Have you ever thought, What if Virgin Mary said no, to Gabriel the Archangel regarding Jesus Christ’s birth?
I never really thought about it for several reasons: One, it’s in the past and can’t be changed, two, it’s a hypothetical non-real, and three, this has to do with God’s central plan for humanity. God gets it done because He’s God. Jesus does what He sets out to do because He’s Jesus. Mary was privileged to have a role in this plan. I don’t think it’s accurate to say “No Mary, no Jesus,” because God can get it done without her. (We are talking about a virgin birth, after all; God is clearly capable of working outside the box). He would have needed one of Mary’s relatives in order to fulfill prophecy, but again, look at what it is we’re talking about. Prophecy. God foretelling the future. Many generations before it happens, God partially lays out some of the details of what will happen. If Mary wasn’t a part of the plan, God would know that well enough ahead of time that He could include a different person in His plan and even make different prophecies if that were necessary. That’s because God gives us prophecies based on what
will happen, not on what
might happen.
I know the thought above scares me, it really does, but it is a good question
I don’t think there’s anything to worry about. It’s over and done with. Plus, God’s in control and He gets it done. Bad things do happen to humanity sometimes- the Fall happened, and a lot of people wind up going to hell. But God’s not surprised by these things and He has a plan for redemption. God gets it done because He’s God. That’s why I don’t think about what would happen if it were somehow derailed. I have thought about what would happen if Adam and Eve had somehow averted the Fall…decent arguments can be made for the possibility of such a thing, even if it didn’t work out that way. I don’t think about it much, though, because that’s one more thing that’s in the past and can’t be changed. And I don’t think at all about how God’s redemptive plan could have failed. Along with being in the past, God is in charge of making it happen and He doesn’t fail. Mary had a privileged place within that plan, but she did not have the responsibility of making sure it was carried out. That’s all on God.
A question for both Catholics and Protestants, what do you think would of happened if Virgin Mary said no?
If she wasn’t right for being part of God’s plan, the angel wouldn’t have gone to her in the first place. You could ask a similar question about Joseph- what would have happened if he’d quietly divorced Mary like he initially planned before another angel intervened? How would things be different if our Savior had been raised by a single mother? I don’t dwell on that, either, because Joseph had a rather indispensable role as well. Not as central as Mary’s, but indispensable nonetheless. God knew ahead of time that they would be the ones He’d use. This also means He knew they’d be of use within His plan. Certain roles within God’s overarching plan are indispensable, and those roles must be filled by people that can get it done- either that, or God gives certain details ahead of time which must therefore happen. For example, God continues to have a plan for His chosen people, the Jews, and some prophecies concerning them haven’t happened yet. What if the Jews had been completely wiped out at some point? What if they are later on? What if someone manages to wipe out all of humanity before everything is fulfilled? None of these options are actually on the table because God has already laid out some parameters and boundaries regarding His plan. We’re certainly capable of imagining things that go well outside the lines- ie., what if Mary was killed while pregnant, what if Jesus was killed as a child in a freak accident, what if Jesus had succumbed to temptation and sinned, what if Jesus came with plans to die but no one wanted to kill him. We can imagine them, but they don’t/won’t/didn’t happen. It’s God’s plan and He’s in control. So I don’t worry about whether or not Jesus will sin, or not be born, or not get crucified and rise from the dead, or anything else I can imagine that would prevent Him from doing what He came to do. God’s plan is secure at all stages- before, during, and after any of its individual aspects are accomplished.
Praise God for being in control. And praise God for all the people He’s used to get it done- especially the ones that filled indispensable roles.
God could have saved us in another way, or packed us all off to hell, but speculating about it is useless. This is what God chose from eternity, and that is why we call him our God and Father.