2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16 Romans 16:25-27 Luke 1:26-38 Canticle 15

This fourth Sunday of Advent in Year B is the one Sunday of all of our three-year lectionary cycle that we focus specifically on Mary.   Luke’s Gospel is the only one of the four Gospels that focuses on the conception and birth of Jesus through the eyes of Mary.  Matthew, the only other Gospel that includes the story of the nativity, presents the story from Joseph’s perspective.

The Blessed Virgin Mary has inspired numerous works of art over the centuries; seldom is she depicted without the Christ Child in her arms.  To stand before one of these many art renditions of Mary and to meditate deeply on the words of this morning’s Gospel, is to be entranced by Mary’s meek ordinariness and to be humbled profoundly by the power of her simple and single-minded reply: “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”   

To be young, unmarried, and not yet the bearer of children, Mary held little value in her Jewish culture.  Imagine her astonishment at the visit of the Angel Gabriel.  She is troubled and perplexed by his words that she would conceive and bear a son.  How could this happen?  What will the neighbors say?  

But, as Mary struggles to take in this miraculous revelation she is assured that she is not to be afraid or confused and that she is not alone – “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.”  Upon her reply, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word,” the young virgin of so little value to her earthly culture, would become the mother of God – Theotokos – God bearer.   The young virgin would be called upon by God to be the vehicle in the fulfillment of His promise to redeem the world.  The sin that had separated all creation from God would be overcome.  As the angel Gabriel had promised Mary that the Lord would be with her, so the Lord would come in human form to live among all creation, to overcome sin, to repair the breach in man’s relationship that separates us from God.

It is quite natural that we would appeal to Mary’s maternity to draw us closer into the presence of God.  Shouldn’t it be natural for us to draw from Mary’s strength to look away from our fears and place our hand in the hand of God that is forever reaching out to us?  Mary, as we know, puts away her fears and places her hand securely into the hand of God, becoming God’s vessel for the coming to earth in human form of the Son of God.

As 2020 draws to a close, we are well aware that history is marked by this year.  Perhaps even, in future years, we will think of our past in terms of pre-COVID/post-COVID.  Fortunately, after months of anguish over this unseen enemy, research has provided tools for our defense and response to the virus.  This week the trucks have begun rolling to deliver the vaccine across the country.  

Yet, untold discoveries are yet to be assessed.  What will history reveal to us in terms of the impact of fear and the impact of physical separation?   There are numerous charts and statistics to reveal the healthcare implications of the virus, but determining the accurate numbers of people of all ages and income levels whose emotional health has been devastated by the pandemic’s side effects of excruciating separations and insecurities is impossible to assess.  Loneliness and anxiety have taken a seemingly insurmountable toll.  We have come to a greater appreciation of relationships with one another and with God.

God is present in relationship.  The greatest of our fears – our only inconsolable fear – is separation from God – to be alone in this broken world without the all-powerful hand of God in which to place our own.  

Our helpless and lonely separation from God brings great fear.  But, as God through Gabriel assured Mary of His continued presence with her, so he assures all creation of his continued presence.   Through the angel Gabriel, God sends to Mary the command that is the most frequent of all commands in the Bible.  It carries the assurance most difficult to accept and is the command most difficult for us to follow, “The Lord is with you…Do not be afraid.”

To a world broken by sin, God sent his Son to be present with us.  As we read earlier from the praise-filled Magnificat: “He has come to the help of his servant Israel, for he has remembered his promise of mercy, the promise he made to our father, to Abraham and his children for ever”.  And, from our Old Testament lesson from 2 Samuel, God is saying to King David:  “I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel; and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth.”  

As God did for King David and Mary, so He reaches out His hand to us.  As it was for Mary, we are free to place our hand into that all-powerful hand OR to turn away.  To turn away is to separate ourselves from God, to be consumed by our fears and overwhelmed by our sins of commission and omission.  Yet, God is always present reaching his hand to us.

Even in uncertain and fearful times of pandemic, separation from God is all we have to fear.   God says, “Do not be afraid; I am with you.”  Joining with the Blessed Virgin Mary, each of us replies, ““Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”