Mary was a young lady who had grown up in a village in Galilee. She was probably thought of as nothing special and the idea of anything remarkable ever being reported from Nazareth was laughable. Mary was engaged to the local carpenter, a good solid craftsman, but not nobility or even wealthy; she must have expected just to settle down to a domestic family life - hopefully a happy one. However, she was a faithful follower of God whose commitment was about to be tested. Her response led her becoming one of the most famous women in history. As we enter the fourth week of Advent, we turn our attention to this seemingly ordinary girl, who was chosen to become the mother of Jesus.
So there she is, minding her own business, when an angel suddenly appears in the room. It's really scary. OK, after a quick mental calculation it clearly isn't a ghost - it is an angel, but it's big, probably glowing rather, and why is it there? Gabriel - that's its name - tells her that God is really pleased with her and has decided to give her a baby. In a big build up he reveals that this baby is going to be the Son of God and will reign over an everlasting kingdom.
This must have sounded rather far fetched and people had laughed at angels for announcing lesser messages. However, Mary took it surprisingly calmly. She didn't doubt what Gabriel said but did ask how it would happen, because she was a virgin. She presumably expected, or at least hoped that this would happen after she was married, but no, it was going to be now and the father was going to be the Holy Spirit rather than her fiancé. Mary wouldn't have been under any illusions: if there was a sniff of adultery you could be stoned to death and she must have seen or heard of this on several occasions. Being engaged was pretty much as good as married, so even if she wasn't killed there would be a major scandal. Yet Mary just replied that she was God's servant so let it be as he wished.
Mary of Nazareth was the ultimate servant of God, humble and courageous, entrusted with the motherhood of his own son.
Her cousin, Elizabeth, was pregnant in Jerusalem, so she made arrangements to visit her there for an extended holiday, which must have seemed innocent enough to her family. Elizabeth recognized that she was pregnant with the Son of God, which must have been good confirmation for Mary. However, when she came back to Nazareth about three months later, her husband to be, Joseph, didn't think that her slightly changed shape was the result of too much good eating up in the capital. Mary must have tried desperately to get him to understand, but it was beyond him and he was going to cancel the engagement quietly to keep her safe if possible. So God had to intervene in a dream to tell him that Mary was telling the truth. Joseph then married her, although they didn't sleep together until the baby had been born.
Opinion is divided over Mary and the terminology used about her by some people causes others to downplay her importance. However, if there was no man ever born who was greater than John the Baptist, as we saw last week, then there was no woman ever honoured as highly as Mary, who was chosen by God to bear and bring up his own son as a human. She willingly accepted a major disruption in her old life and had faith that God would sort out the necessary details to make her new life work out. The responsibility that she took on was enormous. Let us not become overwhelmed when God disrupts our lives, but take our cue from this supreme example of a handmaid of the Lord who agreed to whatever God wanted despite potential consequences - which indeed there were.
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