Luke 1:26-38
26 In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged to a man named Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And the angel came to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you.” 29 But she was deeply troubled by this statement, wondering what kind of greeting this could be. 30 Then the angel told her: “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 Now listen: You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end.”

34 Mary asked the angel, “How can this be, since I have not had sexual relations with a man?”

35 The angel replied to her: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 And consider your relative Elizabeth—even she has conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called childless. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.”

38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” said Mary. “May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel left her.

Dear God, it is one thing to be Joseph and Jesus’s “step-father,” if you will. It’s another thing to be his actual mother. Flesh of her flesh. What an amazing thing for her in a physiological, psychological sense. This child was part of her and was partly her. Her DNA was in there along with yours. It add whole layer to what Joseph experienced. I’m sure it meant just that much more to her than to him, although I know it meant a lot to him too.

I think it’s interesting that Mary gets a little more latitude from the angel than Zechariah did. Zechariah asked in Luke 1:18, “How can I know this? For I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.” Mary asks in Luke 1:36, “How can this be, since I have not had sexual relations with a man?” Those questions don’t appear that different to me given each circumstance. But where Gabriel is a little harsh with Zechariah, he is gentle with Mary. I have a feeling that each actually got what they needed to prepare them for their journey. Zechariah probably needed those months (almost a year?) in silence to contemplate, study, and prepare himself to raise John the Baptist. Mary, on the other hand, needed the encouragement of Elizabeth. She needed to be able to communicate freely with Joseph. And she was just a young woman whereas Zechariah was older. Mary deserved a little more guidance.

With all of that said, that’s not what hit me when I first read this passage this morning. What hit me is the idea that none of us know what we are getting into when we become parents. We can think we are ready, but we aren’t. We can think we do have or don’t have enough money, but we are wrong. We can think we know what we are doing, but we have no idea. Even on the second or third child, we aren’t prepared like we would like to be. In her case, Mary had no idea what she was saying yes to. If she had, would she have done it? Would she have signed up for giving birth in a stable, moving to Egypt, moving back to Nazareth, losing Jesus when he was 12, watching a ministry from him that would lead to his crucifixion, and then going through the resurrection and the ascension? She lost her son at 33. Yes, he rose again, but he was still gone 40 days later. I’m sure this was not how she planned it out as she visited with Elizabeth or traveled to Bethlehem with Joseph.

Father, I still don’t know what being the father of my children really means, and they are in their 20s now. I don’t know what they need from me today, and I have no clue what they will need tomorrow. don’t even know how much longer they will have me on this earth, nor do I know how much longer I’ll have them. But I know that in this moment right now, I need to simply be your servant. I need to be your worshiper. I need you to flow through me and touch the world through me. And I need to simply rest in the knowledge that you know what my children need more than I do and you will be responsible for giving it to them. Much like Mary didn’t understand what was happening with Jesus’s life most of the time, I have no idea either. Help me to use that ignorance to my advantage and to build my faith in and worship of you.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen