In this passage, Mary finds out that she would conceive and give birth to a boy named Jesus. She initially responds with disbelief and confusion, but the angel reminds her that, “with God nothing shall be impossible.”
We’re not even half way through the first chapter, and Luke is already making some “impossible” claims – there have been two angelic visitations, Zacharias has been struck mute, and two women have impossibly conceived. This is just the beginning of a series of impossible events. In Luke, we see Jesus heal ten lepers at once, a paralyzed man walks, a man with a withered hand is made whole. He raises two people from the dead, not to mention his own resurrection. He sends out 72 disciples who also perform impossible miracles.
God’s ability to make the impossible possible is where we find our hope. But hope isn’t a distinctly Christian principle. Politics offers us hope, religion and rituals offer hope, even individualistic hard work offers us hope…a hope that if we trust in these things, there will be some payoff for our good. Anything is possible if you just work hard! The self help and self improvement movement says you can do anything you put your mind to! New Age belief says you can create your own reality – you manifest your life experiences through your thoughts, beliefs, and energy.
How does a Christian navigate these ideas? What is the biblical response? Mary tells us in verse 38.
Mary’s declaration in verse 38 flies in the face of our modern culture – the idea that your life is your own, and your identity is yours to define and create. Mary immediately responds by recognizing that her life is not her own; her life belongs to God, and the best thing she can hope for is not her will, but His.
The story of our lives is not our own – it’s His. We are not the main character; He is. This is obvious if we spend just a moment thinking about it…there are clearly more stories and bigger stories above and beyond my own. This is ultimately God’s story, we’re just living in it.
Jesus offers an alternative to a world that desperately wants to make the story all about us:
“If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.” Luke 9:23-24
Mary recognized this, and we would do well this Christmas to do the same!
