Mary's Song - Luke 1:46-56 - February 27, 2022

 Luke 1:46-56 Mary’s Song

Good morning! Turn with me in your Bibles to Luke chapter one, verse 46, page 856 in the pew Bibles.

We are picking up where we left off with Mary and Elizabeth in the home of Zechariah and Elizabeth in the hill country of Judah. If you remember from last week, after the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and announced the good news to her that she would bear a Son by the Holy Spirit even though she was a virgin, she went to see her relative Elizabeth who was the mother of John the Baptist.

When Mary arrived, the baby in Elizabeth’s belly jumped for joy and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke a wonderful blessing to Mary and we pick up in verse 46 with Mary’s response.

46 And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. 50 And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. 51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; 52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; 53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, 55 as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.” 

56 And Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home.

Let’s pray.

The Catholic church makes much of Mary, too much in fact. Yet they completely ignore Mary’s own thoughts about herself and God’s work in and through her. There is a lot we can learn through Mary’s song here in Luke one.

You may have heard this song of Mary called “the Magnificat.” In fact, the pew Bibles have this passage labeled that. “Magnificat,” is just the first word in this passage in Latin, the word we have here translated, “magnifies.”

The other curiosity we have here is that this is a song even though the text doesn’t say: “And Mary sang,” it says, “And Mary said”… The scholars believe that this was a song based on the original language’s metre and potential rhyming. Any time you see a section printed out this way in the Bible it means that the scholars believed that it may very well have been a song. I’m going to treat it that way anyway.

Mary’s song has three verses all praising the mindfulness, the might, and the mercy of God. And each verse Mary focuses on a different group of people that have experienced those three attributes of God, herself, the faithful, and the nation of Israel.

So let’s look at the three verses of Mary’s song.

First, in verses 46-49a, Mary sings of God’s mindfulness, might, and mercy on herself.

  46 And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me,

The English language is always evolving, and that can get really annoying when you’re trying to translate the Bible from a language with set rules that don’t change into the messy form of always changing, hard to pin down, gobblety-gook that we speak.

We often read the words in the Bible, “soul,” and, “spirit,” and, “mind,” and, “spirit,” and kind of lump theme together in the same category and assign them all the same meaning, as if the author was just trying to express the same thought in multiple different ways for emphasis. 

And when we do that we are wrong. When we do that we miss out on some of the richness and depth of meaning that is expressed just because we are lazy, and then we have the nerve to say that reading the Bible is boring.

When Mary says, “My soul magnifies the Lord,” she is speaking of the depth and center of her feelings, as if she is saying, “my very emotions praise the greatness of the Lord.”

And then she sings, “My spirit rejoices in God my Savior…” If the soul encompasses how we feel, the spirit, as Mary uses it, is how we think. “All of my thoughts experience great joy and gladness because of God my Deliverer, the source of eternal salvation.”

Mary was expressing the Great Commandment, found in Deuteronomy 6:5, and later quoted by Jesus in Matthew 22:37, loving the Lord her God with all her heart, soul, mind, and strength. 

“My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me,

You’ll notice that Mary doesn’t say a word about what she has done to deserve the honor that was hers, she only praises the work of God the Father.

She points out her humble estate, her low estate, just a nobody from nowhere, and in doing so contrasts her lowness to God’s excellence and her unworthiness to God’s grace.

I think it’s important to point out again the difference between mercy and grace. These words are often used interchangeably, mostly because we need them to rhyme in our songs, but they don’t mean the same thing.

Simply put, grace is getting something that we do not deserve. We do not deserve God’s love because we are sinners and have fallen short of His glory, but by His grace He loved us enough to send His only Son Jesus for us.

Mercy, on the other hand, is NOT getting what we DO deserve. We deserve God’s wrath because of our sin, we deserve to be destroyed, but, in His mercy He withholds His wrath until the judgment so that people may come to faith in Jesus and be forgiven.

By calling herself low, Mary is displaying God’s grace, she doesn’t deserve the honor that He bestowed on her. This isn’t false humility, this is honesty.

In His mercy God doesn’t exercise His wrath, instead He exercises His blessing, a mercy that will be remembered forever as people forever will call Mary blessed.

Verse 49a ends the first verse of Mary’s song, praising the Lord in His grace and power for doing great things for her. The word translated, “great,” can also be translated, “surprising.” I’m sure Mary was surprised at what the Lord was doing, and how often are we surprised when God does exactly what He said He would do?

Verse 49b starts the second verse of Mary’s song, where she celebrates the power and judgments, and mercy of God in more general terms, she moves on from God’s work in herself to God’s work for the faithful.

and holy is his name. 50 And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. 51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; 52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; 53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.

Holy is His Name.

It is an unfortunate tragedy that the Name of the Lord has been brought so low in our day, the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ used as a curse word, and calling on the Name of God gets thrown around like garbage.

His Name is holy. His Name is entitled to the highest reverence because He is entitled to the highest reverence.

And His mercy is for those who fear Him from generation to generation. God’s mercy is perpetual. John Calvin said, “He will always be like Himself.” I love that, never failing, never changing, always merciful to those who fear Him.

But what does it mean to fear God? This is not fear that’s associated with terror or fright, this is profound reverence and awe and respect. This is the basis of godliness and religion, and it all finds its basis in faith.

His mercy is perpetual for those who have faith in Him. His mercy, not getting what we do deserve, also known as eternal destruction, is reserved for those, by God’s grace, fear Him. 

This isn’t a result of nationality or birthright, as is the belief of some, but on the basis of grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; 52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; 53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.

God the father has performed miracles by His own power, that is what Mary means by “showing the strength of His arm.” God has performed miracles specifically in and through and on behalf of the lowly contrary to the estimation of the proud, and the mighty, and the rich.

God’s kingdom is an upside down kingdom. Though Jesus is God He humbled Himself and took on the form of a servant, the Son of man had no place to lay His head, no pillow, no bed, no palace. 

He chose fisherman, and tax collectors, and persecutors to be His Disciples and through them changed the world.

The world’s system exalts the powerful and privileged, the proud, the mighty, the rich,but God’s sytem is not regulated by man’s standards.

Calvin wrote, “The great, and rich, and powerful, lifted up by their abundance, ascribe all the praise to themselves, and leave nothing to God. We ought therefore to be scrupulously on our guard against being carried away by prosperity, and against a vain satisfaction of the flesh lest God suddenly deprive us of what we enjoy.”

Paul also wrote in 1 Corinthians 1:26-31,

26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Mary’s final verse praises the Father for His faithfulness to His promise to Israel.

54 He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, 55 as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.” 

In His mercy God preserved Israel as He promised. Mary is referencing God’s promise to Abraham from Genesis 12:1-3.

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

In remembrance of His mercy God helped His servant Israel. The word translated, “helped,” means to provide what is needed. What Israel needed was a Savior and God supplied one in His only begotten Son, Jesus.

That same Savior who was sent by God to help Israel was also sent for us that whoever would believe in Him would not perish but would have everlasting life.

“My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. 50 And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. 51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; 52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; 53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, 55 as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.” 

Amen.

The Spirit Speaks - Luke 1:39-45 - February 20, 2022

 Luke 1:39-45 The Spirit Speaks

Good morning! Turn with me in your Bibles to Luke chapter one, verse 39, page 856 in the pew Bibles.

Last week we left Mary having just been visited by the angel Gabriel who told her the good news that she would bear a Son by the Holy Spirit. He also told her that her relative Elizabeth in her old age had also conceived a son and was in her sixth month even though she was previously barren.

So Mary traveled from Nazareth to see her relative Elizabeth and that is where we will pick up in verse 39.

39 In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, 40 and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, 42 and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”

Let’s pray.

I’m inclined to think that the Holy Spirit conceived the Lord Jesus in Mary’s womb right in the middle of verse 38: And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

It’s not really that important to have an opinion on this but I think that when Mary said, “Behold I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word,” it happened according to his word and then the angel departed from her.

Regardless of your opinion on the subject, within the next few days she went from Nazareth to a village in the hill country of Judah. And like most details in Scripture, there is some debate among the scholars of whether Luke , rather uncharacteristically, didn’t name the village in the hill country of Judah or if he actually meant the village in the hill country called Jutta.

There was, and still is, a village called Jutta in the hill country of Judah that was one of the cities of the Levites described in the Old Testament. Is this detail important? Maybe not, but at least allow, this detail to inform you that there is a lot of detail that we can learn in and about Scripture that may not necessarily be on the surface but that can definitely deepen our understanding of Scripture if we will just take the opportunity to look.

So, regardless of the name of the town that Zechariah and Elizabeth lived in in Judah, Mary went with haste to visit Elizabeth.

Now, just by way of reminder, Mary didn’t have email. She didn’t have Facebook. No phone, no texts, no way of letting Elizabeth know, in that short span of time, what had happened to her and that she should expect a visit from her in a few days.

Mary traveled on foot the roughly 60-70 miles from Nazareth to see her relative Elizabeth.

And when she arrived, Mary greeted Elizabeth, and that’s when things get interesting.

39 In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, 40 and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. 

Who’s the baby that Elizabeth is carrying? John the Baptist. Remember what the angel Gabriel said about him back in verse 15, …he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.

Now I want to be clear, for the four hundred years prior to this, it’s not that the Lord was not active, He kept the planet spinning and He kept people’s hearts beating and their atoms from flying apart. What He hadn’t done was spoken through a prophet. This encounter was taking place at the end of four hundred years of prophetic silence.

Throughout the Old Testament the Lord spoke to His people through the mouths of prophets who were filled with the Holy Spirit, but they were only filled temporarily. It wasn’t until the Day of Pentecost that the Holy Spirit fell on all the believers in Jesus and dwelt within them. Before that day the Holy Spirit only filled people for specific tasks at specific times, except for John the Baptist.

So four hundred years of prophetic silence were finally ended with little unborn baby John the Baptist, full of the Spirit, jumping for joy in his mother’s womb at the arrival of Messiah. Microscopic Messiah in His own mother’s womb.

But John wasn’t the only one filled with the Spirit that day. Let’s consider Elizabeth’s response.

And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, 42 and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”

Isn’t it wonderful that after four hundred years of prophetic silence the first person to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to speak was a woman? I don’t think that’s insignificant. 

In fact, Galatians 3:27-28 says: 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

That’s a discussion for another time, but one worth having. 

Elizabeth didn’t know that Mary was pregnant, she didn’t know Mary was coming to visit. But the Holy Spirit did and revealed it to her. And since it was the Lord speaking through her it was a beautiful and perfect response to the Lord’s work in Mary’s life, one of blessings, and humility, and joy.

Far too often we respond in our hearts to the blessings in other people’s lives with envy not with sincere praise. We need to be mindful of how we respond to the movement of the Lord on other people’s lives, praising Him for His grace and mercy instead of subtly being jealous.

Elizabeth gives us the second phrase of what would later become the “Hail Mary,” “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!”

The word translated, “blessed,” both times, means to be a recipient of God’s favor. This is important to know because our translators used the word blessed here three times in this passage but the Greek words aren’t all the same. The first two “blessed’s” are from the Greek word eulogeo, where we get our word “eulogy” which means “to tell of blessings.” The third, “blessed,” is from the Greek word, makarios, which means “happy.”

So Elizabeth’s response begins with blessings because of God’s favor, not only on Mary but on the world, and that leads to the second theme of her response, humility.

 43 And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

Through the Holy Spirit it was revealed Elizabeth, and confirmed to Mary, that Mary’s child was the long awaited Messiah.

For six months Elizabeth knew that the Day of the Lord was coming. No doubt Zechariah had filled her in on the details of the angel’s visit and his message, even if he had to do it in writing. But in her humility she didn’t count herself worthy to have the Lord’s mother grace her with her presence.

Again, it’s important to note the details here. When Elizabeth uses the word, “Lord,” she didn’t use a word that would be used of just any human ruler like we hear the words, “my lord,” used on tv and in movies. Elizabeth used the title for God and Christ, she was proclaiming in the Spirit that Mary carried the Messiah and she was humbled by the blessing.

Lastly, both Elizabeth and John responded with joy.

44 For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”

There’s our third, “blessed,” only this time the Greek word means, “happy.” 

Baby John is jumping for joy, and in her joy Elizabeth declares the joy of she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.

We have a tendency to arrange things into hierarchies, to arrange things in order of our perception of importance. Who is more important in this account, Elizabeth or Mary? 

While they should be honored for their service to the Lord and their humble submission to His plan, they aren’t any different. 

They were both sinners, they both needed to be redeemed by faith in Jesus Christ. 

They were both people that God the Father chose to use to accomplish His purposes in the world. 

In that way, they were no different from each other and they are no different than us. 

Mary and Elizabeth only had the Word of the Lord to go on, same as us. 

Like them, we are all sinners in need of God’s grace and forgiveness that is only available through faith in Jesus Christ, and like them, all we have is the Word of the Lord to go on, but we also get the Spirit of the Lord to guide and empower us to follow the Word and thus follow the Lord.

Amen.

Expecting Unexpected - Luke 1:26-38 - February 13, 2022

 Luke 1:26-38 Expecting Unexpected

Good morning! We are back in the Gospel of Luke this morning, chapter one and we are going to look at verses 26-38, page 855 in the pew Bibles.

Let’s pray.

This account that we are  going to look at this morning shares a common theme with our text from last week, and that is, the angel Gabriel announcing babies to those who least expected them. 

Mary and Elizabeth were not expecting the unexpected, rather it was expecting that was unexpected! (you’re welcome.)

Let’s look at our text…

26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed 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!” 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?” 

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 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 of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

I’d like to do two things this morning based on this text. First I’d like to examine what Mary is versus what she is not as there has been much confusion about this based on the teachings of the Catholic church. The second thing I’d like to do is to contrast Zechariah’s and Mary’s responses to Gabriel and his message.

If you grew up Catholic or if you have ever watched much TV, you’re familiar with saying the “Hail Mary.” Maybe if you’re a football fan you’ve heard of throwing a hail Mary.

In case you’ve never thought about the meaning of that phrase, it’s a pass where the ball stays in the air long enough to say the “Hail Mary.” And if you grew up Catholic you can probably recite the “Hail Mary,” or Ave Maria, as it’s often assigned for penance in confession.

It goes something like this: “Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen” (please don’t say your amen to that.)

That prayer is based on parts of this text and partly on Elizabeth’s response when she sees Mary later in this chapter, and partly on the wicked imaginations of men.

So it’s important to consider what Mary is not versus what she actually is.

Mary is not our mediator, meaning she is not to be prayed to. 1 Timothy 2:5 says, For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus…

Mary is not “full of grace,” she is the recipient of grace. This prayer falsely attribute Mary with being full of grace in and of herself instead of being a sinful child of Adam in desperate need for forgiveness just like the rest of us.

Here’s the reality of what the Bible says about Mary versus what the Catholic Church says about her:

Gabriel said that she was highly favored, the Catholic Church says that she is the dispenser of favors. 

Elizabeth said that she was blessed among women, the Catholic Church says that she is raised above women. 

Mary said that she was a servant of the Lord, the Catholic Church says that she is the Queen of angels and Saints in Heaven.

The truth is that the Catholic Church has made Mary into an idol saying that she was conceived without sin like Jesus, when in reality, just like us, she too has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. She too has been saved by faith in Jesus.

Jesus Himself said, in Luke 11:27-28 when a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” 28 But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

What Gabriel said was true, she was highly favored, she was chosen by God to bear the Lord Jesus and should be honored for her faithful service not worshipped.

So now that that is out of the way, let’s consider our text and compare Mary’s experience with Zechariah’s. I said to Karole-Ann this week as I was preparing that this all seemed very familiar, just another sermon about Gabriel showing up to tell somebody else that they’re having a baby! 

The reality is, that though there are definite similarities in these accounts, the reactions of the recipients of Gabriel’s news was actually quite different.

So let’s look at their reactions.

26 In the sixth month (actually Elizabeth’s sixth month of pregnancy) the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed 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!” 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be.

Zechariah was serving in the Temple in Jerusalem and Mary was living out in the sticks, in the backwater town of Nazareth. 

11 And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. 12 And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him.

Zechariah and Mary were both doing their thing and Gabriel shows up. Both are troubled, the Greek root word is the same. But they were troubled by different things. Gabriel hadn’t said anything to Zechariah yet, he was troubled by his presence. Mary, on the other hand, was troubled by what Gabriel said. Not that his presence was not surprising but her main concern was what the angel’s greeting meant.

Mary was a pensive person, we can see that throughout the Gospel accounts, that she treasured up things and pondered them in her heart, wondering about the meanings of things. When the shepherds showed up at the manger, and when Jesus was a boy in the temple and he was teaching the experts there in Jerusalem at twelve years old.

When Gabriel appears to Zechariah he was gripped with fear, but when he appeared to Mary she carefully considered his greeting.

Another major difference is in their response to what Gabriel was there to tell them, that they were each going to have a son. 

We looked at Zechariah’s response last week. He responded with doubt and distrust. He said, “How will I know this? I’m and old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” He basically asked the angel Gabriel who stands in the presence of God, “How do I know that what you’re saying is true?” He dishonored God with his response.

Both Zechariah and Mary responded with questions of “How.” But where Zechariah questioned the plan’s accuracy, Mary questioned its possibility.

Zechariah asked, “How can it be?” Mary asked, “How will this be?”

She didn’t doubt the Lord’s word through Gabriel, in fact her response showed just the opposite. Her response showed admiration and faith. She simply asked, “How is it to be contrary to the natural laws of human birth?”

34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” 

Mary had a fiancée not a husband, she was betrothed to Joseph but they weren’t married yet. Betrothal in the first Century was a legally binding arrangement ended only by divorce as you can see from Joseph’s heartbreaking response to finding out Mary was pregnant and that he wasn’t the father in Matthew 1.

Because Mary did not yet have a husband, in her mind, there was no way for her to conceive a son.

But Gabriel went on to explain the plan a little more fully and to bolster her faith with news that her old cousin Elizabeth was expecting too.

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 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 of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

Where Zechariah responded to the angel with doubt, Mary responded in faith and humble submission. But where Zechariah was made mute for his response, Mary would suffer much more for hers.

Mary would have to suffer the shame of being pregnant before she was married, the Law said that she was to be stoned to death. She had to explain the situation to Joseph and to her family. But even after Joseph’s dream and his decision to take Mary as his wife, she would have to watch her Son suffer more than any man even though He was innocent. She would watch as He was beaten and crucified for the sins of the world.

Warren Wiersbe wrote, “Mary’s believing response was to surrender herself to God as His willing servant. She experienced the grace of God and believed the Word of God, and therefore she could be used by the Spirit [of God] to accomplish the will of God.”

Gabriel’s message to both Zechariah and to Mary is not unlike the gospel. 

The gospel announces the grace of God into impossible circumstances, though we are sinners and are undeserving of God’s forgiveness, because of His great love for us he sent His Son Jesus to live a life without sin and to die on the cross in our place, that whoever would believe in Him, through faith in His Name would be forgiven of their sin and given a place to live in his eternal Kingdom as His child forever!

Let’s respond like Mary, in humble submission and faith.

Amen.