Angel’s Breath

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.”

…

Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her [Luke 1:26-28, 38, a portion of the Gospel reading appointed for the Fourth Sunday of Advent, RCL, Year B].

Gabriel looked at the girl and wondered how this young thing could be the one chosen by Yahweh as the Theotokos, the God-bearer. She seemed to be little more than a child herself. To be sure, over many centuries, Yahweh had made some, shall we say, unusual choices when it came to furthering Yahweh’s kingdom.

For example, there was the time, long ago, when Yahweh chose an aging man, Abram, and his barren wife, Sarai, as the progenitors of Yahweh’s future chosen people. Later, if inheritance customs established by human beings had been followed, Esau, the first born of Isaac and Rebecca’s fraternal twins, would have been the one to receive the primary blessing and continue the sacred blood line, not the conniving mama’s boy, Jacob. Ah, but how Yahweh loved to cloud the human story in mystery.

A generation later, wasn’t Joseph yet another unlikely choice? Joseph—the one who tattled on his brothers, the proud one who told his brothers, and even his own father, that he’d dreamed they’d all bow down before him one day—was he really suited for important work? Of course, Yahweh had skillfully used Joseph to save not only Jacob’s family from famine, but all of Egypt as well.

Much later, some would say that Yahweh’s anointing of Moses had been yet another curious choice. Oh sure, Moses was strong and skilled. But he was also hot-headed. When Yahweh “approached” Moses in the form of the burning bush, Moses had been on the run for manslaughter. Would Moses be accepted by the Israelites? Was he truly a proper representative? Could he be expected to lead a nation during difficult times?

And then, of course, there was Yahweh’s choice of David. Gabriel had to confess that at the time he had wondered if Jesse’s youngest son exhibited the strength and experience to face the powerful and vindictive Saul, not to mention Goliath. Did David really have “the stuff” to become Israel’s second king? Perhaps most mysterious of all, what had Yahweh meant when Yahweh had said that David was a man after Yahweh’s own heart [1 Samuel 13:14]?

Gabriel gazed again at the quiet, young girl who stood before him. He recalled that six months earlier, he had appeared to the old priest, Zechariah. Then Gabriel had carried news that Zechariah’s barren wife, Elizabeth, would bear a son who should be named, John. Was it coincidental, or was it just another part of Yahweh’s mysterious plan, that Elizabeth was this young girl’s cousin?

Gabriel thought to himself that this choice by Yahweh was the most unusual choice yet. It was also the most important. Yahweh had given Gabriel a message to deliver to the young girl and so, Gabriel delivered it. He told the young virgin that what seemed impossible could indeed occur, and that she should name her son, Jesus.

As he told her not to be afraid, Gabriel wondered if she could sense that beneath his splendid angelic facade, beneath the warmth of his heavenly glow, he himself was holding his “Angel’s Breath,” knowing that the future of all created order, indeed, the Kingdom of God, forever and forever, depended upon her response.