Luke 1:26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 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, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”35 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[b] the Son of God. 36 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. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.”38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.
Luke 2:15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.
What does it look like to be highly favored, and chosen by God?
Over the past week I’ve had Mary on my mind a lot. We had our December Sisters & Grace meeting this week and I talked about Mary’s treasuring all of the events surrounding the birth of her baby, and our Christ.
But in the days following, I’ve been thinking about something different - Mary’s being chosen. Part of what I had talked about Tuesday was how God knew Mary. He knew her heart, what she was capable of, and how she would handle all of the events around the birth as well as the life of Christ, and then later, His death. And He Chose Her.
I can imagine her emotions were all over the place with regard to the announcement that she would have this baby. I’ve tried to imagine how it must have felt – You want me?? But God – How can this be? How? And the Annette in me would have been – ME??? Really? You want ME?? I don’t know that I’m the right person for this, Lord. I mean I do this at times when I’m asked to pray or teach or share the gospel!
But the angel told her she was highly favored. She had found favor with God.
Now this is where I want to camp out on. Because in our earthly thinking, we would likely think that someone who had found favor with God would get the easy way. Our earthly thoughts are that those who are favored – (think teacher’s pet or parent’s favorite) gets the easy tasks, gets spared the work, gets to skip the hard stuff.
This is where we can better see how God’s ways are not our ways – and God’s thoughts are not our thoughts.
Isaiah 55:8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,”declares the Lord.9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
For in God’s plan, highly favored Mary will travel the difficult road of being questioned as to this unwed pregnancy, be almost divorced and possibly stoned because of it, give birth in a animal shelter, and later in life, watch as her Son was crucified.
How many times do people who travel difficult roads think that God has abandoned them? How many times do we question God as to why we have to suffer when we have been chosen, or obedient, or faithful?
But then there is Mary. Highly favored and chosen by God to carry His Son – the Perfect Lamb – and she would lose her son. She would experience the kind of loss that every parent fears, and many feel they will not survive. She would suffer immense heartache, this chosen, highly favored mother of Christ.
“my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.
Does this change the way we see Mary? If anything, I pray it makes you realize that the things we experience on earth can be a very significant part of God’s plans for our lives, and others, even if it doesn’t all feel good; even if it hurts.
Proverbs 3:5Trust in the Lord with all of your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.
There is no doubt in my heart that God loved Mary immensely – and yet He still needed her to trust Him when things were going to be really difficult. And God loves each of us immensely, and needs us to trust Him, even though things will at times be difficult.
While there were some really difficult times, I can only imagine the honor Mary had at being the mother of the Messiah, and what it must have been like when she transitioned from this earth to her eternal home, with Jesus.
I’m sure there was a lot of pondering and treasuring through the years as she watched Jesus grow into this man who loved so much. Can you imagine how her heart overflowed as she watched Him, and loved Him? And how it felt to hug her Son, who was also her Savior?
The path of a Christian, chosen by God, is not an easy path, but it holds so much reward. Embrace the gift that God has bestowed on you – whatever that gift is. Yes, it may be scary, and it may require you to realllllly step out in faith. But sister, there is going to be so much reward. Just trust Him.
Treasure the season. He really is the best gift we could ever receive.
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