“Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.”

Imagine, for a moment that an angel, a divine messenger, said those words to you.

I suspect that most of our reactions would be very similar to Mary’s.

When Mary hears the angel Gabriel speak those words to her, as today’s gospel says:

“she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.”

The original Greek adds even more dimension to Mary’s response to the angel message:

The Greek words for perplexed and pondered are dietaráchthin and dielogíleto.

Dietaráchthin, translated as perplexed, actually means something closer to:

Mary was much disturbed by his words, she guarded and protected herself against his words. . .

Dielogileto, the root of which is used in our modern word logical, or logistics, translates as:

 Mary thought through, reasoned very carefully what sort of greeting this might be.

Given the nuances of the original Greek, it would seem as though Mary’s first reaction to the angel’s greeting was:

A feeling of being disturbed, deeply troubled, and a desire to protect herself from the news.

Mary also experienced, it seems, a sense of wonderment, and she needed some time to think.

Basically, Mary’s reaction is: Oh no! What? Who me? And then, How is this possible?

And let’s remember that this is Mary’s reaction before the angel Gabriel actually tells her how she is highly favored.

This is before Mary even knows that she, as a virgin, will conceive and bear the Son of the Most High.

Mary’s reactions, her feeling of being disturbed, of wonderment come right after the angel’s greeting only--not even his full news.

That’s it.

The angel’s appearance, his greeting alone is enough to disturb Mary, to cause her to wonder, to reason very carefully, what this might all be about.

We haven’t even gotten to the miraculous birth of the Son of God bit yet.

And yes, our own reactions to a greeting like that, from a divine message, would probably be the same as Mary’s.

Regardless of the actual news from the divine messenger, we too would find it disturbing and difficult to contemplate even those first words . . .

That we are highly favored by God, and that the Lord is with us.

And here’s where today’s gospel takes a surprising turn . . .

Because we are highly favored by God, and the Lord is with us.

We believe this, as Christians.

And we do receive divine messages from God every day that tell us exactly the same thing.

The same astonishing words as the angel Gabriel’s greeting to Mary.

The news may not come to us in quite the same way . . . I suspect that we don’t all have angelic visions.

And the way in which we are highly favored is not quite the same either . . .

After all God, with the help of Mary, has already taken care of the birth of Jesus.

But God does favor us in other ways, God is with us, God does ask things of us, the same as God asks things of Mary.

I’m here to tell you today, that we are in the same boat as Mary.

We are highly favored by God, and God is with us.

And yes, we too can find it disturbing, even troubling, that this is the case.

Just imagining ourselves in Mary’s place, receiving the angel’s greeting, makes most people start to feel really uncomfortable.

Like Mary, most of us find it difficult to understand why God would favor us and why God would be active in our lives.

There is an initial desire to protect ourselves from what God might be saying to us.

Maybe it stems from our own sense of unworthiness, maybe it’s a product of fear and uncertainty, I’m not sure why.

But so often, whenever and however we experience some kind of news from God. . .

Whether it’s a change in employment, finances, family, or lifestyle change,

. . . whether it’s a transformative experience, prophetic words from another person, a general sneaking sense of call . . .

Whatever the news we may receive from God, we often start with a reaction very much like Mary’s:

Oh no!

Who me?

What have I got to offer?

What does this mean for me and my life, the life of my family?

How would such a thing even be possible?

We are disturbed and ponder what such a thing might mean.

We are Marys too.

Highly favored, blessed by God.

And often troubled, both emotionally and intellectually, by what that news means for us.

If we follow Mary’s example, then this kind of troubled reaction to divine news is perfectly faithful.

After all, if we weren’t disturbed by news from God, it would probably mean that we didn’t take God seriously.

When we are frightened or troubled or perplexed or try to reason out what we sense God might be calling us to . . .

. . . it is one way of acknowledging the transformative power of God working in the world and in our lives.

But what makes Mary such a remarkable young woman is that, in spite of her fears . . .

. . . . she still acts faithfully in response to God’s call.

Yes, she is disturbed, troubled, maybe even resistant, to the divine news when it arrives.

Yes, she ponders, she thinks through carefully what such news might mean.

Mary certainly does not rush blindly into anything.

She asks even asks practical questions of the angel Gabriel, “How can this be?”

Mary is not a passive, meek puppet of God.

Mary puts an incredible amount of emotional and intellectual work into making her decision.

But in the end, even though the news scares her, even when she doesn’t fully understand what it might mean . . .

. . . for her, for her family, or for her people . . .

Mary still says yes.

She believes, or at least trusts, in what the angel tells her:

“Nothing will be impossible with God.”

We are Marys too.

This is what we believe too.

Nothing is impossible with God.

Even when we don’t see, know, or understand how and in what form, things will turn out.

What we learn from Mary is that trusting and having faith in God is not a purely passive, peaceful, accepting stance.

Faith can be troubling, disturbing, perplexing; it involves a lot of work indeed.

Whether or not we have faith doesn’t change what God can do;

But having faith makes us more aware of what God can do.

And when we have the courage and forbearance to do the hard work of faith.

We see, firsthand, the power of God working in our lives.

Mary didn’t know what was in store for her.

But she said yes to God, in faith.

And so do we.