Have you ever been criticized something you valued?

In our multi-cultural, multi-generational world, values are bound to clash. What one group holds dear, another trashes. What one holds out in pride, another hides in shame. There is not a consistent measure with the content and origin of honor. What is valued? And who values it?

What is your greatest value? Reputation? Wealth? Power? Imagine someone asked you to give up something you deeply valued, for a higher value. In a small Jewish hamlet, a young girl was asked to give up her reputation for a greater honor. The favor of God. And she agreed.

The Fourth Sunday in Advent (Cycle B) marks the third proclamation of the Good News in this new liturgical year. Two weeks ago, we read Mark’s first proclamation with John the Baptist. Last week, we read John’s introduction of the Baptist. This week, we read Luke’s proclamation of the Good News to the first Christian.

Luke has a different world view than his contemporaries. While the evangelist was very well educated (reflected in his well-written, upper-class Greek), his concern lay with the rejected. Luke saw society’s helpless (the homeless, the outcast, and the reformed sinners) as the truly honorable people in the sight of God. In this sense, Luke painted the helpless as God’s children; these icons shattered any standards of “proper” society. The poor, the outcast, and the sinner should be placed on the pedestal, for they were God’s own.

Luke contrasted two characters in chapter one to make his point. In Luke 1:5-25, the angel Gabriel proclaimed the Good News to Zechariah, father of the Baptist. Here was a temple priest encountering God in the very place Jews believed God dwelt, the Temple of Yahweh in the City of David. (See Isaiah 6 for the classic encounter in the Temple). As a male who knew the Law throughly, and as a priest in the act of divine worship, Zechariah symbolized Judaism in action. Yet, when the Good News was proclaimed to him, he failed to believe the power of the Almighty. He would be the father of a great prophet, the one who would prepare for the Messiah. For his incredulous attitude, Zechariah was struck dumb. He would not be the instrument of proclamation. God would use another.

Next, the angel approached a maiden to proclaim the Good News. For Luke, the gospel did not start in the place (the Temple in Jerusalem) and to the people (the hierarchy of Judaism represented by the priest) everyone expected. No, the gospel began in a place (a backwater town despised by the cosmopolitan inhabitants of Jerusalem) and to a person (a young teenage girl) no one expected.

Let’s consider the place of girls like Mary in social pecking order of first century Palestine. In a gender segregated, male dominated society, young girls like Mary were sheltered from the outside world, in order to protect their virginity and insure the honor of the family. (The murder of promiscuous or raped young girls by family members was not uncommon; the reason for such homicides was family honor.) It was inconceivable that young girls could lead the people in such a public function as temple worship.

In addition to family honor, young girls were not educated. Literacy lay with the male, since females were considered too inferior and emotional for education. (How could Mary know the Scriptures like Zechariah? Remember that women had no rights in ancient society; they were treated like property.) Girls symbolized by Mary stood at the bottom of proper society.

When the angel greeted Mary, she reacted in an appropriate social manner. Confronted in private, Mary wondered why she was greeted (young girls were considered to be too insignificant to greet). She also feared from the implications of the greeting. (Were her honor and the honor of her family compromised?) [1:29] The news would not get better for her. The angel proposed a conception and birth that could endanger her arranged marriage with Joseph and put her life at risk. (According to Deuteronomy 22:20-21, a girl who was not a virgin before marriage could be stoned to death. No wonder she defended her honor!) [1:34]

To overcome Mary’s concern, the angel proclaimed her honor before God. She was highly favored by the Almighty. [1:28, 30]. And her son would by highly favored by God, for God would give him a title, and intimate relationship, and royal power over his people that would never end. [1:32-33]. Notice God gave her honor with his presence [1:28b] and with a mission [1:31]. The Lord would also honor her when he was present to her child and gave him a mission. (In ancient society, women could not have honor on their own; they could only stand in the honor of their husbands and sons. Hence, there was the important connection between Mary’s honor and that of her Son.)

Gabriel announced the conception and birth of royalty. Mary’s child would be “great” (as unique and history changing, like Alexander the “Great”). He would be Son of the “Most High” (a title for the greatest God, the highest concept of divinity one could have. As we discussed last week, the title “Son of” indicated a unique, intimate relationship with this highest God and a sharing in this God’s power). He would have the Davidic throne of Israel forever. [1:32]

Faced with the objection of virgin, the angel reasserted her honor and that of her child. She would encounter (the Holy Spirit) and receive the protection of her true husband, God himself. (The wife lived under the “shadow” of her spouse. Mary would live under the shadow of the Most High). Her Son would have the titles of “holy” (in this case, equivalent to the word “great”) and “Son of God.” [1:35] Notice, God took the initiative in this announcement. He would impregnate the virgin. He would call her Son his own (see the passive voice (“he will be called”) of Gabriel’s announcements in 1:32a and 1:35b).

To reassure Mary, the angel announced the pregnancy of her relative Elizabeth. An elderly woman believed to be barren, Elizabeth could be paralleled with Hannah, the elderly mother of Samuel, last and greatest of the Judges (see 1 Samuel 1). If God could make the sterile fruitful, certainly he could father a king through a lowly country girl. [1:36]

Mary had no way out. The angel had upheld her honor in the face of future gossip; her honor would come from God, not from petty humans. Her son would be the Messiah; she would share in his honor. And, the impossible would take place within her elderly relative and her own womb. But she did not merely give in. Mary proclaimed her status as a daughter of Israel (Look, the servant of the Lord!) as much as Gabriel proclaimed her conception and pregnancy of Elizabeth. [1:31, 36, 38]

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