But Ahaz answered,
"I will not ask! I will not tempt the LORD!"
Like Ahaz use piety as an excuse when we are worried that the Lord is becoming too involved in our lives. Ahaz had plans of his own consisting of political strategies. He had been told that he needed firm faith in order to be established but he preferred an apparently more concrete alliance with Assyria. But should we be quick to blame him? When God goes 'off script' with us and requires us to step out in faith, to listen and to respond dynamically moment to moment, aren't we similarly likely to find reasons justify our refusal? We do this as though we ourselves are the ones being asked for the sign rather than God, as though the onus would be on us to bring about his plans. Holy fear and discernment is appropriate while we make sure what we have heard is from God. But once we know it is from God we ought to trust him even if it is seems unusual or unprecedented. If we have a prophet or an angel at our door with a message it is always better to respond like Mary than like Zechariah or Ahaz.
Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign:
the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son,
and shall name him Emmanuel,
which means "God is with us!"
The Lord's plans will come to fruition whether or not we cooperate. But we may miss out on the blessings that come from participating in the fulfillment of his plans. We gather that there was some sort of proximate and preliminary fulfillment to Isaiah's prophecy to Ahaz at the time. But we have to imagine that if he had been willing to trust more in God things would have gone better, and more blessings would have been unleashed. Could he have ushered the incarnation into the world ahead of schedule? In any case, God knew how he would respond, and used it as an opportunity to prepare the world for the sign he would eventually give through the virgin who would demonstrate that faith with which Ahaz failed to respond.
And coming to her, he said,
"Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you."
It is only by grace that we are able to respond with faith. Without grace faith tends to appear to be insubstantial, a trap to ensnare the naïve and the gullible. When even the most intelligent bring their full powers of analysis to the content of the faith they do not inexorable arrive at the truth that faith does in fact contain. Instead it remains possible for them to discover in it what they desire to discover, whether true or false. Those who begin from a place of pride rather than, as with Mary, humility, almost inevitably disregard and dismiss the ideas of faith. Those who are invested in sin always subvert faith to something that will not be a challenge to their sunk cost. This is why it was Mary, and only Mary, who was able to respond with all that she was to the profound message of Gabriel. We sinners, even those of us who have grace but are not yet full of grace and only grace, would not have been sufficiently free to say yes as Mary did.
"How can this be,
since I have no relations with a man?"
Mary did not say, 'Can this be?', nor 'Prove it.' Rather, she asked how it would come about, because, yes, she did not understand, but especially so that she could cooperate as God would have her do.
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 called holy, the Son of God.
We can see that the response required of Mary did not demand anything superhuman on her part, but was rather dependent on the supernatural gift of God. The grace she had that allowed her to say yes was the doorway that gave the Holy Spirit the full access to her that he required to bring Emmanuel to the world. None of this was anything she strictly possessed as her own, but was entirely a matter of reliance and trust in God, from beginning to end, as made possible by God's on gift.
Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.
May it be done to me according to your word.
We may often act more like Ahaz, but we are meant to grow to become like Mary, more and more. We may be invested in sin to some extent, and still wrestling with our pride. But we now have the example of Mary as an invitation to all of what God can do in those who place their trust in him. If we choose to stand under her mantle she will help us learn to live with the Holy Spirit upon us, overshadowed by the power of the Most High. This, no doubt, was her role in the upper room at Pentecost. And this morning to she wants to help us to have this experience. It begins when we let her teach us to speak as she did, in agreement with the word of God: "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word."
Your justice I kept not hid within my heart;
your faithfulness and your salvation I have spoken of;
I have made no secret of your kindness and your truth
in the vast assembly.
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