Yesterday’s Gospel was from Matthew 28:16-20, and it has this sentence:

When they saw him they fell down before him, though some hesitated.

I’m sure one could draw out some terribly pious moral from this, but I’m not interested in that. For me, that sentence is fun because it shines a little light into the very human process of writing a gospel. Anyone who has ever written a family memoir will know the problem well.

We can’t say everyone behaved perfectly on that occasion, because it would be untrue: X. didn’t. We can’t say everyone behaved perfectly except X, because it would be unkind: poor X. just had a wobbly moment.

And so a passion for truth and a passion for charity collide, and the result is the true but tactful phrase: “though some hesitated”.

For me, little things like this are the strongest argument for the authenticity of the Gospels.

This reflection appears on the Universalis web site each year on the feast of the Annunciation. I have reproduced it here because some people have asked me if they can link to it.

The question may strike you as irreverent.  How dare I suggest that the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of Heaven, Tower of David and all the rest, could have left us in the lurch like that?

But what if she had?

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