Advent IV LUKE 1:26-38 “Let it be!”
Mary had every right to be afraid. When a good friend comes to us and gives us praise, we may wonder what they really want. When God sends the Angel of the Lord to give us praise there may be more to it than just the praise. The difference is the friend might expect more from us. God does not expect anything from us but to receive what He already has given. He wants us to take it. At Christmas, when we receive a gift, we open it. It is a gift. We have not earned it, or paid for it, or worked for it. Otherwise, it would not be a gift. All we are asked to do is to open it.
Mary heard the assigned “mission impossible” from the angel. Her response was a rational one. “How can this be?” She knew no man. There was great fear in her voice. Rationally, when we look at an event, our thoughts create our feelings. Her feelings of fear were well warranted. A pregnant young women, meaning an unmarried virgin, faced a painful and brutal death of stoning. The Angel’s response was not a rational but a spiritual explanation. He explained to Mary how this could be. Mary by then had opened her heart to the spiritual Presence of the Angel’s message.
Her response was “Let it be”. Once she got into the Presence, the feeling of God’s Peace created her thoughts. The new thought was “Let if be”. Rationally, “let it be” is to let it alone. Spiritually, “let it be” means let God alone. It is an “if you can do that, be my guest.”
What a difference it was between Mary, who said if you can do it then go ahead, and the response of Abraham. Abraham is 100 years old and Sarah his wife if 90. God promises Abraham his seed will be as large as the sand of the desert. Abraham thinks rationally, how can this be. I have got to get going. As soon as Sarah stopped laughing, they settled for Hagar her slave. The slave was her property. The child would be hers as well. Hagar became pregnant by Abraham and had Ishmael. Can you just see Abraham presenting Ishmael to God saying look what I did Lord. Here is my son who is to be my inheritance. O.M.G. I can hear the words “Damn it” and maybe a “O Hell”. God is allowed to say these things. What transpired was the good news that God then gave them Isaac. The bad news is they still had Ishmael. Even today he is the thorn in the side of Israel. From the start of human kind in Genesis, brothers never seemed to get along.
What a difference is the legalists' response that says I will do it to please God to get the blessing, or to be blessed to be a blessing. Gen 28:14. The concept of “blessed to be a blessing” is repeated over 300 times through the Bible! “Let it be” gracefully is starting with being in the Presence of God’s Love to love others. It all starts in a manger, a stable, The Birth. “God so loved the World that that He gave His… Son.” John 3:16
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