Many years ago, shortly after my husband died, the men who were working in my yard knocked on my door, asking to place flowers under the huge cedar tree that my husband loved; they had seen an angel there. I cherished that tree and the flowers were there when I moved.
In Luke’s annunciation story the angel Gabriel appears to Mary saying, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.”(1:29). Luke tells us that she was “much perplexed”(1:30). The angel Gabriel reassures her, tells her not to be afraid, that she has “found favor with God”(1:31). We then hear the message, familiar and dear to us, that Mary will bear a child. “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”(1:36). I wonder what it must have been like for Mary to hear that message from God. It must have taken great trust and faithfulness to respond: “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” When I am paying attention, really listening, allowing space for God’s message to enter, I understand Mary’s response.
In Matthew’s annunciation story the angel brings the message of the coming birth of Jesus to Joseph in a dream (Matt.1:18-25). In the Old Testament story of Samson’s birth, the wife of Manoah describes the angel who told her she would bear a son as “a man of God” whose “appearance was like that of an angel of God, most awe-inspiring; I did not ask him where he came from and he did not tell me his name”(Judges 13:7). My prayer is that we can recognize our messengers of God, our angels, in whatever form they come, hear their messages and say, like Mary, “let it be with me according to your word” as we live more intentionally in discipleship.
—Joanne DelBene
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