In 1962, during the height of the Cold War, an institution was founded to provide strategic insights to decision-makers in government, international institutions, and civil society. This group was called The Center for Strategic and International studies and they compiled reports on a variety of issues. One report dealt with Global Organized Crime and it detailed a raid by FBI agents on a psychiatric hospital in San Diego that was being investigated for insurance fraud. After hours of reviewing medical records, the dozens of agents were quite hungry. The agent in charge of the investigation called a pizza parlor to order dinner for his colleagues. The following telephone conversation took place and was recorded by the FBI because they were taping all phone calls to and from the hospital:
Agent: Hello. I would like to order 19 large pizzas and 67 cans of soda.
Pizza Man: And where would you like them delivered?
Agent: We're over at the psychiatric hospital.
Pizza Man: The psychiatric hospital?
Agent: That's right. I'm an FBI agent.
Pizza Man: You're an FBI agent?
Agent: That's correct. Just about everybody here is.
Pizza Man: And you're at the psychiatric hospital?
Agent: That's correct. And make sure you don't go through the front doors. We have them locked. You will have to go around to the back to the service entrance to deliver the pizzas.
Pizza Man: And you say you're all FBI agents?
Agent: That's right. How soon can you have them here?
Pizza Man: And everyone at the psychiatric hospital is an FBI agent?
Agent: That's right. We've been here all day and we're starving.
Pizza Man: How are you going to pay for all of this?
Agent: I have my checkbook right here.
Pizza Man: And you're all FBI agents?
Agent: That's right. Everyone here is an FBI agent. Can you remember to bring the pizzas and sodas to the service entrance in the rear? We have the front doors locked.
Pizza Man: I don't think so. Click.
I think the feeling the Pizza Man had as he participated in that conversation must have similar to what Mary felt when she first encountered the angel Gabriel in the Annunciation. In this brief conversation, the salvation of the world hung in the balance. How incredible and confusing this must have been for Mary. Imagine the shock of having an angel appear and greet you as one "full of grace"! Gabriel goes on to tell her that she is going to become the mother of God. Taken aback, Mary interjects a practical concern: "how can this be since I have no relations with a man?" Gabriel responds that the Holy Spirit will overshadow her and points out that nothing is impossible with God.
Although we don’t hear it today, a similar announcement was made by Gabriel to a member of Mary’s close family, just a few verses earlier in Luke’s gospel. Zechariah, the husband of Mary’s cousin Elizabeth, has just heard that he and his wife are about to have a child, even though they are far beyond child-bearing years. Gabriel makes these two Annunciations, one right after the other. Each is about a child to be born, but neither one is possible according to human wisdom. Elizabeth is barren, so she cannot have a child. Mary has no husband and she had never has had conjugal relations. So why was Zechariah struck deaf and mute, while Mary went peacefully on her way? They both confronted with hard-to-believe-news, but listen to how each one reacts:
• Zechariah says, "How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years."
• Mary: "How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?”
While these two responses of Mary and Zechariah seem very similar, they are actually quite different in what they are asking. The faith or the lack thereof behind their question is the reason why Mary will be held up as a model of trust for all generations while Zechariah will be punished with almost a year of silence.
Zechariah’s reply, while realistic, is insulting. His heart is skeptical. He is saying to the angel, "give me some reason to believe what you are saying," since your word is not enough. This kind of question should never have occurred to him. God's voice had already spoken love deeply into his heart throughout his whole life. He had been blessed by God as a temple priest. He was privileged to literally be in the presence of God as part of his priestly duties, something almost no one in Israel could do. His trust in God’s promise should have been part of who he was. In this sense, Zechariah was already deaf and mute when he heard the Angel! He could not receive the words of the Angel, and therefore could not give birth to the truth in his response to Gabriel.
Mary on the other hand seemed to know already that "nothing is impossible for God." Her heart was docile and willing to do anything God wanted. Her question was not a challenge to God to prove how he would do these things, nor was it a protest in any way. She simply asked for clarification. Just tell me how this is going to happen and I will gladly do it. Mary had already said “yes” to God in her heart on a daily basis. All she wanted to know was how to carry out his will. A remarkable gift and something we too often fail to live.
A comparison of the responses of Mary and Zechariah helps us to understand Mary’s love for God, her unwavering trust in him, and how she listened with her heart. It also challenges us to give God our “yes” in the same way: unconditionally, no strings attached. How much do you and I listen to the voice of God's promise? It is written in our hearts and reinforced in the love we experience in our families, friends, and right here in this church. Do we give God that fundamental “yes” and use our prayer to discover how God wants us to carry out his plan? Or are we more like Zechariah, skeptical, questioning God’s will, and demanding that he prove to us how it will all work?
In these last days of Advent, let us ask humbly for the grace of Mary to listen and to hear. Whatever God’s plan for us, may we echo her words “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.”
