Unexpected: Five Women in the Lineage of JesusSample

Mary: Making Difficult Choices

By Megan Brown

A common interpretation of this passage often highlights Mary’s submission, obedience, and willingness to follow. This view of Mary as a humble, lowly, obedient young woman has been admired for generations. But what if we take another look at the text?

In this passage, the angel comes to a young woman likely of the agrarian working class living in an obscure village in Galilee—a disrespected region at the time. Women during Mary’s time, and of Mary’s stature, were not permitted to make decisions over their own bodies—sexually or otherwise. Being found pregnant, and unmarried yet betrothed, was a grave sin—one deserving of public humiliation, ridicule, and possibly death.

And yet, given the cultural norms of the time, Mary’s affirmative response—her green light—to God’s call to embody and birth the Messiah is a decision between her and God: Joseph is not consulted on the front end. This often-overlooked detail places Mary in a position to reclaim her body, in the most intimate way, from a deeply patriarchal society. God allows Mary to take on a definitive, decisive role in her own story—something unheard of at the time.

Mary’s choice to be obedient also plays a key role in God’s intervention in—and rescue of—His people. And, the agent by which God’s redemption begins is a young woman—paralleling the story of John the Baptist’s announcement in the passage just before this one.

Mary models what it means to follow God in the midst of great risk, the unknown, and potential disenfranchisement while also taking charge of her own situation and exerting choice ... the choice to be a part of something bigger than herself, her circumstances, her cultural reality, and her status.

Mary’s “green light” reflects the person she is, the character she possesses, and how God, once again, chooses a vessel who is willing to serve—not necessarily the person who is most qualified, credentialed, or the obvious choice.

Questions:

1. How have you typically heard this passage read, taught, and described?
2. What do you imagine it was like for Mary to receive this message from Gabriel?
3. In what ways have you experienced God’s invitation to take the lead in your own story when it was perhaps not acceptable, the cultural norm, expected, or safe?