It Had to Be the Hunger

“I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.”

As though angel-meetings and world-flippings were commonplace, these words slipped from Mary’s mouth after Gabriel revealed God’s plan to pass Immanuel through her womb on His way to walk among us.

May it be to me as you have said.

Seems she could as easily have said May my reputation be destroyed as you have said.

May my fiancé abandon me and my family reject me as you have said.

May I be a single mother in a male-only world as you have said.

May I be responsible to safeguard the Savior of the world until He’s old enough to take care of Himself as you have said.

May I be ruined as you have said.

But she didn’t say all that. What she really said was this: While whispers behind me rustle through my shame, I’ll hear the shouts of joy in the streets. All generations will call me blessed. Blessed!

She looked through swirling dust down the bumpy road of her future, imagined likely outcomes and still replied, May it be to me as you have said.

I have no other explanation. I conclude that it had to be the hunger.

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It had to be the hunger.

Mary hungered. She yearned, and she ached.

In one thing, and one thing alone would she be satisfied.

Listen to her words again, as she rejoiced in the favor of the Most High:

And Mary said:
“My soul glorifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is his name.
His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
to Abraham and his descendants forever,
even as he said to our fathers.” (Luke 1:46-55, emphasis added)

It had to be the hunger. Some three decades later, the One who filled her of Himself would stand on a hillside covered with hungry bellies and dare them to hunger with their hearts instead.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled. (Matthew 5:6, emphasis added)

And I wonder . . .  you know I wonder. When her God-turned-boy-turned-God-man looked across the crowd to these sheep without a shepherd, did His thoughts wander to His mother? Did He remember her hunger?

Did His mind return to the days before He looked into her eyes from a bed of hay, when she hungered for Him before she even saw Him?

For Mary, she hungered. And it had to be that hunger that readied her for the fullness of good things.

It had to be the hunger that nudged those words out.

May it be to me as you have said.

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Day 2 – 12 Days of Community

A little more than a year ago, I joined the High Calling Blogs community. One of the first blogs I started reading was Nancy’s Treasures of Darkness. I was struck then, as I continue to be now, by Nancy’s hunger.

She has it.

And He fills it.

And she goes back for more. Nancy knows what it is to dig deep and she ever seeks to find Him. It has been my joy to get to know Nancy over the last year and call her my friend.

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