ANNUNCIATION:

A PAINTING

WITH SIMPLE WORDS

I didn’t ask for this. I never even asked God for signs.

I trusted God. God has always been good to me – giving me the gifts of life, health, family, faith, village, and a good man that loved me: Joseph.

I heard the stories in the sacred scriptures – spoken to us in the synagogue – at Sabbath services. The Messiah was to come – but unlike the sun rising every morning and falling asleep every night – the Messiah was to come at a time when we would least expect him.

So I couldn’t believe it, when a messenger from the Lord, an angel, voiced his way into me – with the greeting, “Hail Mary full of grace – the Lord is with you!”
Compliments like that come from time to time in the marketplace – when the seller wanted to sell me bread or wine or lamb or what have you. And I knew enough to always ask, “What’s the price? How many pieces of silver will this cost me?”

So I asked the angel, this messenger, “What do you want? What are you asking me to do?”

My voice, my face, my being, my hands, must have been shaking because the messenger said, “Do not be afraid!”
Then came the reason why this angel came to me. “Mary, you have found favor with God.”
“Uh oh!” I thought. “What’s coming next?”

Then the next . These were the words:
“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.”
Now that was a big next and I didn’t faint! And the two of us became very silent.

Then came my enormous question – the obvious: “How can this be – since I have no relations with a man?”

What would you do? What would you say?

Well, then the angel said, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. The child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.”
God is a God of twists and turns – so then came another next, another surprise. The angel announced, “And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God.”
What does one do next? It sounded like God was about to do something new – and I didn’t know – how all this would happen, so then I said my “Yes!” And I added, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.”

Then the angel left. Silence. Quiet. Feelings. Questions. Wonderings.

I thought of beginnings. This was to be a new Genesis. I felt like Adam being formed out of the clay of the earth again – with the rush of God’s Spirit coming upon both of us and all of us. I felt like Eve being formed from Adam’s rib. I felt new life rushing into me. Then I said to myself, “Annunciations are dramatic. I also sense that they are easy – compared to what I think is next – swords and suffering – surprise and a new sunrise over Israel – and how is Joseph going to deal with all this?

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Painting on top by Nina Maria Kleivan. It can be found in the Bavnehoj Church in Kobenhavn, Denmark. The date listed is 1994.

I also have a few other reflections on the annunciation on my blog - on my meditations of the mysteries of the rosary and also a reflection back on March 25, 2009.