Behold the Handmaid of the Lord: Advent Meditation on Luke 1

St. Luke begins his Gospel by noting the coming of two very peculiar people.  The first is John the Baptist, who will become the last of the Old Covenant prophets preparing the way of the Lord.  The second is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Luke gathers together the eye witness testimony of the Apostles and key participants in the life of Jesus, so that he can weave together an accurate history of the events.  It is here in chapter one that we hear of the angel Gabriel greeting the Virgin Mary as “highly favored, the Lord is with thee:  blessed art thou among women.”   We read of Mary’s troubled response at the angel’s declaration that she will bring forth the Son of God, wondering how it might be, since she was and remained a virgin.  And after Gabriel tells her how God shall accomplish this by the power of His Holy Spirit, we hear Mary’s wonderful response, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.”

In our day, and in many days before ours, people have struggled to understand Mary’s situation and her response.  Was this a simple peasant girl who had no intuition of what was about to occur, or a young woman dedicated to God from her earliest youth (as the dubious and non-canonical “Gospel of James” contends?”)  How was she preserved by God so that she could bring forth the Christ Child, when no sinful human being would be worthy of such a task?  Being betrothed to Joseph, and knowing the penalty of death for an adulterous affair, how could she be so calm at the angel’s annunciation?  Knowing the pain and suffering that would lay before her, how is it that she could respond to the angel with a heart and words of faith, when the whole history of mankind up until then (and since then, as well) has been a response of selfish rejection?

Our problem with Mary is much more a reflection of ourselves, than it is of her.  We see the Biblical text with eyes of incredulity, because we are naturally given to unbelief.  We see the dark recesses of our own soul, and scoff at what the Scriptures say so simply.  We know that we are not capable of responding to God or His holy angel the way Mary did, and so we try to find ways to avoid the implications.  We try to either cast Mary in our own miserable image, or to make of her a peculiar deity, both of which help us avoid the deeper truth she points to.

But, the Scriptures are clear in what they say.  Mary was indeed blessed among women—and as she sings with her cousin Elizabeth, all generations shall call her blessed for what God our Savior has accomplished in her.  She indeed is a lowly handmaiden, but God has highly exalted her to be the Mother of God.  He has fulfilled His promise to Abraham, and seated His Only Begotten Son upon the throne of His servant David, so that His Kingdom shall have no end.  The Lord has cast down the wise and mighty, and lifted up the lowly.  It is God who has lifted up the Blessed Virgin Mary by His grace, giving her the faith to receive from Him the salvation not only of her own soul, but the Savior of the whole world.  Mary is made great not because of her own worthiness or merit, but by the unsurpassable grace of Almighty God.

This is what we learn from the example given to us in Mary.  Though she be the most elevated of all the saints, having the singular glory of being the Ark which gave birth to the Son of God, called blessed by every generation of the faithful for nearly 2000 years, apart from Christ her Savior, she could do nothing.  She, like us, has no hope or power or prestige apart from the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.  She, like us, lives by grace through faith in Christ alone.

In the face of all that would tempt Mary to betray the Lord and reject Him, how does she find the will to say yes to Him, where the first Eve said no?  She finds that strength in the same Word of God that comes to us, and calls us into the wonderful fellowship of Jesus.  It is the Word that comes to us and creates faith where there was once unbelief, and gives grace where once there was only judgment.  It is the Word that stoops down from the highest heaven, so that He may lift up the lowly and the broken.  It is the Word, eternally begotten of the Father before all ages, and yet in the fullness of time, born of the Blessed Virgin, who comes to give you life in eternal abundance.  It is the Word which shows you the loving heart of your God, calling unto you, that you might repent and believe the Gospel of Salvation.  It is the Word which has called and sealed all the saints of God from the beginning of the world unto its end, and which calls you into this blessed and holy fellowship.  It is the Word which will give to you a heart and lips to sing with blessed Mary:

My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit

hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.  For he hath

regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold,

from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.

For he that is mighty hath done to me great things;

and holy is his name. And his mercy is on them

that fear him from generation to generation. He hath

shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in

the imagination of their hearts. He hath put down the

mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.

He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the

rich he hath sent empty away. 

He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy;

As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever.

Amen.