Gabriel's Question

Photo by Niall McAuley

At the beginning of his Gospel, Luke tells us about Zechariah meeting the angel Gabriel. Gabriel told him he would have a special son who would announce the coming Messiah.

God could have chosen any of numerous ways to announce His Son’s coming, but He chose the extraordinary way of partnering with Zechariah.

In the same way, God chooses to partner with us in bringing about His Kingdom. He has the authority and the ability to bring about His Kingdom any way He wants. His choice is to include us in His work.

We might not be greeted by an angel, but how do we respond when the Almighty Lord of the Universe meets us and asks us to take a personal and significant part in announcing and bringing about His Kingdom?

Are we ready to jump in and say yes, willing to do whatever our King asks? Or are we like Zechariah, who was afraid and doubted?

When told that he and his wife, both in their old age, were going to have a son, he responded, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years” (Luke 1:18).

In other words, Lord, are you sure you want me? I have a lot of questions.

I think many of us have similar questions when God approaches us.

Like Zechariah, we often have a poor view of ourselves. We come up with a whole host of excuses that try to hide the real reason underneath—we don’t believe we are worthy to be asked.

Like Zechariah, we lack the faith to trust that God can do this. We fall into the trap of thinking only of ourselves in the relationship. We think it will fall only on us and we minimize God’s part. The truth is I am a terrible cook, but if I cook a meal with Emeril it’s going to be fabulous.

Finally, like Zechariah, we are scared. Fearful of stepping into the unknown. Scared that we might not do it or God won’t show up.

All of us seem to say, “If I were visited by an angel, then I would definitely say yes!” The truth is, we probably respond the same way Zechariah did.

How can we move forward and accept God’s invitation, like Mary, and say yes instead.