Luke gives the most detailed account of the events that lead up to the birth of Christ as well as the event itself. In this passage Luke 1:26-38 the birth of Jesus is foretold to a very important piece of the puzzle. There are several things that have jumped out to me since reading the account thoroughly but the one I want to concentrate on MOST is the response of Mary.
26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed[a] to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”[b] 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”[c]
35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born[d] will be called holy—the Son of God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant[e] of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
Now we all see Mary's initial surprise. I'm pretty sure if an angel appeared to us, we would be surprised at first too!! Then the angel says to her "Do not be afraid, you have found favor with the Lord" WOW!! Mary's parents must have done some serious training, or somewhere along the way she had an amazing Christian role model in her life. To find high favor in the Lord's site she must have been an outstanding woman. Then the angel tells her of the Lord's plan for her(don't we all wish it was that clear) and she has an honest question. "How can this be?" It was not a ridiculous question, after all she was a virgin. She was genuinely confused. She wasn't questioning God's plan, she was just asking for clarification. So the angel gives her clarification and tells her of another miracle that is under way, her cousin Elizabeth, in her old age has conceived. All of these things are things that we often concentrate on when telling the story but what I want to concentrate on is the final response that Mary has.
38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant[e] of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
Absolute surrender, total trust and confidence,let it be. You know sometimes we skim over that as if it was no big deal. We know that it was the Lord's will to use Mary in this manner and sometimes I think we take for granted that she had the absolute perfect response!! WHAT IF SHE HAD SAID NO?? That was an option. Because we look back on it as history we see it as set in stone, final, the only way. However, we should realize that Mary could have said "No Way!! You are crazy, find someone else." I am sure that the Lord knew she had a heart for his will and would have the proper response but that doesn't change the fact that she was human and she could have said no.
Many time in life, when we find the will of God for our lives we don't have the proper response. We question God. We flat out tell him no. We worry what others will think. We try to think out all the scenario's in our mind and figure it out ourselves. We try to play god in our own lives and we deny the power and grace of God over our lives because we fail to just take him at his word and do as he says.
Here's the phrase that hit me this week...
You never know if what God is asking you to do will change the whole world.
Wow! That made me think(I'm not sure any of the kids got it but I sure did). I thought, geez, I could be giving birth to the next great missionary, Jim Elliot, Billy Graham, Corrie Ten Boom. Here I am complaining and questioning God's plan, because it wasn't what I had pre-determined in my heart, when he has a plan for this child!! Of course, it wasn't as clearly presented as the angel Gabriel coming down and telling me I was birthing the Messiah, but in that moment it seemed like I had seen an angel. Even if this child grows in the Lord and only reaches 1 soul for the Lord he will have served a purpose in the kingdom. Someone 20 years from now may be waiting, hurting, searching, and this child may be the smiling face that encourages them and leads them to the Lord. :) Brings tears to my eye's just thinking about it.
Daily, it seems, that we as Christians totally ignore the will of the Lord that has been made perfectly clear to us because it makes us uncomfortable(The Great Commission) and then wonder why he isn't revealing anything great to us. Mary was highly favored, this leads me to assume that she was daily walking in the will and promises of the Lord. The Lord didn't choose her for such a great task randomly, he knew clearly that she was a follower of him. Don't expect God to reveal something great to you, if you wont deny yourself daily, take up your cross and follow him. The blessing that we are missing out on because we wont simply obey. OUCH!!
As I have pondered these things I have prayed to the Lord "help me to have the heart and response of Mary. Anytime you as anything of me, give me the GRACE that my response would be that of absolute surrender, total trust, and peace. Let it be! Behold, the maidservant of the Lord!"
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