In Luke 1, verses 28-30, the angel Gabriel says to Mary: ‘Greetings, O favoured one, the Lord is with you! … Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God.’

In Mary’s language it was probably: ‘Shalom (peace to you). God has chosen you. The Lord is with you. … Do not be afraid, you afflicted one. God is merciful to you.’

Mary first receives a promise from God. Her name is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Miriam, which means ‘bitterness’ or ‘affliction’.

As she has to register on the tax list in Bethlehem and had to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem despite her pregnancy, she could have been an heiress daughter (Genesis 36:8). This means that Mary would have had no brothers and would have been the owner of a family property. Perhaps the parents gave their daughter the name Bitterness because the son they had hoped for, did not come.

It is precisely with a young woman who grows up in difficulties that God wants to write history. The message is: however difficult your life may be, God looks at your heart, not your circumstances (1 Samuel 16:7).

In Luke 1:20, the angel Gabriel says to the Jewish priest Zechariah: ‘You will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things (the birth of your son) take place, because you did not believe my words’.

Decades of praying and hoping (verse 13) make Zechariah a realist. He knows that they are too old for a child. The angel’s words are surreal for him and come far too late. Like Sarah, Abraham’s wife, he considers it impossible to have a child. But that is precisely the point. John is a miracle of God. Miracles happen where our possibilities are at an end.

Zechariah becomes silent. This reminds us of the prophet Ezekiel, who also became silent so that his prophetic message would be all the stronger (Ezekiel 3:26-27). God can make something out of everything for his glory (Romans 8:28).

John’s birth at an impossible age is reminiscent of the promise to Abraham: ‘In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed’ (Genesis 12:3). This is now fulfilled in the birth of the Messiah Jesus, whose forerunner John will be.

God acts illogically. He takes the failed and outcast (Luke 1:25) so that his power becomes all the more visible. Thus God says to Paul: ‘My power is made perfect in weakness’ (2 Corinthians 12:9).

That gives us hope. It is precisely through my inability that God receives his opportunities. During the nine-month retreat, Zechariah finds his prophetic praise (Luke 1:68-79). Storms cause trees to take deeper root.