(Based on The First Gospel of James sections 11 and Luke 1: 26-38)
Mary went back to fitting into her expanding role as a woman, a new wife, in Joseph’s household. However, Nazareth being the small village it was, Joseph was often gone for long periods of time to find work elsewhere as a builder. Mary had two stepsons, if you could call them that, James and Joseph Jr., as well as two stepsisters, to keep her company. However, especially when Joseph was gone, these ‘children’ of hers tended to treat her rather poorly. They made her do as much of the housework as possible. They were not going to let her get away with any favoured status, just because she had been raised in the temple and had some kind of elevated station as a virgin before their God. There was gardening to do, food to prepare and laundry to be washed, but Mary did it without complaint. She sometimes wondered why these members of her household treated her this way, what she had done to deserve it. All she could conclude was that they were jealous.
One day she went, as was her custom, to the village well to get water. She was drawing up her pitcher of water when she was startled by the sound of a voice saying: “Hail, you who have received grace; the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”
Mary looked round, on the right hand and on the left, to see where this voice came. Nothing more happened; no one was to be seen. She hurried, trembling, to her house, and put down the pitcher, and sat down on her seat to collect herself. But the voice came again, and this time she saw where it was coming from. What was happening? She found herself shaking in fear, for there was a strange figure standing at the foot of her mat!
“Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the figure said reassuringly, “I come to bring you greetings,” the being, who seemed to her to resemble a most handsome young man said, “I am Jehovah’s servant Gabriel and I have come to tell you that you are most favoured by the Most High. The Lord is with you (Luke 1:28).”
Mary was still trembling as she tried to focus on what he was saying. ‘What is this,’ she thought, ‘How have I earned this favour, and what does it mean?’
Then the apparition, and by now she was guessing it was an angel, said to her, “What is more, you have found grace before the Lord of all. You will conceive in your womb according to His word and bear a son, whom you will name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the son of The Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end (Luke 1:30-33).”
Somehow, the angel’s admonition not to be afraid and his confident manner of speaking had stopped Mary’s shaking. She could think more clearly again and what she heard did not make sense. She thought to herself, ‘Shall I conceive by the Lord, the living God? And shall I bring forth as every woman brings forth?’ So she asked the figure: “How can this be,” Mary asked, “Since I am a virgin (Luke 1:34)?”
The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the child to be born will be holy; he will be called the Son of God. And look, your relative Elizabeth has also become pregnant with a son in her old age – although she was called barren, she is now in her sixth month! For nothing will be impossible with God (Luke 1:35-37).”
The angel fell silent, gazing warmly at her. Mary felt she needed to respond. She pulled herself together and spoke a calmly as she could, the only words she could seem to pull together that seemed appropriate, “Yes, I am a servant of the Lord; let this happen to me according to your word (Luke 1:37).” No sooner had she said this than the figure disappeared. Then she knew for certain it was an angel.
Mary did not know what to do with this news. On one hand, she was filled with a strange peace, even a sense of joy. On the other, she knew that if she told Joseph’s children, his family, or anyone else around for that matter, they would probably just think her special status as a virgin had gone to her head. She might be treated even more poorly by Joseph’s children. Mary resolved to keep things to herself. But then an even more awful thought reared up in her mind – what would this mean to her status as a virgin? What could she tell Joseph? What would he, his children and the other villagers think if they saw that she, a married woman too be sure, but one who was to have been kept as a virgin, was pregnant? She had learned that there were some people in Nazareth who took Moses’ law very seriously. And the penalty for being pregnant outside of marriage could be death by stoning if you were found to have committed a sin in getting pregnant. being pregnant was supposed to an occasion for rejoicing, and even more so if it was announced by God, Mary thought. But she was still perplexed. She shuddered to think of the potential real consequences of being found pregnant and tried even harder to block all this from her mind.
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