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. 39 At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, 40 where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth.41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! 43 But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”
46 And Mary said:
“My soul glorifies the Lord
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is his name.
50 His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
53 He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
55 to Abraham and his descendants forever,
just as he promised our ancestors.”
56 Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home.
I knew a man who his whole life wanted to be a pastor…just quietly serving a congregation, even a small, rural congregation and he did, for a few short years. But then the Lord called him to begin a college and a seminary. He lived his life as an administrator, not a job he asked for…not a job he particularly wanted or enjoyed. But this he did…because His Savior asked him to.
How do you respond when the Lord turns your life upside down? Take all your expectations, maybe even your hopes and dreams and says…no…we are going to do something very, very different.
The supernatural birth narratives of the OT, Sarah, Hannah, and others, culminate in this last great one and it unfolds with a young woman being visited by an angel and given a stunning piece of news about becoming the mother of the Son of God. No doubt many things crept into her mind as the angel spoke. But Mary, unlike Eve before her whose response to God was calculating, self-serving, and even unlike Zechariah, her questions are not filled with doubt and the demand for a sign.
There is no mention of risks, losses, fears, or interruptions of her own plans. She does not mention what we so quickly think of. A young unmarried woman, now pregnant. This is a scandal, this is shame, this is humiliation. Not only for her, for Joseph, and what of her family? What trial was hers to bear! The snickers, the comments and what was she going to say, how would she answer her accusers? “Oh, you don’t understand. I have in my womb, the Son of God, the Messiah. God has supernaturally caused this child, not a man.”
I am sure that such an explanation would have gone over just fine and dispelled all the rumors. Now, not only would she be considered immoral, a fornicator, but also a full-blown nut case! Talk about your visions of grandeur, she thinks we are going to believe that she is still a virgin, yet with child???
We consider all that this meant to Mary, although we will never find it upon her lips and we will never see a response from her that indicates such a trial to disturb her or cause her to fear. We don’t know all that much about Mary…not really. The way Matthew and Luke tell the story is certainly bent for us to admire her and even to imitate her faith. She knew herself to be first and foremost, a servant of the Lord…that is even how she refers to herself in verse 38. Her song, the Magnificat, so named for its first word in the Latin translation. Magnificat anima mea Dominum, my soul magnifies or glorifies the Lord. It is a hymn of immense importance in Christian history, though, sadly, it is today much less well known and less often sung. For example, the Magnificat used to be a regular feature of the evening service of the Anglican Church, but very few Anglican churches even have evening services any more.
We know that Mary was in all probability, still a teenager, which makes it all the more breathtaking as her song is a magnificent example of a theological depth of mind and heart…it is theologically rich in both its assertions and its feeling. This is precisely what you and I need so much more of…this is precisely what the season of Advent should bring to us, if we are humble enough to receive it, namely: A mind that thinks and a heart that beats from the beginning to the end with devotion and love for the things of God.
Earlier in this chapter we find Mary being a young woman of great faith and submission to the Lord. She says upon the angel’s announcement, “May it be to me as you have said…” If this is what Yahweh wants from me, then so be it.
As we study her song, we also see in her the beauty of a renewed and sanctified mind, of a person who sees everything subjectively, that is in her own life, and objectively, that is in the world…literally, everything viewed in terms of who the Lord is and what He wants. It simply must be admitted that the life of faith and holy love is exemplified in the Bible by a woman, a young woman, perhaps in a way that it is nowhere else.
Every Christian man or woman should desire a double portion of Mary’s spirit. We will focus for a couple of days on the theological depth of Mary’s mind, her thinking as well as her heart, her feeling and ask ourselves if in any way our desires line up with what we see in the mother of our Lord.
Prayer: Father, forgive me for forgetting that You are writing my story and the stories of everyone in the world. Help me to set my eyes upon the Great Day, where all the stories, having been guided by Your Divine hand, come together to the glory, praise and adoration of the Lamb of God. May I see it by faith and live in the hope and reality of Your plan for me, for my family, the church and the world. Through Jesus Christ my Lord, Amen.
Hymn: O Come, O Come Emmanuel
