4 TH SUNDAY OF ADVENT B
Do not be afraid Mary, for you have found favor with God.
I wonder if Mary thought of that greeting as she stood at the foot of the cross
and reflected on the pain she had felt throughout her life. If I’m so highly favored
by God, God sure has a strange way of showing it! Let’s face it, from the moment
that angel left, it seemed like her life descended into chaos.
Firstly, her marriage was in a mess. Mary had become pregnant and she was
only betrothed. She faced the breakup of her engagement and the possibility of
being stoned. She had become a disgrace to her family and an embarrassment to
Joseph. Her marriage was a mess.
Secondly, Mary’s financial situation was a mess. We all know about the
census that the Emperor had ordered and how Mary and Joseph had to return to
Bethlehem to be registered. That would have cost money.
When they arrived in Bethlehem, there was “no room” at the inn, but I bet
that if Joseph had a little more cash, he could have greased the palm of the
innkeeper and suddenly there would be one last room available. So their financial
mess resulted in Mary giving birth in the worst possible conditions and she had to
lay her baby in a feeding trough.
So, her marriage was a mess. Her finances were a mess. And thirdly, the
world she lived in was a mess.
She was growing up under a military dictatorship. The Roman Empire was
very much in control of most of the known world. Even the Jewish leaders like
King Herod were tyrants and ruled over society with an iron fist. The world Mary
lived in was a dangerous place in which to bring up a child.
The greeting of the angel was beautiful – you have found favor with God!
But the reality seemed to be less so; marriage…a mess, finances…a mess,
world…a mess. Mary’s world was a mess.
Are there times when we feel like Mary? Maybe today is one of those times.
We look at our lives and we see chaos and mess: Our relationships are not how we
would like them to be; perhaps there is financial stress, or unemployment is
causing anxiety; maybe we feel trapped in the day-to-day pressures of life. We
may look at our lives and all we see is mess.
Sometimes it seems such a stark contrast to the hopes and dreams we once
held and we may wonder where God’s favor has gone in our lives.
However, if we look at our lives from a purely human perspective, we may
only see mess. But if we try to discern the hand of God working in our lives, we
may just see a miracle emerging from the mess.
That may mean sifting through the rubble and the debris of our own bad
decisions, inappropriate actions, and bad choices. And as we do that, we may be
able to have a glimpse of the miracle God is working within us.
Like Mary, we need to trust that God is growing a miracle inside us. If we
can do that, we may be able to make some sense of the mess and learn to see it for
what it is – the birthplace of a miracle. And then our faith in God will increase and
we will be able to join with Mary and say, I am the servant of the Lord. May it be
done to me according to your word.