Be It unto Me

The Story

In the small town of Nazareth lived a young woman named Mary. She was engaged to a carpenter named Joseph, and as far as she knew, her life would be simple and ordinary.

Then the angel Gabriel appeared to her. “Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.”

Mary was troubled. What kind of greeting was this?

Gabriel said, “Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.” She would conceive and give birth to a son, and she would name Him Jesus. “He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest… and of his kingdom there shall be no end.”

Mary asked an honest question. “How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?”

The angel explained that the Holy Spirit would come upon her, and the power of the Highest would overshadow her. Then he told her that her relative Elisabeth, old and childless, was already six months pregnant. “For with God nothing shall be impossible.”

Mary could have said many things. She knew what people would think. She knew Joseph might leave her.

Instead she said, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.”

Reflection