I’ve always appreciated Mary, her humility and her strength. This year, it seems even more so. This morning’s reading retells the story of when the angel Gabriel came to Mary, telling her she was going to have a son. How can that be, she asked. Gabriel’s response was that with God, all things are possible.
Some people, and maybe me at another time, would hold on to this commitment from Gabriel. With God, all things are possible. And while I believe that, it’s tough. It’s tough because if it’s true, if with God, all things are possible, why is there hunger, oppression, war, pandemic? I do not believe God wants these things, but I also don’t know why they persist, if through God, all things are possible.
Holding on to God’s ultimate power leaves me perplexed. Why aren’t things like I think they should be? No war, no hunger, no oppression, no pandemic. Perhaps that’s because I’m not God, and although I think I have a pretty good list of things God should want and God should do, I also suspect there are plenty of other people in the world who also have lists of what they think God should want and God should do. And with some of those lists, I’d find common ground. But with others, I suspect I’d find no common ground. My idea of what God would want to do is fallible, and if not wrong, it certainly is not empirically right; it can’t be because I’m not God.
So to hold on to the “with God all things are possible”, I think it’s a slippery slope to have that morph in to, “with my idea of what God should do, all things are possible”. That’s a dangerous thing.
Rather, I’m drawn to Mary’s response. Let it be with me according to your Word. I can’t know what God’s plans are, or why some things happen or don’t happen. I shouldn’t presume that if things don’t turn out the way I think God should script them, God’s impotent, or uncaring. Rather, I should know that God’s providence is bigger than my imagination. My job, should I choose to accept it, is to simply have faith, and respond that yes, here I am. Let it be according to your word.
I suspect that everyone has things in their lives that are imperfect. That it would be easy or at least nice, to have God fix them, because with God, all things are possible. It certainly is true in mine. My loved one has had a relatively stable few weeks, but is beginning to make choices that I fear will cascade into less stability. While I believe that with God all things are possible, it is dangerous for me to hold on to that part of this story without Mary’s response. I would love it if God would make this illness go away, or would give our loved one more stability. But I’m not going to stop my prayers with what God should do, because that is just a thinly veiled substitute for what I think God should do, and as it turns out, I’m not God.
Because all things are possible with God, I need to pray that I have the humility and strength to respond as Mary did. Let it be according to your word. I cannot know God’s master plan. But I have faith that there is one, and that I, if I can be more like Mary, play an important role. I just don’t always know what that is.
Mary's story struck me more so this year than ever, also. Her willingness to just say "yes" when life threw her such a curve ball, her acceptance of the consequences of her "yes" and the joy in which she did this has been truly overwhelming. To receive such a blessing, that later became such agony (as she watched her son hang on a cross), is the true essence of being human.
ReplyDeleteMay we all be a little more like Mary.