WORDS OF REASSURANCE
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When we retell the story of Mary—mostly at Christmas time—we naturally focus on the awesome task Mary was taking on, the unlikely, scandalous, even dangerous nature of what was being asked of her, and her humble acceptance of it. But it is worth remembering that this undertaking was far more unlikely and hazardous from the perspective of heaven.
God was risking everything on this project of reconnection and restoration. God was making Himself vulnerable, and Gabriel’s “Do not be afraid” revealed the fears and threats that this assignment necessarily entailed. Even in this immediate moment, the plan was possible only with Mary’s cooperation. It seems likely that the angel Gabriel held his breath: “As he said it, he only hoped she wouldn’t notice that beneath the great, golden wings he himself was trembling with fear to think that the whole future of creation hung now on the answer of a girl.”* Sometimes, the reassurance we give to others is exactly what we ourselves need to hear—and reveals our true feelings of fear. We resonate with the fears and anxieties of the other person, then seek to calm their nervousness as much as our own. In Jesus, God became human. But in a new way, the whole of heaven also became vulnerable to the risks and fears of what it meant to be human, including the fear of vulnerability and rejection.
Heaven’s fear was calmed by Mary’s response: “ ‘I am the Lord’s servant,’ Mary answered. ‘May your word to me be fulfilled’ ” (Luke 1:38).
We might imagine that Gabriel let out the breath he had been holding, as did all of heaven.
* Frederick Buechner, Peculiar Treasures: A Biblical Who’s Who (New York: Harper and Row, 1979), 44.
