yes to You. Help us not to count anything that You ask us to do so difficult to achieve, but let us be rest assured that with You, nothing is impossible. Thank you Lord, for bringing Your son Jesus- our Great Emmanuel into our world to save us and to bring us eternal life, in His name we pray. Amen.

(Please click and press any key for this hymn) 

 Hymn: Blest are the Pure in Heart; https://youtu.be/hpnU2auc3Rk