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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
“I am the Lord’s slave,” said Mary. “May it be done to me
according to Your word.” Then the angel left her. Luke 1:38 (HCSB)
This ends today’s
reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
The prophet Isaiah predicted Jesus’ coming, the Son of God
who would usher in salvation to all mankind.
The angel Gabriel appeared to a virgin named Mary and
revealed God’s miraculous plan of impregnation by way of the Holy Spirit as Jesus,
and the coming salvation for all people, would begin to be formed in her womb.
In the midst of Mary’s fear and uncertainty, you’ll recall that Gabriel assured
her she had found favor with God and thus should not be afraid.
So how would Mary respond to Gabriel’s proposition? And how
would Joseph, the Nazarene Mary was pledged to marry, respond when all of a
sudden his wife to be became pregnant out of the blue?
In answering both questions, we will see in our messages
today and tomorrow how Mary and Joseph were models of obedience, each in their
own way.
Let’s turn to Mary first as we look at what she said to Gabriel.
Look again at this single verse:
“I
am the Lord’s slave,” said Mary. “May it be done to me according to Your word.”
Then the angel left her. Luke 1:38
(HCSB)
Mary’s words here are nothing short of amazing and to
properly grasp this, we need to know the cultural norms of the day back in
early New Testament times as they applied to marriage. As Luke sets the stage
for Gabriel’s appearance, he makes sure his readers know Mary was a virgin and
was pledged to be married to Joseph, a descendant of David (Luke 1:26-27).
The marriage was arranged by the parents of this young
couple and the betrothal was just the first stage in the process. Once the
arrangement was made, the soon-to-be husband and wife had to remain celibate, waiting
to have sexual relations until they were formally wed.
Given this, I think you can see the immediate issue that
would arise for Mary if she became pregnant all of a sudden. It would be
extremely difficult if not impossible to conceal the fact that Mary was
carrying a child and although many may believe that it was Joseph’s, he would
know that it wasn’t because he had not laid with Mary. This would leave Joseph
wondering who Mary had been with, obviously assuming she had been unfaithful to
him. More on that in tomorrow’s devotion but know that Mary would face a lot of
social pressure, shaming, and even the threat of harm by those who might want
to banish or punish her or both for the apparent infidelity.
This is what Mary knew she would face if she became pregnant
as Gabriel suggested and yet she still said the following:
“I
am the Lord’s slave,” said Mary. “May it be done to me according to Your word.”
Then the angel left her. Luke 1:38
(HCSB)
Simply incredible words of courage and obedience, words that
convey an unwavering trust in the Lord who Mary saw as her Master. We know this
because she refers to herself as a slave of the Lord. The meaning of the words
here should not be glazed over. A slave sees himself or herself as completely
subservient to his or her master, as being required to comply with whatever the
master’s wishes are. In Mary’s words, we find the very essence of this
slave/Master relationship with the Lord as she surrenders herself fully to what
He desires saying:
“May
it be done to me according to Your word.”
In other words, Mary is saying, “I know this isn’t going to
be easy, I know people are going to criticize me for what is going to happen, I
know Joseph is going to change the way he feels about me because of this, but
Lord, I will allow You to do as You wish with me.”
And then she allowed it to happen. She conceived by the Holy
Spirit just as Gabriel had promised and Jesus, the very Son of Mary’s Master,
began to develop in her womb. Salvation was on its way and it started with a
young virgin girl modeling what obedience to the Lord looks like.
Friends, we can only hope to be as faithful to the Lord as
Mary was. We can only hope to respond to anything the Lord calls us to do by
simply saying, “Lord, I am your slave. Do with me as You desire”, no matter how
difficult or challenging that calling may be. We can only hope to be models of
obedience unto the Lord for others to see. Perhaps we can meet that goal if we
follow these words of the Apostle Paul as he wrote to the Christians in Rome:
Therefore, I urge
you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a
living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper
worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s
will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:1-2
Mary surely offered herself up fully as a living sacrifice.
Her Son Jesus would follow suit as He would die in our place on the cross to
pay the penalty for our sins.
The least we can do to honor them both is to follow their
lead of obedience in the way we live for the Lord, the Master of us all.
Amen
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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