Appreciating the Art of Divine Surprise
Scripture is full of stories inspiring awe. Are we allowing ourselves to be astonished?
“Mary was surprised too,” the speaker said to a packed audience of students and families gathered for an evening Christmas carol service in Oxford’s historic Sheldonian Theatre. He was reflecting on Jesus’ birth story from Luke’s gospel, when the heavenly messenger Gabriel appeared to Mary. Upon hearing that she would soon be pregnant—with the Son of the Most High, whose kingdom will have no end—Mary asked, “How will this be … since I am a virgin?” (1:34).
At the conclusion of the Christmas service, our speaker encouraged those gathered not to dismiss this story simply because it seems unbelievable. Apparently, that’s what Mary thought too. Luke tells us that Mary’s being unexpectedly greeted by a heavenly messenger left her in awe, wondering what it all meant, even as she embraced this divine disruption. At the same time, Mary’s elder cousin, Elizabeth, was greeting her own surprise: the promise of a child, conceived amid abandoned hope for parenthood, “for no word from God will ever fail” (Luke 1:37).
The story of Jesus is bookended by surprise—from the narrative of his birth to the plot of his death, to the final scenes of his resurrection and ascension, when Jesus overcomes death in a way no one expected and his disciples are left perplexed, necks craning skyward at his sudden departure.
In fact, the whole of Scripture is riddled with surprise. The Old Testament prophets spoke and acted in ways that evoked awe. The “wrong” person always seems to be chosen by God. When there appears to be no way, God unexpectedly makes a way.
Likewise, the New Testament rarely fits readers’ expectations. Jesus’ responses ...