Nuggets
- We don’t know a lot about Mary.
- Mary was blessed, and Gabriel acknowledged Mary’s faith in God.
- Mary had a little trouble understanding the process. So, she asked a question.
- God always gives us a choice, so Mary had a choice.
- Mary thought fast and said go for it.
Have you ever really looked at Gabriel’s visit to Mary to see how it was going to impact her life? A baby was going to change everything — and maybe not for the good. This devotion looks at why Mary was chosen and her response to the announcement.
Mary
“In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man named Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary” (Lk. 2: 26-27 CSB)
We don’t know a lot about Mary. Luke did give her ancestor lineup. Now, don’t let it throw you. It says Joseph, but it is Mary’s lineup. Joseph’s lineup is given in Matthew 1. That is why they are different.
Galatians 3: 16 says, “God gave the promises to Abraham and his child. And notice that the Scripture doesn’t say ‘to his children,’ as if it meant many descendants. Rather, it says ‘to his child’ — and that, of course, means Christ” (NLT). Since she was from the line of Judah (Lk. 3: 33), she was a descendant of Abraham. We can also see where Mary was a great … great grandkid of David (Lk. 3: 31).
Mary comes off as a good Hebrew woman. But she was also probably typical. Women in those days were expected to marry — and she was on her way to being a wife.
Scriptures do not give us a clue about her family life or how old she was. We don’t know what Mary was doing. She was probably doing her chores.
Mary may have been daydreaming, contemplating her future, while she was working. Since she was betrothed, life as she knew was going to change soon. She hopefully thought of it as a good change, but the unknown may still have been unsettling.
But marriage was going to open up the possibility of motherhood. She would have been looking forward to that.
How Mary comes across is, she was a quiet, conscientious person. “But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart” (Lk. 2: 19 NIV). She had to have been devout for God to have chosen her as the mother of His Son.
Company Shows Up
“And having come in, the angel said to her, ‘Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!’” (Lk. 1: 28-29 NKJV)
Woo hoo! I just made the connection, so I have to share it with you now.
Mary was blessed. We think of that as the “found favor” part — making that more of a clarification rather than a stand-alone statement.
We’ve talked before what blessed meant. Jeremiah 17: 7 says, “But I [God the Father] will bless the person who puts his trust in me” (GNT).
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It isn’t about us. It is about God.
It isn’t that Mary wasn’t this blameless, righteous person. She had to have been, even if she didn’t get the acknowledgment that Zacharias and Elizabeth did.
Gabriel acknowledged Mary’s faith in God. Think about it a second. Up to this point, Mary was an Old Testament person. All she has was the promise of the Messiah.
Mary believed. She believed that she was loved by God. She believed He is Creator. She believed God would send the Messiah.
Blessed means Mary was a child of God. Not because she was born that way, but because she believed that way. She had done the Old Testament version of ABCD.
No, Messiah had not come, but Mary believed He would come. She was fixing to learn her role in that.
“Then the angel told her: ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Now listen: You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end’” (Lk. 1: 30-33 CSB)
We’ve got the standard “do not be afraid” comfort. I don’t now if it is the suddenness of their appearing or if it is just so different from what we normally see.
I wonder what this young girl felt when the angel told her that she had found favor with God. Yes, I know God sees us at all times and knows everything about it. But wouldn’t our first thought be, “Who, me?”
God was going to answer Mary’s prayers — just not in the way she was expecting.
Then Gabriel got specific.
- Baby
- Name
- Rank
Let’s start with #2 — name. Jesus. It was a common name, but it was His name. It means Savior.
It goes from “… and you will name him Jesus” (Lk. 1: 31 CSB) to “… This Is Jesus, the King of the Jews” (Mt. 27: 37 CSB) to “… You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen! …” (Mk. 16: 6 CSB) to “… This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you have seen him going into heaven” (Ac. 1: 11 CSB).
Jesus is our Savior. He was born of a virgin, making Him 100% God and 100% man; gave His life on the cross for us so that His blood could pay the price for our sins; and because of God’s great might and power, rose from the grave, conquering death and paying the price for our sins.
#3 — rank. This baby isn’t going to be just anybody. Verses 32 and 33 have an impressive list.
- Great
- Son of the Most High
- Given David’s throne
- Rule over the house of Jacob forever
- Everlasting kingdom
Think about it. Jesus has to be like us. If He hadn’t have been like us, how could He have made payment for our sins?
But Jesus had to be different from us because we could not save ourselves. He had to be more powerful than Satan.
Jesus filled the bill.
“Mary asked the angel, ‘How can this be, since I have not had sexual relations with a man?’ The angel replied to her: ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. And consider your relative Elizabeth — even she has conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called childless. For nothing will be impossible with God’” (Lk. 1: 34-38 CSB)
#1 — baby. Mary had a little trouble understanding the process. So, she asked, “How can this be …?” (Lk. 1: 34 CSB).
Zacharias actually asked a different question than Mary. He asked, “How can I know this? …” (Lk. 1: 18 CSB). His was more of a I-need-more-proof-than-just-your-word doubt. His answer was more of a “no” answer.
Mary’s question was more of the is-this-going-to-happen-the-normal-way question. It was more of a “yes” answer.
Gabriel’s answer to Zacharias was punishment. His answer to Mary was detailed explanation.
What Mary Was Facing
Gabriel knew he had to give Mary all the answers she needed to understand what was being asked of her. “… You will conceive and give birth to a son …” (Lk. 1: 31 CSB) is written as a statement, but really, it is a question.
God always gives us a choice, so Mary had a choice. He never forces His will upon us. Because of that, God allows us to question so we may make the choice.
Mary had to think through all the ramifications. We usually just focus on what Joseph thought about the situation, but what did her parents think? Her neighbors? The rabbi?
There were laws regarding sexual relations outside of marriage. “If there is a young woman who is a virgin engaged to a man, and another man encounters her in the city and sleeps with her, take the two of them out to the gate of that city and stone them to death — the young woman because she did not cry out in the city and the man because he has violated his neighbor’s fiancée. You must purge the evil from you” (Deut. 22: 23-24 CSB).
It is the does-not-cry-out part. Mary wasn’t going to cry out. Was she, and if so, how was she, going to tell people how she got pregnant? What was she going to tell her mother?
Her life may have depended on it.
Submission
“‘I am the Lord’s servant,’ said Mary. ‘May it be done to me according to your word.’ Then the angel left her” (Lk. 1: 38 CSB)
Mary thought fast and said go for it.
Making the Connections
What? We want all the deets about Mary? The angel?
Not going to happen. Mary isn’t the focus in this dialogue. Gabriel isn’t the focus in this dialogue.
You know the expression, the devil is in the details? Yes, the little things can trip us up if we don’t pay attention.
But yes, Satan is trying to get our focus off the message and on to the messenger. He wants us to switch our focus to ourselves. Don’t let him succeed.
The focus of the dialogue isn’t even there at this point. The focus is Jesus. We are to worship Jesus, not Mary or even the angel.
Jesus is what is important.
How Do We Apply This?
Mary can be a role model for us. We should strive to have faith like Mary. When God asks us to do something, we should submit.
Father God. Sometimes, You ask us to do the hard stuff. You ask us to do exactly opposite of that with which we would be comfortable. Help us to submit to You will like Mary did — immediately and completely. Amen.
What do you think?
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