God’s call in the new testament Vocations of women named mary

The annunciation

The Annunciation

The Annunciation

The annunciation Luke 1:26-38: “In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from god to a town of galilee called Nazareth / to a virgin betrothed to a man named joseph, of the house of david, and virgin’s name was mary / and coming to her, he said, ‘Hail, favored one! The lord id with you / but she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be / then the angel said to her: ‘do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with god / behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him jesus / He will be great and will called son of the most high, and the lord will give him the throne of david his father / and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever; an dof his kingdom there will be no end…

The annunciation, continued But Mary Said to the angel, ‘how can this be, since I have no relations with a man? / and the angel said to her in reply, ‘The holy spirit will come upon you, and the power of the most high will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be holy, the son of god…. Mary said, ‘behold, I am the handmaid of the lord. May it be done to me according to your word”

The annunciation From whom does the invitation to mary come? What difference would it have made to the jewish people at this time if they had known that the invitation comes from god? What is Gabriel’s status in this scripture account?

The annunciation Why mary? What would a young jewish girl’s social status have been in the first century? How does mary respond to the angel Gabriel’s greeting and invitation? Why is mary afraid?

The annunciation What makes this story so unusual? Which elements of a “call story” are present in this account?

the call of mary magdalene

The call of mary Magdalene

The call of mary Magdalene John 20:1-18: On the first day of the week, mary of magdala came to the tomb and saw the stone removed from the tomb / So she ran and went to simon peter and to the other disciples whom jesus loved, and told them, ‘they have taken the lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him’ / so peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb / they both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than peter and arrived at the tomb first / he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in / when simon peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths were there, and the cloth that had covered his head, now with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place…

The call of mary Magdalene, cont’d …Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed / for they di not yet understand the scripture that he had to rise from the dead / then the disciples returned home / but mary stayed outside the tomb weeping / and saw two angels in white sitting there, one at he head and one at the feet where the body of jesus had been / and they said to her; ‘woman, why are you weeping?’ she said to them, ‘they have taken my lord, and I don’t know where they laid him / when she had said this, she turned around and saw jesus there, but did not know it was jesus…

The call of mary Magdalene, Cont’d …Jesus said to her, ‘woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?’ she thought it was the gardener and said to him, ‘Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him.’ / jesus said to her, ‘mary! She turned and said to him in Hebrew, ‘rabbouni,’ which means teacher / jesus said to her, ‘stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the father. But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going to my faither and your father, to my god and your god / mary of magdala went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the lord,’ and what he told her.

The call of mary Magdalene, cont’d Do you find anything unusual about this story? Which elements of a ‘call story’ are present in this scripture account?

The call of mary Magdalene, cont’d What is new in your understanding of God’s call? Is god’s call always dramatic? Do you think that the type of calls from god we see in scripture could happen today? What do you think god’s call to you today would be like?