Advent Lectionary Reflection—24 December 2017

Luke 1.26-38 (MSG; adapted):1

26-28In 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 was Mary. Upon entering, Gabriel greeted her:

“Good morning! You’re beautiful with God’s beauty, beautiful inside and out! God be with you.”

29-33She was thoroughly shaken, wondering what was behind a greeting like that. But Gabriel assured her, “Mary, you have nothing to fear. God has a surprise for you: You’ll become pregnant and give birth to a son and call his name Jesus. He’ll be great, be called ‘Son of the Highest.’ The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he’ll rule Jacob’s house forever — no end, ever, to his kingdom.”

34Mary said to Gabriel, “But how? I’ve never slept with a man.”

35Gabriel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, the power of the Highest will hover over you; therefore, the child you bring to birth will be called Holy, Son of God.

36-38“And did you know that your cousin Elizabeth conceived a son, old as she is? Everyone called her barren, and here she’s 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 Gabriel left her.

This final Sunday of Advent brings us to The Annunciation (Mary’s encounter with Gabriel). I’ve always found this passage fascinating. Every year, though, some people raise important questions or make comments that I haven’t really thought about but should be addressed.

All over the news lately have been the allegations, confrontations, and disciplinary actions taken on several prominent men. Allegations of sexual misconduct and abuse have been leveled at actors, chefs, music producers, news anchors, and politicians. Sexual violence during wartime still goes on to this day.

“Wartime sexual violence is rape or other forms of sexual violence committed by combatants during armed conflict or war or military occupation often as spoils of war; but sometimes, particularly in ethnic conflict, the phenomenon has broader sociological motives. Wartime sexual violence may also include gang rape and rape with objects. It is distinguished from sexual assaults and rape committed amongst troops in military service. It also covers the situation where girls and women are forced into prostitution or sexual slavery by an occupying power” (Wikipedia article on Wartime Sexual Violence).

So why am I talking about this? Because some people have stated that Mary should be seen as a victim of sexual violence — that she was forced into a situation that she wouldn’t have chosen for herself. Some say this is evident from the things Gabriel said to Mary:

“You will become pregnant … The Holy Spirit will come upon you, the power of the Highest will hover over you; therefore, the child you bring to birth will be called Holy, Son of God.”

The inference here is Mary will become pregnant whether she wants to or not. The child will be called, not son of Mary, but “Son of God.” All of this, we’re told, means Mary didn’t have a choice in the matter; she didn’t have a voice. And, again this is inferred, it didn’t matter if she refused anyway, this was what God — the “occupying power,” if you will — was going to do to her. Period. When the story is framed this way, one can certainly see why someone would make those statements. And, biblical text aside for now, if this happened today, a case might be made of the sexual harassment and / or assault (if not out-right rape) of Mary.

But that brings us to a very important point when dealing with ancient texts. The rules of polite society from today do not — and should not — be superimposed on ancient civilizations. Doing this is called eisegesis: reading into a text (such as the Bible) one’s own ideas and worldview. Does this mean we should turn a blind eye to the injustices we read in the Bible? Of course not. But it does mean we have to do the hard work of understanding the stories presented in the Bible in their archaic, historical contexts. This is known as exegesis.

For example, there are numerous stories of slavery in the Bible. And we’re right to say that slavery is wrong. However, this doesn’t change the fact that slavery was part of the ancient world. To say the Bible supports slavery misunderstands the point of the texts. The laws written about slavery (e.g., Exodus 21; Leviticus 25) weren’t given to be God’s approval of slavery. They were given to acknowledge the reality of the ancient world and to work within that antiquated framework until, finally, slavery is abandoned (we can see this suggested in Galatians 3.26ff; et al; Philemon). God doesn’t force change upon the world but works through people within their contexts to bring about change (see Genesis 12).

Furthermore, most of the people that view The Annunciation in this way (that God forced this upon Mary) don’t believe in predestination. That is, they don’t believe that God preordains everything that happens, especially salvation. They believe they have choices. Why, then, are the making this claim that Mary didn’t have a choice? That God forced it upon her? Because they’re reading our understandings into the text (as far as I can tell).

So, then, what are we to make of this story?

To start off with, let’s look at Gabriel’s greeting in a different translation. The New International Version2 states, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you” (verse 28; NIV3). This translation is much closer to the Greek4 and I prefer it because it doesn’t refer to Mary’s looks the way The Message does. Mary being “beautiful” may imply she was chosen because of the way she looked, which adds fuel to the fire of those who see this as a passage of sexual misconduct on God’s behalf. “God couldn’t help himself (God’s always a man in these scenarios) because of the way Mary looks.”

The text states that Mary is “highly favored” and that the “Lord is with [her]”. This greeting isn’t found anywhere else in the Bible, so we can see why Mary would be “thoroughly shaken, wondering what was behind a greeting like that” (verse 29). Like we’ve seen previously, something different, something special, was taking place. It was unprecedented in all of history.

While Mary was wondering about this greeting, Gabriel tells her she shouldn’t be afraid; that God has a surprise for her — she’s going to become pregnant and have a son! She’s supposed to name him “Yeshua” (that would be his name in Hebrew5) and he’ll be a king like his ancestor David. In fact, Yahweh will give him the Davidic kingdom and there will never be an end to his reign.

That sounds like a load of bollocks, to me. And Mary wasn’t too sure about it either. Instead of accepting what Gabriel told her at face value (blind faith), Mary questioned his message. And it’s right here that the view I mentioned above goes off the rails. Mary wasn’t a victim here — she was a willing participant. She wanted to know how this was meant to happen since she’d never been with a man sexually.

In other words, Mary weighed this out. She’s looked at her options and tried to determine the most appropriate course of action. She’s neither helpless nor powerless. Whether this happens or not will be entirely up to her.

Gabriel’s answer is quite surprising. Gabriel tells Mary, “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” (emphasis added).

The part I italicised is probably familiar to a lot of us. It harkens back — way back — to another story — creation itself.

In Genesis 1, we read:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters (Genesis 1.1-2; NIV; emphasis added).

In Genesis 1 we read about God creating the cosmos. And, just like Gabriel told Mary, God’s Spirit was “hovering over the waters” (verse 2). All of creation was birthed by the Spirit of God. Mary would have understood this. When Gabriel told her that God’s Spirit was going to “hover over” her, she would have remembered the birthing of creation.

Having settled the issue in her mind, then, Mary made her decision, “Yes, I see it all now: I’m the Lord’s maid, ready to serve. Let it be with me just as you say.” Or, “Let it happen to me according to your word” (MOUNCE).6 The Greek word translated as “let it happen” is γίνομαι (ginomai) and it means, “to come into being, to happen, to become”. It’s not a stagnant state, then, but implies motion and movement. It signifies “a change of condition, state, or place.”7

In other words, Mary gives her permission for this to happen. As we’ve seen time and time again, this is how the God of the Bible operates — in cooperation with people. God works through people to accomplish God’s purposes. Just as God’s Spirit hovered over the waters and birthed the cosmos, God’s Spirit will hover over Mary and she’ll birth the Lord of creation, the King of the Universe, the Saviour of all.

And she’ll name him Jesus.

~~~

In the Love of the Three in One,

Br. Jack+, LC

~~~

1. Scripture quotations marked (MSG) taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

2. The New International Version is “the most widely read Bible translation in contemporary English.”

3. Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

4. Obviously. The Message is a highly idiomatic translation and falls on the extreme side of the dynamic translation spectrum. All of this to say that The Message uses contemporary slang to convey what it believes is the spirit of the text and not the actual words.

5. “The name Jesus used in the English New Testament comes from the Latin form of the Greek name Ἰησοῦς (Iēsous), a rendition of the Hebrew Yeshua (ישוע), related to the name Joshua. The name is thus related to the Hebrew verb root √yšʿ ‘rescue, deliver’ and one of its noun forms, yešuaʿ ‘deliverance’. There have been various proposals as to how the literal etymological meaning of the name should be translated, including YHWH saves, (is) salvation, (is) a saving-cry, (is) a cry-for-saving, (is) a cry-for-help, (is) my help” (Wikipedia entry for “Jesus (name)”).

6. Scripture quotations marked (MOUNCE) taken from The Mounce Reverse-Interlinear New Testament. Copyright © 2011 by Robert H. Mounce and William D. Mounce. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

7. HELPS Word-studies. Copyright © 1987, 2011 by Helps Ministries, Inc.