Say Yes

 

The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” Luke 1:28

Uh-oh. The greeting starts with flattery. Shouldn’t Mary be a little suspicious? Have you gotten those phone calls or greetings? When my children start out with some form of flattery I know I’m in for a request. Any version of “Hi wonderful Mama” and I wait for the follow-up favor.

So there’s an angel in the room and he says, “Greetings you who are highly favored.” Now we know that Mary is a bright young woman because the next verse, verse 29 says this, “Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.”  Keep in mind, Mary is not married yet, (oh honey, you look so pretty today) nor does she have children (there’s my sweet mama) so she is not familiar with this type of greeting... yet.

In the history of all the favors/requests I’ve had come my way, none, not one, not a single request comes anywhere near, “we’d like you to be the mother of Jesus.”  I have been inconvenienced, irritated, annoyed and surprised by some of the requests that have come my way. I have also been terrified and thrilled and that is what I think, after the reality of what was happening set in, is how Mary felt.

I wonder how many times, as she headed to see Elizabeth, as she did her daily chores, certainly as she set out to tell Joseph, how many times did she stop and wonder what was happening.  “WHAT? The Son of God? Me? Mary the nobody? Is this a prank? Nope, there’s a kick, there’s a baby in here.”

Over the years I have done favors, said yes to requests from family and friends and thankfully, blessedly from God that have turned out so well. I have said yes and wished I hadn’t. I’ve said no and wished I’d said yes. Mary, so much wiser, more open and obedient than I, said yes to the biggest, best request ever made of anyone. She said yes and the world changed.  She said yes and the words that Elizabeth spoke to her are still spoken of her today.

“Blessed are you among women.”

Say yes to God. You never know where that yes will take you.