Gabriel—God’s messenger
Daily Scripture
Luke 1:26-28; Daniel 8:15-18
Luke 1:26-28
26 When Elizabeth was six months pregnant, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a city in Galilee, 27 to a virgin who was engaged to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David’s house. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 When the angel came to her, he said, “Rejoice, favored one! The Lord is with you!”
Daniel 8:15-18
15 Now I, Daniel, needed help understanding the vision I saw. Suddenly standing in front of me was someone who looked like a man. 16 I then heard a human voice coming out of the center of the Ulai canal. It called out: “Gabriel, help this person understand what he has seen.”
17 Gabriel approached me, and I was terrified when he came. I fell with my face to the ground. Gabriel said to me, “Know this, human one: the vision is for the end time.” 18 As soon as he said this to me, I fell into a trance. My face was still on the ground. Then Gabriel touched me and set me up on my feet.
Daily Reflection & Prayer
God, Luke reported matter-of-factly, entrusted the angel Gabriel with the crucial message to Mary. (Luke first named Gabriel in Luke 1:18-19.) But who was this divine messenger? Devout Israelites knew. They’d become familiar with his name in the visions of the Old Testament book of Daniel. There, as “someone who looked like a man,” he brought messages from God to help understand the apocalyptic visions.
- What’s your mental image of an “angel”? (If it’s a plump infant with short wings, you’re not alone. But that’s from medieval art, not the Bible.) Hebrews 1:14 asked, “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?” How can you keep your heart and perceptions open to any angel messengers God may send you along your journey?
- Daniel said he met Gabriel when he “needed help understanding the vision I saw” and was praying. Mary, as far as Luke reported, seemed to have been just going about her daily business when the angel approached her with the divine message. In what settings have you had the clearest sense of receiving a message from God?
The Journey: A Season of Reflections
Today’s Insights was chapter 3, “An Angel Named Gabriel,” from The Journey: A Season of Reflections, by Adam Hamilton. Copyright © 2011 by Abingdon Press, and available on our website for 24 hours by permission of Abingdon Press. If you’d like to buy the entire book of reflections, you can click here for a direct link to the Cokesbury sale page, as well as other Journey resources.
Prayer
Keep me alert, Lord, so that wherever and however your message comes to me, I will be able to hear, accept and act on it. Amen.
