From Prophecy to Person: A Dramaturgy on Mary

Dec 24, 2020 | By Raquel Sequeira TD ‘21 + .5

Advent feels to me like a time of collective mysticism. Art always reaches beyond the intellect, slipping past emotional defenses to shock us awake. During Advent, however, I find myself more willing to become emotionally naked and bathe in the Word spoken and sung, to awaken to the reality of His coming in flesh. 

For a Lessons and Carols service last year, I was assigned to read the passage from Luke of the angel’s “annunciation” to Mary that she will give birth to the Christ. Speaking and savoring the text sparked my theatrical imagination. I sought the context, the movement, and the motivations behind every line. I found Mary, mother of God made man, herself a prophecy made person.

The text, Luke 1:26-38 (ESV):

26 In the sixth month [of Elizabeth’s pregnancy,] the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. 

30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” 

35 And the angel answered her, “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. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 

38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

Compared to Matthew the sermonizer and John the lyricist, Luke is the historian of the gospel writers. He is the only one to tell this story of the annunciation to Mary, and he opens with a string of specific details. In fact, all these details could be read as references to specific prophecies from the prophet Isaiah about the Messiah: that he would come from Nazareth (Isaiah 11:1 [1]), that he would minister to Galilee (Isaiah 9:1-2), that he would be a descendant of David (Isaiah 9:7 and elsewhere), that he would be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14 [2]). These details place the story in the context of Hebrew scripture and the ancient history of Israel, then zoom in on this moment, this place, this woman. 

“The virgin’s name,” Luke tells us, “was Mary.” She is not an abstract prophetic fulfillment. The angel Gabriel did not send out a casting call for Nazarene maidens. She has a personality I can picture. I love her almost sassy response to Gabriel’s magnificent salutation in verse 28: something like, “What kind of greeting is that?” Maybe the angel looked just like a regular man, his words completely out of the blue. Still, the Hebrew word for Mary’s emotion—“troubled”—also implies some fear. [3] I imagine Mary’s response as something like mine might have been: a thin layer of skepticism veiling a spirit sensitive to the presence of the Lord.

Then comes the angelic catchphrase: “Do not be afraid.” Gabriel may not be putting Mary at her ease so much as warning her—“Brace yourself”—for the apparent absurdity of what he’s about to say. And indeed, Mary can’t help but ask, “How will this be?” Perhaps she is genuinely curious about the mechanics of this miracle of all miracles. “How will this be?” like “How does electricity work?” I like to think that the person with the most intimate experience of God’s incarnation was a somewhat empirically-minded woman, one who would ponder every aspect of this impossible reality. 

The angel’s words “Do not be afraid” also affirm Mary’s worthiness, as if to say, “You have no need to be afraid.” Why? Because Mary has “found favor with God.” In the Old Testament, “finding favor” with God means that “God has chosen to act on this person’s behalf.” [4] Yet God’s messenger tells Mary, “You have found favor with God.” In some way she has played an active role—not “finding” favor not in the sense of stumbling upon it, but perhaps “coming in the way” of it. Salvation’s central paradox of unmerited grace and active righteousness is embodied in the woman who will bear Salvation into the world. 

Mary comes in the way of God’s favor through humility and obedience, which are the fruits of her knowledge and love of God. As is clear from her psalm of praise in Luke 1:46-55, Mary has steeped herself in the language of the scriptures. She must recognize the angel’s reference to a holy child and the ancient significance of the title “son of God” (Isaiah 9:6). She may hear the name “Jesus,” a variant of “Joshua,” which means “Yahweh saves,” as akin to “Immanuel,” which means “God with us” (Isaiah 7:14). Thus, when Mary calls herself a virgin, perhaps she, too, is referencing the prophecy and realizing her role in its fulfillment—realizing that God has made her a part of the story of the salvation of her people.

Her response to this realization reveals how she has “found favor” with God: she is favored because she knows she has not earned favor. “I am the servant of the Lord.” In humility she accepts the role God is giving her not as a reward for righteousness, but as a gift of grace. In obedience she accepts the glorious and terrible charge on the condition that it is in accordance with God's truth in scripture: “Let it be to me according to your word.”

The angel’s words are indeed, in the literal sense, terrible. “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.” Mary will be overshadowed by God in her. Yet this very overshadowing, being taken up as one with the Holy Spirit, is a true empowerment: “You will conceive in your womb and bear a son…” What sin and the brokenness of human relationships had made a subservient role in society is transformed by God into a glorious vocation.

Still, for me, Mary’s final words feel impossible to fully interpret. “Let it be to me according to your word.” If I had to direct the scene, I would ask an actor to try to convey something like desperate hope: fear and desire all at once for this beautiful, terrible mystery to come true in her. Perhaps she has longed for the intimacy with God that the poetry of the scriptures depicts (see Hosea 2:19-20, for example). Perhaps in brief moments throughout her life she has even felt a sense of destiny. Her humility and obedience (“the fear of the Lord” as the Proverbs put it) are paired with confidence in God’s Word and promise that she knows so well. “Let it be to me,” as I hear it, is not simply surrender—it’s a plea and a battle cry. [5] 

Luke’s scene depicts Mary as the transition point from old to new covenant: from transactional righteousness through animal sacrifice to relational righteousness through mercy and obedience. Beyond the end of Israel’s centuries of waiting, beyond humanity’s general redemption, I read and rejoice in Mary’s personal reunion with her Creator-Lover. 

The ending of the scene sets up the rest of the story—our story: “For nothing will be impossible with God.” This is a forward-looking statement of faith; but it is also a “here in this life” promise [6] of time-bound, earth-bound miracles, of the incarnation happening presently in every moment and every person. Let it be unto me.

Notes:

1. Nazareth is not mentioned in any prophecies, but the gospel of Matthew explicitly refers to such a prophecy. Some scholars suggest that the words of Isaiah were a prophetic pun. (https://www.gotquestions.org/Matthew-2-23-Jesus-Nazarene.html.)

2. According to the New English Translation (NET) commentary on this verse, the Hebrew word translated as “virgin” could also mean “young woman” or “maiden” and did not necessarily entail virginity.

3. NET commentary on Luke 1:29.

4. NET commentary on Luke 1:30.

5. See Mary’s “Magnificat” in Luke 1:46-55 for a fuller expression of this complex, layered tone.

6. In Fear and Trembling, Kierkegaard emphasizes that God’s promise to Abraham (see Genesis 12) is not only a future promise of descendants as numerous as the stars, but must also be a present-time promise to save Isaac.

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