No impossibles with God

I had one of those “aha” moments on Sunday as I was looking at a familiar text in Luke’s Christmas story. When Mary questions Gabriel about her soon-to-be motherhood, the angel gives her a living example of God’s power: her relative Elizabeth, after a lifetime of barrenness, is also going to give birth. Then he raises the stakes: “For nothing will be impossible with God.” (Luke 1:37, ESV)

Since I started studying (and now teaching) New Testament Greek, I enjoy checking the Greek text whenever possible. What I saw in this verse was interesting. Behind the word “nothing” is the term rhema, which can be translated, depending on the context, as thing, object, matter or event. (For example, the same word appears in the following chapter, verse 15, when the shepherds decide to “go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened.”)

But in the NT rhema is more often translated as word. And that is exactly what happens in the next verse, when Mary responds to Gabriel’s news. She says, “Behold, I am the servant/slave of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38)

So we have rhema used in two slightly different ways in the same context. It’s almost a play on words. The way I read the two verses, Mary's response is more significant because she repeats the word rhema (the same idea could have been expressed with another word). It is as if she is saying, "If no rhema is outside of God's power, then let his rhema be fulfilled in my life."

For those of us needing to experience more of the Sacred Romance, that sounds like a great place to start in 2008.

Stay tuned for a look at Gabriel’s inspiration for his sweeping declaration in Luke 1:37. (See the post labeled "Routine stuff with God".)