Mary the Mother of JesusSample

A Joyful Interruption

It began with an unexpected interruption in an ordinary, well-planned life. When the angel appeared to her, Mary was probably twelve to fourteen years old, which was the traditional age for betrothed girls of the time. Once betrothed, a girl was considered legally (but not domestically) married. She lived in her father’s house for about a year to prepare before being taken to her husband’s home to begin a normal married life.

So there was Mary, a regular Jewish girl, betrothed, waiting for the rest of her life to begin. Waiting and planning and hoping. She was going to marry a carpenter, move to his house, raise a family in the out-of-the-way town of Nazareth, and be a good woman.

But then came the call. In that ordinary home to that ordinary life, a messenger appeared. God broke in with his glory.

And his first call was to joy! He began with the word chairo, which is not a common greeting. It is a word that means “rejoice, be glad, be filled with joy.” It shares a root with the Greek word for grace.

The angel came not with a call to submit, to repent, or even with a call to duty but rather to rejoice in the interruption of God breaking in. And that makes me want to dance. Because I believe that God comes to each of us and his first call is to joy.

He comes to you, to me, in the ordinary places of life. In the kitchens and laundry rooms, in the workrooms and classrooms, in the living rooms and offices and cars and shopping aisles. And he doesn’t say, “You must, you should have, you didn’t, you did, you-you-you.”

Instead, he whispers of joy, wooing us with a grace we don’t deserve. Joy becomes his common uncommon greeting to us as well. To receive his call, to see and be glad. But the only way we can do that is if we are holding our own plans loosely. We cannot approach our lives, our days, or even our moments with a tight-fisted grip on what we think ought to be. We must rejoice in the interruptions. We must let go of our self-focus so we can receive his joy.

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Adapted from Wrestling with Wonder: A Transformational Journey through the Life of Mary. Learn More