“Here
am I, the servant of the Lord,” Mary said. “Let it be with me according to your
word.” (Luke 1:38)
I have
been collecting icons for a few years now, and one that hangs prominently in my
office depicts Mary holding the Child Jesus. The icon is titled with the Greek
word that the Eastern Orthodox churches use to describe her: Theotokos, which means “God-bearer.”
That is a perfect description of what Mary did in giving her consent to the
divine mission she was being offered. In saying yes to God, she became the
God-bearer, allowing her person to be the means of bringing the life of God
into the world…
Like
her ancestor Abraham, God favored Mary -- an ordinary girl in an ordinary place
-- and blessed her so she might be a blessing to the world, a vital link in the
covenant chain that God had begun with Abraham generations before (Genesis
12:2). God’s favor is not something we earn; it is something we receive as a
gift, but a gift that must always be shared.
This
story challenges those of us who have received the gift of a relationship with
Jesus to be God-bearers to the rest of the world, believing that God’s grace
always comes to us on its way to someone else. We bear the Christ, we share
God’s grace, and we change the world when we take on Mary’s attitude of service
and surrender. We would do well to memorize and use her response as we move
about in the world every day.
-- Robert Kaylor in “Come to the
Manger”
#4200
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