Highly Favored?!? Luke 1

May the mumbling commence!

God has blessed us!  Praise the Lord, right?  Well, sometimes the blessings of God make us pause.  God has given me this gift…  Now what does God want me to do with it?  God’s blessing can sometimes be troubling or can sometimes make us fearful.  Read the interaction between Mary and the angel Gabriel recorded in Luke chapter one:

In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary.  The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you." 

Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.  But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God.  You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end." 

"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?" 

The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.  Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month.  For nothing is impossible with God." 

"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her. (Verses 26-38)

Being troubled and filled with fear were the reactions of Mary when she heard the greeting: “You are highly favored.  The Lord is with you.”  And there are those words that often come from the mouth of an angel: “Don’t be afraid.”  God’s favor means to Mary that she will bear the Son of God into the world.  What an awesome honor!

As Christians, we too are called to bear the Son of God into the world.  And we are called to see the Son of God in surprising places – like in teenagers!

Like bearing the Son of God for Mary forever changed her life, our lives will be forever changed by the blessing of bearing the Son of God to the world.  Yes, Mary’s ordinary life became extraordinary in a moment.  No longer would she simply be a young woman betrothed to Joseph, son of David.  She was pregnant with the Son of the Most High.

And, how would she explain this pregnancy to others – to Joseph, to her parents, to her community?  There would be raised eyebrows about a message from an angel.  There would be much gossip about the pregnancy.  Would Mary even be allowed to go through with her marriage with Joseph?  Mary could easily been cast off and isolated from the community she dearly loved.  She probably wasn’t surprised when her parents sent her away to her relatives Elizabeth and Zechariah.

Even so, Mary humbly accepted the call of the Lord on her life.  She accepted the call as a servant.

At Zechariah and Elizabeth’s home, she praised the Lord in song.  What a beautiful song it is!  We know it as the Magnificat.  I encourage you to read it from Luke 1:46-55.  May this song of grateful service be our song!  May we be as humble of servants as Mary when we bring the Son of God to the world.  May we recognize Jesus in people who are lowly in state.

We are the Lord’s servants.  May it be with us as you have said.

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out