It can be so easy to turn the Angel’s greeting to Mary into a movie-star moment, right? This year, as we pair the Old Testament with the story of Jesus’ birth, what if we approached this story from the reality that it is? Mary receives an unexpected visitor with an unexpected message. The most impossible sounding thing is promised to her! That she (a virgin) will bear a child, by the Holy Spirit. What kind of prayers do you think Mary prayed that night before bed? How did this message challenge or support her Jewish faith? The Jews of her day would have memorized this excerpt of Isaiah 61, as it was an ever-present hope of the Messiah’s reigning attributes and actions. Now, she receives the one message that will change the trajectory of the world. Her response? “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” How amazing is this! This week, we pause to praise God for the faithfulness of Mary and the posture of willingness that she models for all of us in receiving God’s call upon our lives.
Carrying the light forward describes the connection between Isaiah and the Old Testament story in which Jesus is the fulfillment of the greatest promise ever made: a savior. The prophet of old, Isaiah, writes poignant descriptions of the divinely inspired message given to him. In these texts lies the promised hope of the Messiah to come. This Advent season, as we await the birth of Jesus Christ, who changed the world, we will find the threads that are pulled through to the New Testament and embodied in the Christ-child who is born on that special evening, long ago, in the humble means in a manger in Bethlehem.
