MARY: THE PROPOSITION

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

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.

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 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 Jacob’s descendants forever; His kingdom will never end.

Luke 1:26-33

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

The story of Mary is one of the most inspiring stories of faith in the scriptures. We would be hard pressed to find anyone who showed a greater example of servitude and obedience to the Lord outside of her and we would all be well served to try and emulate the level of trust and loyalty she had toward God.

The account of her life in the scriptures could be thought to have begun here in the Book of Matthew but if we’re really honest about it, we would go back to the words of the prophet Isaiah who spoke these words inspired by God Himself:

Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. Isaiah 7:14

The people who received this prophecy had no idea who the virgin would be but God did as He knows the plans He has for everyone long before they are born. The scriptures attest to such on many occasions. Mary was purposed some 700 years before she would encounter the angel Gabriel in our scripture passage for today and receive the proposition from God. Look again at these verses:

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. 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 Jacob’s descendants forever; His kingdom will never end.” Luke 1:26-33

The scriptures tell us that in the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy as she bore John, the angel Gabriel (ironically the same Gabriel who visited Zechariah in God’s temple) appeared to Mary who the scriptures emphasize was a virgin who was pledged to be married to a man named Joseph. Being pledged simply meant that Mary’s parents had approached Joseph’s parents and pledged their daughter to be Joseph’s wife. Arranged marriages were the norm in Jewish culture back in New Testament days.

With this, it’s important to note that engagements in the Jewish culture were seen in the same light as marriage itself. In fact, God’s word refers to Joseph and Mary as husband and wife well before they actually were officially married. And since the couple was considered married, even though they were just engaged, the law strictly forbade any sexual relations before the union was made official. Any violation of this statute would result in a penalty as severe as death. We’ll get into more of that in tomorrow’s second devotion about Mary and the quandary she would find herself in as a result of Gabriel’s proposition, a proposition that had to be completely overwhelming as Mary listened to it but not before she was frightened over the angel’s appearance.

I think anyone might react as Mary did (Joseph as well as I wrote several devotions ago) and be troubled and afraid that an angel was bringing her greetings and telling her she was highly favored with the Lord being with her. But as we have seen many times over in the scriptures, the Lord always senses when someone is fearful and takes action to put them at ease. We see this at work in these words from Gabriel:

“Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.”

Mary had not done anything to garner God’s displeasure. Rather, she was the chosen one, the virgin who would fulfill the prophecies of old, the woman who would conceive, bear, and deliver the Savior of all into the world. Gabriel’s proclamation which was really a proposition stated as much:

“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 Jacob’s descendants forever; His kingdom will never end.”

Note the unique nature of the events that Mary would be a part of.

First, she would conceive, not by any conventional terms but rather through the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit (more on that tomorrow).

Second, she would give birth to a son who would be named Jesus and this son would be no ordinary one. Not by a long shot.

This is because He, Jesus, would be called Son of the Most High, or in other words, God’s Son. He would be great and would be given the throne of David, reigning over all of Israel and all nations forever. And His kingdom would never end, even when the earth and heavens as we know them will be no more. Jesus will still rule and reign over the new heaven and earth to come when He returns (Revelation 21:1-4).

Mary would be the mother who would bring this King of kings and Lord of lords, the Savior of the world, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, into God’s creation. This was the proposition from Gabriel, acting as a spokesperson for God Himself.

It sounded good but Mary had some questions as she pondered the implications of what the angel said was going to happen. She would soon enter into a stage of quandary and tomorrow, we’ll look deep into it.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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