In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to
a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man named
Joseph, of the House of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. 28He
went in and said to her, 'Rejoice, you who enjoy God's favour! The Lord is
with you.' 29She was deeply disturbed by these words
and asked herself what this greeting could mean, 30but the angel said to her, 'Mary, do not be afraid;
you have won God's favour. 31Look! You are to
conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus.
32He will be great and will be
called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; 33he will rule
over the House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have
no end.' 34Mary said to the angel, 'But how can this
come about, since I have no knowledge of man?' 35The angel answered, 'The Holy Spirit will come
upon you, and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the
child will be holy and will be
called Son of God. 36And I tell you this too: your
cousin Elizabeth also, in her old age, has conceived a
son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month,
37for nothing is impossible to God.' 38Mary
said, 'You see before you the Lord's servant, let it happen to me as you have
said.' And the angel left her.
1. Mary is very
brave. Other accounts of Gabriel’s appearances indicate that he is a terrifying
creature who incites strong, sometimes debilitating, reactions. See Daniel 8:15-28, 27 and Luke 1:11-12. While Mary
is “deeply disturbed,” v. 29, she keeps her composure far better than the much
more mature men Gabriel appeared to. Maybe that’s why God chose her to be
Jesus’ mother; she was going to have to go through some very tough stuff.
2. Another
indication of Mary’s bravery is her relative calmness in the face of the
unexpected appearance of any person
in the immediate circumstances she was in. Luke 1:28 says that Gabriel “went
in” to talk to Mary, indicating that he went into her home. Think how disconcerting it must have been to
unexpectedly come upon someone she didn’t know in her home. Yet Mary did not
flee, but apparently heard him out. That took courage/toughness.
3. We should
not be surprised that God selected someone as brave as Mary to be Jesus’ mother
because His word consistently stresses that we need fortitude to accomplish all
that He calls us to. Scriptures reflecting that are collected here. Those scriptures, and this passage, illustrate
that the path to God’s greatest blessings/works is often scary.
4. God therefore helps us deal with the doubts
that might undermine fortitude, doubts that naturally arise, when He calls us
to challenging tasks. We see an example of that here in God providing the
sign/proof about Elizabeth’s unlikely pregnancy. Luke 1:36-37. It follows a
pattern we see regarding His calls:
a God
sometimes provides initial signs to build faith as the person He calls starts
on the big, daunting, task God calls him to. We see that in the call of Gideon
(Judges 6:11-40) and Moses
(Exodus 3:7-4:17).
b God likely
does that because He knows our weakness/fears, Psalm 103:13-14, and gives
us the help we need to overcome them. 1 Corinthians 10:13.
5. The nature
of the sign God gives via Elizabeth’s pregnancy is also worth noting. It is
meant as a reinforcement/proof of the promises He just made, but it could not immediately have had that effect because it relied on a fact that Mary could not
immediately verify. Its full ratifying effect can therefore only occur later,
when the existence of that fact is confirmed.
We see that pattern elsewhere in scripture; God points to a future
occurrence as proof of His present declaration. See e.g. Exodus 3:11-12 and John 2:18-22. What do we make of that?
a. God
recognizes and accommodates the flagging nature of our faith. He realizes that
the zeal/trust/commitment that immediately results from a significant encounter
with Him will subside over time. He also knows that the work He gives us to do
will outlast that initial zeal/trust/commitment. He therefore gives us
something to bring to mind in the future to revive zeal/trust/commitment.
b. It is
further evidence of God’s loving—and practical—provision for His people. See, once again, Psalm 103:13-14 and 1 Corinthians 10:13.
c. It is
reassuring in that it illustrates that our initial lack of comprehension does
not preclude our eventual effectiveness. Mary probably didn’t understand what
God was talking about when He brought up Elizabeth’s pregnancy, but that did
not stop her from fulfilling the mission God gave her. We see the same dynamic
in the Disciples’ initial incomprehension of Jesus’ statements about his upcoming
death and resurrection. They didn’t get it when those statements were made, See Mark 9:31-32 and Luke 24:1-8, but that didn’t stop them from ultimately
getting done what God called them to. A similar dynamic is discussed at “Fear does not equal Failure and Doubt does not equal
Disqualification.”
6. There are
parallels between this passage and Sirach 2.
Both recognize that a servant of God experiences fear concerning the
service. Luke 1: 29, 30; Sirach 2:2. Both deal with the way to address that
fear: by trusting submission to and dependence upon God. Luke 1:35, 38; Sirach 2:3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10.
7. Given the
contrast between Gabriel’s reaction to Mary’s question in Luke 1:34 and his
response to Zechariah’s seemingly similar question, see Luke 1:18-20, one
wonders why:
a. Maybe Mary’s
question was a more cooperative inquiry, sort of an “Ok, but how are we going
to get this done?” question, and Zechariah’s question was more of a “you have got
to be kidding me” response.
b. Maybe
Gabriel was harsher to Zechariah because Zechariah should have known better. He
was a priest who had walked with God for a long time, whereas Mary did not have
that training or experience. Gabriel’s reaction to Zechariah might have been an
application of the principle that “to whom much is given much is expected.”
8. God/Jesus
choses an unusual way to enter into the world:
a. In a
backwater of Israel that apparently had a bad reputation (see John
1:46 ).
b. He chose a
young woman who was already engaged to someone else.
c. He chose a way
incomprehensible by normal understanding (virgin birth).
Other meditations on Jesus’ nativity are collected at What We Can Learn from Jesus' Nativity: The Annunciation through Simeon & Anna
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