But Ahaz answered,
"I will not ask! I will not tempt the LORD!"
Yesterday we saw that the genuine piety of Mary looked almost indistinguishably similar to the doubt of Zechariah. Today we see Ahaz manifesting an apparently pious attitude that is actually disobedience. In general, putting the Lord to the test is ill-advised. Attempting to force the Lord to act in ways he does not intend or desire is foolish. But when the Lord himself tells one to ask for a sign it is not testing him to do so. Rather the contrary is true. We can put the Lord to the test by the way we act. But we can apparently also test him by what we omit. Jesus refused test the Lord by jumping down from the pinnacle of the temple because this was clearly not what God intended (see Matthew 4:7). But Ahaz tested the Lord precisely by refusing to participate in what God had clearly indicated to be his will.
Ahaz already had other plans and he wasn't actually interested in the Lord intruding in them. He preferred to place his trust in alliances with foreign powers rather than in God. Mary was just the opposite in that whatever plans she had she immediately surrendered, preferring to believe the angel, and to obey the Lord as his handmaid. Both Ahaz and Mary were being asked to reimagine the trajectory of their future in a dramatic way. But Mary was the one who was truly able to assent to this and was thus the one to truly bring "Emmanuel" into the world.
Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.
May it be done to me according to your word."
Yesterday and today's readings both encourage us to guard against using false piety as an excuse that makes us unwilling to participate in God's plan. We often prefer not to change, not to alter course, not to allow God to have a dynamic presence in our lives. And if we are overly clever we may make religious excuses for why we refuse. But excuses are only ever that: excuses. Let us instead learn from Mary to allow God to interrupt our lives when he wills. If we cooperate with his plans for us we too will help bring the presence of God to a world which is desperately in need of him.
Let the Lord enter; he is the king of glory.
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