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Will you say yes to God anyway?

March 25, 2025

Isaiah 7:10-14 | Hebrews 10:4-10 | Luke 1:26-38 | Canticle 15

There is no woman in the Gospel who plays a bigger role in the story of Jesus than his mother. Today’s Gospel tells us of the visit of the angel Gabriel to a teenage Jewish girl named Mary. What transpired in their conversation is one of the most often told stories surrounding Jesus’ birth as it gives the explanation of how a young virgin was chosen to give birth to the Son of God. After her understandable surprise at what the angel was suggesting, Mary said yes to God as she spoke these words, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”

Mary was betrothed to Joseph as was custom in those days, but she and Joseph were not yet married. Betrothal as a religious rite and a social custom was serious business at that time and inextricably joined Mary and Joseph together even before they were married. The betrothal included the signing of a binding marriage contract, and the bride-to-be was considered married, though not living with her husband until the wedding. Mary knew that serious consequences would likely befall her if her pregnancy was discovered before the wedding. But she said yes to God anyway.

Fortunately, an angel visited Joseph in a dream after he learned of her pregnancy and explained that she would bear God’s son, Jesus. If members of the synagogue and the community knew about this unusual circumstance, we do not know, but what we do know is that both Mary and Joseph said yes to God anyway. From that point forward, Joseph assumed the responsibility to care not only for Mary but also for Jesus, the son of God.

We do not know a great deal from scripture what it was like for Mary to be the mother of Jesus. We know that at her purification and Jesus’ presentation at the temple forty days after his birth, Simeon told her that a sword would pierce her heart also as Jesus fulfilled his work as Messiah. This was surely a forewarning of the agony she must have suffered standing at the foot of the cross as Jesus was crucified.

While glimpses of Mary in her role as mother are not many, in each instance she acted not only with utmost concern for her son but also with clear awareness that his destiny was in God’s hands not hers.

Each of us is invited to say yes to God perhaps not in such a huge way that was asked of Mary but in a way equally profound for us. We are invited to listen for God’s direction and to follow God’s guidance for our lives. We are asked to trust, to risk, and to move beyond our comfort zone. We are invited to follow Christ in ways and to places that we never thought we would go.

Like Mary, the choice is for each of us to make and will bring changes to our lives that we cannot imagine.
Will you say yes to God anyway?

Betsy Fornal