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.
Luke 1:35-38
Can we even begin to imagine what Mary felt as she heard this news?
It is really hard for me to imagine because my initial thoughts are influenced by the fact that I know how the story ends; Mary gives birth to the Son of God who accomplished God’s purpose, rose from the dead and rules the universe as King of kings and Lord of lords… but bear in mind that Mary knows none of this, for it hasn’t happened yet.
At this point, Mary in all likelihood is a very young girl, maybe 13 or so. She is engaged to Joseph and awaiting her marriage. For her to turn up pregnant is a social catastrophe! Joseph will probably dump her, and everyone will know why. She’ll never be able to marry because of her checkered past and as a result she will spend her life alone, with a kid, a social outcast and destitute… or she could be considered an adulteress and be put to death!
Now to be perfectly candid here, considering that young ladies in this age group aren’t usually famous for their selflessness, wouldn’t we expect Mary to go ballistic? Wouldn’t we expect a drama-party to go on for months? Mary, it would seem, is a very unusual young lady!
Mary’s response to this news is heroic and nothing less than inspiring: She accepts it saying, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.”
Do we have that kind of faith? Are we so ready to accept God’s call even if it means social disgrace?
OK, fine, I’ll admit that I haven’t been visited recently by the angel of God with an assignment, so maybe that makes it a little bit easier… Still, this news that the angel has given to Mary was entirely life-changing, and at least at first blush it wouldn’t be an easy road. “May it be to me as you have said.”
I can only hope and pray that should I ever be faced with such an assignment from God that my reaction would be half as faithful as that of Mary. What am amazing example for every one of us.
Life Project Blog 
Awesome
Thanks Wally
Pondering. And a load more reactions opening up, a lot more questions popping out – put the real into the delicacy of the biblical writing – and the real is massive. Thank you Don, you have me thinking again.
It is massive for certain! Thanks Paul for the warning! 🙂
In the context of the Jewish culture of the promised Messiah, wasn’t every family praying their daughter would be the chosen one to bring The Prophesied Savior to the nation? A virgin would conceive. There is that ever present anticipation in every family and true daughter of Israel. God, like C.S. Lewis’ Aslan, is not tame. Perhaps, after Abraham’s sacrifice of his son, that is why God was called Isaac’s Fear. Perhaps God was also Mary’s Fear, as He should be ours. The Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. May that be true of us all.
Yes, may it be true of us. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
The angel didn’t convince her with a single announcement. Each sentence was gaged to help her develop faith. The angel had to lead her step by step. And this was after the original shock. As you look through all the angel appearances in the Bible, you see people became afraid. Even old, experienced Zechariah was afraid when the angel appeared to him in the temple. When when Mary did finally accept, the angel helped her along. “By the way, Elizabeth is six months pregnan.” I think this was a final assurance of her own pregnancy. She went to see Elizabeth immediately. If Elizabeth was miraculously pregnant, then she knew for sure she was. Notice, too, that Mary stayed with Elizabeth three months; long enough to hold Elizabeth’s miracle baby. Then she headed for home. I sometimes wonder if E & Z wrote a letter to Mary’s parents for her to take with her, encouraging them to believe what Mary had to say. How nervous she must have been on that trip back home. Would anyone believe her?
We can only imagine what that was like!
Excellent thoughts! May we be the same way–willing to do what God wants regardless of what may happen or how it may look or sound.
Amen!
I was teaching children’s Sunday School yesterday and we were learning about Jesus’s humble beginnings. I have a Holman Bible Dictionary (given to me by a former pastor, now missionary to Nepal) and looked up Nazareth. Remember when Nathanael asked if anything good could come from there? Seems Nazareth was known for its lack of piety, lax morals, and indigent population. Not surprising that God would choose such a place for His only begotten son to be raised given the fact He was born in a stable. Jesus was born in poverty, in a low-class area, to poor parents; yet He knew no sin (because He was God incarnate). Still pretty awesome. What a wonderful Savior we have. Thanks for all the preparation you do for your blog. I still read though I don’t often respond. Thankful to have you among my Christian family. Merry Christmas, Don.
Thank you so much, I really appreciate that.
Nazareth is still an interesting place. When I was there, I walked around the town, which in some perverse way reminded me of Virginia City, Nevada… and I found myself in a neighborhood that was more than a little bit scary. It’s a mostly Palestinian town, and since it was Friday nobody was working, the men were hanging around and I was sure being closely watched… a rough town for outsiders to this day!