Fourth Sunday of Advent

Luke 1, 26-38

Rev. Neli Miranda 

Greetings favored one! The Lord is with you!

Christmas is a grand portal that takes us into a space of good news. Here, what we think impossible becomes possible because this is a divine space, a sacred space where life is born and flourishes in unexpected ways.

You cannot step into Christmas if you do not believe in Life that is born every day in the universe, if you do not believe that an angel can visit you in the midst of your daily life and bring you surprising news, if you are not willing to bear life. Thus, Christmas is for believers, for those who can see God amid daily life, for those who are willing to say “yes” to life, for those who risk bearing life!

Today’s Gospel tells us about Mary of Nazareth, one of the main protagonists of the first Christmas. Through a unique story, Luke tells us how Mary entered the portal of Christmas, how she was chosen to participate in Christmas. Why Mary? Was she chosen because she was young, “a virgin”? No! she was chosen because she was a believer of life, she was willing to bear life.

The announcement of Christmas came to Mary in the middle of personal, family, religious, and political tensions. She lived in an insignificant little town in Galilee called Nazareth, far away from the religious and political center. She was engaged to Joseph with whom she would soon celebrate her wedding. Nothing exceptional happened in Nazareth, nothing was trending, except for the arrival of Gabriel, the messenger sent by God to Mary!

Like today, in first-century society, the image of a young girl was considered the most unfavored in socio-political and religious terms; however, the divine favor is proclaimed to this unfavored young girl in a forgotten town! There, in Nazareth, the divine, joyful greeting surprises Mary, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you” (1,28). The Greek term used for “favor” is Χάρις-Charis, which is defined as “Grace”. Thus, Mary the unfavored one, considered as such by the system, receives the Grace of God. The unfavored one will conceive Life and bear a son, Jesus the Son of God.

Mary is not surprised that she is going to conceive the Son of God, but she is concerned about how this can be, given that in physical terms, she cannot yet conceive because she is not married to Joseph. While Mary thinks in physical terms, Gabriel, God’s messenger, speaks to her in divine terms, “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”(1,35). Thus, the young Mary is invited to cross the portal of Christmas, the portal of Life where the Holy Spirit, the divine presence, envelops humanity with brightness and fills humans with life.

 On this Christmas’s Eve, shouldn’t we stop thinking in physical terms and listen in divine terms?

Gabriel reminds Mary that when humans lean on God, the impossible becomes possible. Elizabeth her cousin, an unfavored, old, barren woman had also conceived a son and she was in her sixth month!  “For nothing will be impossible with God” (1,37), Gabriel concludes. 

Both Elizabeth and Mary, socially unfavored women, found divine favor on the threshold of Christmas. Young Mary totally leaned on God and crossed the Christmas portal saying, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word” (1,38). 

Do you feel an unfavored one in this Christmas season?  Surely, there will be many reasons to feel unfavored or vulnerable; however, today’s Gospel invites us to cross the portal of life and enter the sacred space of Christmas where the impossible becomes possible, where we can be enveloped and filled with Life, where we can bear the Son of God in our being! Stand today at the threshold of Christmas and like Mary proclaim, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” 

Dear sisters and brothers, there, in your own Nazareth, open the doors and windows so that Gabriel, the messenger sent by God, may enter your home, and bring you his joyful greeting, Greetings favored one! The Lord is with you! Amen.