.............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
How did you agree
to this bargain?
.
Mary is willing to partner with God in a mystery she
could not fully understand. Mary said, "Yes!" to the challenges and
joys as well as the surprises and wounds. She said, "Yes!" to the
precious moments she would share with her baby, but she also said,
"Yes!" to the horrifying moments as she watched her boy crucified
before a hardened and mocking mob. Mary answers the Lord with these incredible
words of pledge: "I am the Lord’s servant ... May it be to me according to
your word." Such is the stuff of miracle and grace — the gift of character
that forms us to be like the Savior and provides us our way back to God!
by
Phil Ware
Two
Minute Meditations
Some have trouble accepting the virgin
conception and birth of Jesus because it is so outside our experience.
Since we believe that God created and
ordered a universe beyond our comprehension, it is not so difficult to believe
he could create a child in the womb of a virgin.
What is truly amazing to me is that this
young, peasant, pious, small-town Jewish virgin would accept such an awesome
and challenging task.
Let's read the story again with just a few
questions and comments to help us hear the story again and rejoice.
Do you think Mary ever imagined an angel
would speak to her personally? (Luke 1:26-29 TNIV)
“In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, 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.
How could she believe
How could Mary think God would notice a
poor girl like her from despised Nazareth?
Even the Bible
itself reminds us that people of Mary's day asked, "Can anything good come from Nazareth?"
Why would God notice her, in this out of
the way place, among a group of people with no claim to power or position? (Luke 1:30-33; John
1:46)
But the angel said
to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; you
have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you
are to call him 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."
Legend has it that Jewish women often
prayed that they could be the mother of the Messiah.
But could Mary actually dare to pray such a
prayer?
"How will this be," Mary asked the
angel, "since I am a virgin?"
The angel answered,
"The Holy Spirit will come on 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 unable to conceive is in her
sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail."
How could she believe God would bless her
when it appears in every way that he hadn't?
After all, she was poor, her country under
the heel of the Roman boot, and her people had been under political subjugation
for hundreds of years.
Mary had no financial or legal claim to
expect God would bless her in this way.
Yet Mary does believe that God has seen her
situation and has come to bless her, and through her, the Almighty would bless
his people! (Luke
1:46-49)
And Mary said: "My soul glorifies the Lord and my
spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state
of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed,for the Mighty
One has done great things for me — holy is his name.”
God's deliverance seemed blocked by the
power-mongers and the dishonest religious leaders in the system.
Yet Mary proclaims: (Luke 1:50-52)
“His mercy extends to those who fear him, from
generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has
scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down
rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.”
Don't you think it must have caught in her
throat when she saw Pharisees & Sadducees gloating in their rich and
religiously arrogant sense of superiority?
But, Mary steadfastly trusted that God
would turn the tables and make things right for his downtrodden people. (Luke 1:53-55)
“He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent
the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be
merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our
ancestors."
Most of all, Mary surely realized the mess
she would bring on herself by accepting this challenge!
How could her friends believe her?
Wouldn't her reputation be trashed as the
rumors of her pregnancy swirled in the small village of Nazareth?
She must have realized that even going to
live with Elizabeth during her pregnancy would not silence the skeptics and she
would be disgraced in her home town — for how could anyone understand this
miracle inside her? (Luke
1:56)
Don't you think she knew her son, Jesus,
would one day be called "Mary's Boy" because no one would believe his
miraculous conception? (Mark
6:3)
Most of all, Mary surely had to anticipate
possibly losing her betrothed husband, Joseph, for how could he understand? (Matthew 1:18-24;
Joel 1:9)
Mourn like a virgin in sackcloth grieving
for the betrothed of her youth.
When given the open challenge of bearing
the Messiah miraculously conceived in her womb by God's Holy Spirit, Mary said,
"Yes!"
Mary said, "Yes!" to the challenges and joys as well as the
surprises and wounds.
She said, "Yes!" to the precious moments she would share with her
baby, but she also said, "Yes!"
to hearing her son being called Mary's boy in ridicule.
She said, "Yes!" to wonder of the Magi and their gifts and also
said "Yes!" to the
horrifying moments as she watched her boy crucified before a hardened and
mocking mob.
While she could not anticipate where all
this would lead anymore than she could understand the miracle of her son's
conception, Mary said, "Yes!"
You see, one verse, the miracle verse of
the whole story, stands out.
When faced with this blessing and this
cost, with this joy with such challenge, Mary answers the Lord with these
incredible words of pledge:
"I am the Lord’s servant ... May it be to me
according to your word." (Luke1:38)
Such is the stuff of miracle and grace — the gift of character that forms us to be like the Savior and provides us our way back to God!
Phil Ware has authored 11
years of daily devotionals, including VerseoftheDay.com, read by 500,000
people a day. He works with churches in transition with Interim Ministry
Partners and for the past 21+ years, he has been editor and president
of HEARTLIGHT Magazine, author of VerseoftheDay.com, God's
Holy Fire (on the Holy Spirit), and aYearwithJesus.com.
Phil has also authored four books, daily devotionals on each of the four gospels.
(Visit the
Author's Website)
Heartlight Provides Positive
Resources for Daily Christian Living.
https://www.heartlight.org/articles/200712/20071217_maryschoice.html
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