Two Christmas Questions

December 18, 2019

The Christmas story is full of questions. We get two of those questions early on in Luke’s narrative. We are introduced to two characters – Zechariah and Mary. The similarities in their stories are uncanny. Their questions couldn’t be more polar opposite.

An angel appears to both Zechariah and Mary. They are both “troubled” by the angel’s appearance to them. Rightly so. And they both receive an impossible message from the angel. Zechariah is given the message that he and his wife, Elizabeth, are going to have a baby! Impossible because they are both advanced in age and have been unable to have a child. Mary, a young teenage girl, gets a similar message from the angel. She is going to have a baby! And not just any baby but the Savior of the world. Impossible because Mary is a virgin.

Zechariah and Mary’s responses to the angel are where the stories depart from one another.

How shall I know this?

Zechariah asks, “How shall I know this?” Other translations render it this way: “How can I be sure this will happen?” In other words, Zechariah can’t see the message the angel delivered coming true because it was outside of his experience. Zechariah balks at the angel’s message because a couple who is advanced in age and have been barren doesn’t have a baby! Zechariah doubts the angel’s message because it doesn’t fit into his realm of possibility. And as a result, he was made mute until the baby was dedicated at the temple.

How will this be?

Mary, on the other hand, asks, “How will this be?” Other translations render it this way: “How can this happen?” Mary is not doubting that the angel’s message will come true. She is not wanting to know how she can be sure it will happen. She is humbly asking how it will happen. It is outside of her experience and she is asking the angle to verify how it will actually happen. And the angel obliges her with the explanation. The angel’s description is still outside of Mary’s realm of possibility yet she simply responds, “Let it be to me according to your word.”

Which question are you asking this Christmas?

Ryan

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