But a young woman’s reproductive system is right smack dab in the middle of our salvation story. The conception may have been immaculate, but nothing after that was. To put it crudely, we get no Incarnation without a woman’s plumbing.
The angel said to her, “And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus.” ... Mary said .., “How can this be, since I am a virgin?"
Certain charges were leveled at early Christian thinkers and church leaders, that they were flesh-denying and anti-woman, weaving a conspiracy of suppression. Some might have been, but you can’t honestly derive such a view from our Gospels. If that was your agenda, why would you tell the story of the Messiah’s emergence through a woman’s birth canal? Why would all four Gospels agree that the first person to see Jesus risen from the dead was a woman? Why would the Gospels show Jesus’ friendship with and trust in women?
Right here at the heart of our story is a young woman, whom we today would consider still a girl – and she is the agent through whom God is revealed to human eyes. Imagine! AND SHE SAYS YES! Did she really have a choice? Luke tells us unmistakably that she chose:
Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”
“Here am I.” That’s a statement of identity and presence. Here am I. What if we started each day with those words? “Here I am, world! Here I am, God!”
“The servant of the Lord.” That’s a statement of missional life. Mary wasn’t asking what God had done for her lately; she self-identified as God’s servant and proclaimed it boldly.
“Let it be to me as you have said.” I accept. I know what you’re asking, I know in part what it’s going to cost me, and I accept. Amen – let it be.
That’s a powerful young woman! That’s an agent of change! Even before the canticle of radical reversal and equality that’s attributed to Mary in the Magnificat (or, if you prefer it sung, here's Rutter's...), right here we see girl power to the nth degree, a formidable young woman who will carry, and bear, and raise, and lose our beloved Jesus – and then receive him back, though only in part, and never to keep.
I’ve never thought of the story of the Anunication as an anthem of women’s empowerment, but just writing this fills me with energy. I want to go out and tell every young girl I know: Look at this girl! Look how calm and clear and powerful she is! There is power in serving others, in offering ourselves – if we recognize our own worth in the process.
Maybe you know a young woman whom you can affirm today, remind of her value. So many forces in our culture rob young women of their sense of worth. (Fashion industry? Social media? Advertising?) How might we join with others to overcome or undermine those forces?
God chose a young girl for God’s greatest mission. She said yes. Girl power rocked the world! It still does.
“Here am I.” That’s a statement of identity and presence. Here am I. What if we started each day with those words? “Here I am, world! Here I am, God!”
“The servant of the Lord.” That’s a statement of missional life. Mary wasn’t asking what God had done for her lately; she self-identified as God’s servant and proclaimed it boldly.
“Let it be to me as you have said.” I accept. I know what you’re asking, I know in part what it’s going to cost me, and I accept. Amen – let it be.
That’s a powerful young woman! That’s an agent of change! Even before the canticle of radical reversal and equality that’s attributed to Mary in the Magnificat (or, if you prefer it sung, here's Rutter's...), right here we see girl power to the nth degree, a formidable young woman who will carry, and bear, and raise, and lose our beloved Jesus – and then receive him back, though only in part, and never to keep.
I’ve never thought of the story of the Anunication as an anthem of women’s empowerment, but just writing this fills me with energy. I want to go out and tell every young girl I know: Look at this girl! Look how calm and clear and powerful she is! There is power in serving others, in offering ourselves – if we recognize our own worth in the process.
Maybe you know a young woman whom you can affirm today, remind of her value. So many forces in our culture rob young women of their sense of worth. (Fashion industry? Social media? Advertising?) How might we join with others to overcome or undermine those forces?
God chose a young girl for God’s greatest mission. She said yes. Girl power rocked the world! It still does.
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