Christ’s Birth Announced to Mary - Bible Reflections - Why Mary? Why a Woman?

By Tony Joe:

Reflections on Saint Luke 1:26-38:

Each Christmas invites us to to look at Mary again, with different eyes. We revere Mary because God chose her to be the Mother of Jesus. But we never think why God chose her above thousands of girls her age living at that time in Israel.

Contemplating on the mystery of Christmas, we would arrive at quite a few reasons for this selection. 

Number one, Mary knew her Bible. Don't underestimate that part. She knew it so well that she knew the promise of the Messiah to be born of a virgin, and when Gabriel announces that she is that virgin, she is only startled for a moment, and is graceful enough to reply that, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” 

A girl of her age who was not well-versed with the Hebrew Bible and its hidden prophecies about the Saviour, couldn't have said that or accepted that shocking development in her life.

Secondly, Mary practiced her Bible. We revere her as the epitome of purity, but never pause enough to realize that it was through diligent practice of God's commandments as revealed in the Old Testament, that she kept her pristine purity. That is what attracted God to her.

Next in line comes her compassion. On almost all the occasions that she appears in the Gospels - and these are not many - Mary's compassion comes across wonderfully. 

Be it her care for her elderly relative Elizabeth, be it her concern for the host who had invited Jesus and her to the wedding feast at Cana, or be it her compassion for Christ's worried disciples after He ascended into Heaven, compassion was more than second nature to her.

Don't underestimate her meticulous faithfulness to God's promise, either. Her determination to keep obeying God's word doesn't change when Jesus leaves the house forever to begin his public life, or when he doesn't seemingly return her love amidst his busy ministry, or at His Passion, or at His Crucifixion. She stays the course.

Let us not forget that Mary was the only human on the face of earth who could have prevented Jesus from undergoing His Cross. Right from His childhood, she could have directed Jesus to a different path, a safer path.

Since we are sure that she knew her Bible well, it is certain that she knew what the Messiah would have to go through. If that was not enough, she had been personally forewarned about it by that old man Simeon when Jesus was presented at the Jerusalem Temple as a baby - "Yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also."

Why did Mary stay the course still? The only reason that is revealed on contemplation is that her compassion for us sinners is what made her allow Jesus to proceed to His Cross.

It is no coincidence that Mary who is absent from the Gospels from the point of Christ's burial through his resurrection to his ascension, returns mysteriously to lead the apostles while they await the coming of Holy Spirit as per Christ's promise. 

The combined might or purity of the eleven apostles wasn't enough to attract the Holy Spirit. It took the presence of Mary, again, to achieve that.

Note what Gabriel says to her in today's Gospel reading - "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you."

It happened once to plant tiny Jesus in her womb, and it happens again to enable all His disciples to receive the Holy Spirit so that they too are overshadowed by the power of the Heavenly Father. 

Then we don't see her again in the Bible. Her final job on earth done, Mary withdraws into the background elegantly.

The Christmas, and today's Gospel passage especially, is also a humbling experience for all men, and an elevating experience for all women.

Because, when it was time for God to send His Son to the world, God shunned the male sperm, but blessed the female egg.

Why did this happen this way? Why a woman?

Beyond the obvious reason of a mother being essential for a child, there is a mysterious reason in that what God really shunned was the male arrogance of being superior in everything including in religious practices.

Remember, God entered the world in a time and in a community where its learned men like the Pharisees were giving thanks to God in their formal prayers everyday for not creating them as women!

At the same time, God knew that it was the men, especially such learned ones, who were more morally corrupt or impure. In other words, pure hypocrisy was at play.

For God to be born in the world, such arrogance, impurity, and hypocrisy were deterrents. That is why it was Mary. That is why it was a woman.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 1:26-38:

Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”

But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”

Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”

And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible.”

Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.