And Mary Obeyed

By Nathan Miller 

The angel did not ASK Mary IF she wanted to be the mother of God... I'm not sure where anyone finds that. In fact, the Gospel message is fairly direct:

Then the angel said to her,

"Do not be afraid, Mary,
for you have found favor with God.
Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son,
and you shall name him Jesus.
He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High,
and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father,
and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever,
and of his Kingdom there will be no end."

Gabriel says, "you will!" not "would you like?" And in the parallel message to Zechariah a few lines earlier, he punishes him for not believing, by making him instantly mute.

And the angel said to him in reply, “I am Gabriel, who stand before God. I was sent to speak to you and to announce to you this good news.

But now you will be speechless and unable to talk until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled at their proper time.”

We remain free to say yes or no to God's will, however following his Word is not optional for our good.

And we can be sure that God, who is goodness supreme, will always act for our best interest.