December 3, 2024 - A Surrendered Heart

A Surrendered Heart

Tuesday, December 3, 2024

by: Diana Groe

In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David,  and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” 

The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.” 

“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her. ~ Luke 1:26-38

When we're asked to name heroes of the faith, all the familiar names ring out--Moses, Abraham, Daniel, David, Paul--the list goes on. Hardly ever do we mention Mary the mother of Jesus. Maybe it's a latent Protestant response against Mariology, but in all humanity, no one can deny that Mary had the closest and most singular relationship with God. 

Out of all the virgins in Israel, God chose her for His premier work of bringing His Son into the world . I wondered why her. 

Maybe this painting of the Annunciation by Henry Ossawa Tanner, an African-American artist working in Paris in 1898, will help us understand. His depiction of the angel Gabriel as a pillar of fire is extraordinary for its time. The otherworldly glow is the only source of light and a splash of surrealism in an otherwise masterful realistic work. 

Mary, draped in the many folds of her nightrobe and bedclothes, is gazing intently at the angel. Her expression is curious. Intelligent. A bit perplexed, but seeking to comprehend. I get the feeling this is not the first time she and God have had deep conversations. She isn't afraid to ask honest questions. 

God sent Gabriel to ask a lot of her. Mary is a young girl engaged to be married. Her whole life as an adult in her society is about to start. With no guarantees of a socially acceptable outcome, she must surrender all her expectations about how her life will go forward.  

And then simply, courageously, she says, "I am the Lord's servant. May your word to me be fulfilled."  Mary trusts God. Whatever may come, she knows Who she belongs to, Who will care for her. Her life, her future is in God's hands. 

Maybe a surrendered heart is the key to a life with God beyond all our expectations.  

That doesn't mean everything will go smoothly. God gives us, as Francis Schaeffer says, "true truth." But He doesn't give us exhaustive truth. We cannot see all ends.

Henry Tanner hints at Mary's future in his painting. If you look carefully at the fiery figure of the angel, near the top, the image is bisected by a wooden shelf on the wall behind it. The effect is a hazy approximation of a cross.

Mary knew God was about to do something new and He was going to use her to accomplish it. I doubt she understood then that she would someday weep at the foot of her Son's cross. 

Lord, help me to have a surrendered heart. May I yield to You as Mary did, trusting that whatever comes is an expression of Your will. May I seek to know You with all that I am. Thank You that my times are in Your hand and my unltimate good is Your goal. In the powerful name of Your Son Jesus, Amen.