How Can We Comprehend Such Love?

Our fourth Advent candle brings us to the heart of

Life, to God’s heart of love for all that God has 

created and sustains.   

Luke 1. 26-38  MSG            

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth,  to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.”  But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.  The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.  And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus.  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David.  He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”  

Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God.  And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren.  For nothing will be impossible with God.”  Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.

It is no surprise that Mary asks, “How can this be?”.  How could she, a virgin, bear a son?

And similarly, how can we comprehend the love of a God who would begin a love story with a birth to a virgin…a perfect love that led God to embrace a lost and fallen people in this way?  Perhaps a love this wide and this deep is beyond complete understanding? 

Dozens of times this Sunday, we will sing and speak and listen to descriptions of this love.  “O living Love, within our hearts be born!” we will cry out.  We want this love in our hearts too!

How can we comprehend such love?  I’ve been trying all week, and I am now at peace knowing that I may never fully understand.  This is the awe and mystery that makes the birth of living Love in our hearts possible.  We ask, and let God do the rest. 

May it be so.

Faith is not belief, an assent to a proposition; faith is attachment to transcendence, to the meaning beyond the mystery. 

- Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

Illustration by Elizabeth Wang,T-03247B-CW ‘Heart of Love’, copyright © Radiant Light 2006, www.radiantlight.org.uk

How Did Mary Find the Courage to Say Yes?

Ecce Ancilla Domini (The Annunciation) Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1849-50

Luke 1:26-38  MSG

In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to the Galilean village of Nazareth to a virgin engaged to be married to a man descended from David. His name was Joseph, and the virgin’s name, Mary.  Upon entering, Gabriel greeted her:

Good morning!

You’re beautiful with God’s beauty,

Beautiful inside and out!

God be with you.

She was thoroughly shaken, wondering what was behind a greeting like that. But the angel assured her, “Mary, you have nothing to fear. God has a surprise for you:  You will become pregnant and give birth to a son and call his name Jesus. He will be great, be called ‘Son of the Highest.’ The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David; He will rule Jacob’s house forever—no end, ever, to his kingdom.”

Mary said to the angel, 

“But how? I’ve never slept with a man.”

The angel answered,

The Holy Spirit will come upon you,

the power of the Highest hover over you;

Therefore, the child you bring to birth

will be called Holy, Son of God.

And did you know that your cousin Elizabeth conceived a son, old as she is?  Everyone called her barren, and here she is six months pregnant!  Nothing, you see, is impossible with God.

And Mary said,

Yes, I see it all now:  I’m the Lord’s maid, ready to serve.

Let it be with me just as you say.

Then the angel left her.

Mary is described as thoroughly shaken, wondering. I see that on her face, as Rosetti has painted her. Where did she get the courage to agree to what Gabriel has proposed?  Did you notice that God waited for Mary to agree?  Is the Holy Spirit with her in these moments? 

Mary & Elizabeth - Reverend Lauren Wright Pittman. 

Mary hears about Elizabeth's miraculous pregnancy before she agrees to accept God's plan. Does this news help give her the trust and courage she needs to say yes?

Luke 1.39-45 (excerpt)

Mary didn’t waste a minute. She got up and traveled to a town in Judah in the hill country, straight to Zachariah’s house, and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby in her womb leaped. 

And Mary said,

I’m bursting with God-news;

I’m dancing the song of my Savior God.

God took one good look at me, and look what happened—

I’m the most fortunate woman on earth!

What God has done for me will never be forgotten,

the God whose very name is holy, set apart from all others.

His mercy flows in wave after wave

on those who are in awe before him.

He bared his arm and showed his strength,

scattered the bluffing braggarts.

He knocked tyrants off their high horses,

pulled victims out of the mud.

The starving poor sat down to a banquet;

the callous rich were left out in the cold.

He embraced his chosen child, Israel;              

he remembered and piled on the mercies, piled them high.

It’s exactly what he promised,

beginning with Abraham and right up to now.

Mary stayed with Elizabeth for three months and then went back to her own home. 

Mary says, “God took one good look at me, and look what happened—I’m the most fortunate woman on earth!”  How excited she is now!

Mary and Elizabeth are together filled with the Holy Spirit. Nothing is impossible with God! 

It is that sense of God’s presence in our lives that allows us to trust in the power of God’s peace even when we do little…Be sure to make this inner peace your utmost priority. . . . When we radiate the peace of Christ we are peacemakers, and then our peace action can witness to this inner peace. But without that inner peace our actions easily become instruments of the powers of war and destruction.  -   Henri Nouwen 

You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.

 - Isaiah 26:3