Mary, Highly Favored and Blessed

“And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.”  Luke 1:28

Gabriel was a busy angel many years ago.  Six months prior to his visit to Mary, he had visited with Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, to announce that Zacharias and his wife, Elisabeth, would have a long-awaited baby, a son whom they would name John, and he would be the forerunner of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world.  We always love to tell good news to another especially when it seems that most news these days involve accounts of evil, fighting, tragedies, and suffering.  It was indeed some good news that Gabriel had to deliver to a young Jewish woman named Mary.

Mary lived in Nazareth, a city in Galilee, which was not exactly a place of affluence and charm.  I suppose it could have been regarded as “on the other side of the tracks” which implied that it was likely the poorer part of Galilee filled with ne’er-do-wells, little-educated men and women, and folks who were laborers fishermen, and servants of the upper classes.  There is nothing wrong with jobs which require hands-on labor.  That’s how this world continues to operate.  The Pharisees of that day looked down upon the working class.  Jesus said that they “bind heavy burdens…on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers” (Matthew 23:4).  We do not know anything about Mary, but since she lived in this less-affluent community, we would suspect that her family was rather poor, but apparently, they were very dedicated to the God of Israel.  God knew her humble heart, and I doubt that He would have chosen a woman who had no use for Him even if she was a virgin.

This particular day was, as it was for Zacharias, an ordinary day.  Mary was espoused to a man named Joseph who was a descendant of King David (Matthew 1:16), and Mary was also a descendant of King David (Luke 3:23-Joseph is listed as the son of Heli, but Heli, also a descendant of David, was actually his father-in-law, Mary’s father.  The line of descendants was always done through the fathers in ancient Israel. One exception was made in Matthew 1 where four women were listed in the line of Christ:  Thamar, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Mary).  In those days, when a man and woman were betrothed to each other, they were legally married even before the wedding ceremony, but had not been intimate with one another, thus Mary was still a virgin.

Then the ordinary day turned into an exceptional day.  The angel Gabriel came to see Mary, greeting her and calling her highly favored because the Lord was with her.  She was blessed among women.  She was rather startled at his appearance and his words to her.  He told her not to be afraid because she had found favor with God.  It is believed by Bible scholars that she was still a teenager at the time of the angel’s visit so this must have been quite frightening to her.  This sort of thing didn’t happen, at least not to her.  Gabriel told her that she would conceive and bear a Son who would be called Jesus.  He would be great and would be called the Son of the Highest who would inherit the throne of David, reigning over the house of David forever with no end to His kingdom.  This was quite a lot to take in for Mary.  No prior warning.  No time to process it.  No immediate understanding of it all.

Mary asked a very logical question:  how could this be since she had not had sexual relations with any man, not even Joseph?  She was young, but she wasn’t ignorant.  She had likely been around many sheep, goats, donkeys, and other animals and knew that they didn’t have offspring without coming together.  Gabriel answered that God would do this miraculously with the power of the Holy Spirit.  Had she witnessed other miracles of any sort?  We don’t know, but we do know, as yesterday’s blog explained, Israel had been without a prophet for over 400 years and had not heard from God all that time, at least not as a nation. We would like to think that God did speak to individuals during that time for He always has a remnant of those who are loyal to Him.  There were those who continued to worship Him.  Thus, for the angel to appear with this news must have really shaken Mary.  Gabriel told her that this Baby whom she would deliver would be the Son of God.  Did she know of the prophecy of the coming Messiah?  I think that she did for she did not seem surprised at the prospect of the Son of God coming to earth.  She was surprised that she was the one chosen to be His mother.  That would be the greatest honor that any woman could receive.

Gabriel also informed her that Elisabeth, soon to be the mother of John the Baptist, was six months along in a miraculous pregnancy.  The King James Version tells us that Mary and Elisabeth were cousins, but other versions just list them as relatives, and one says that Elisabeth was Mary’s aunt.  If the two were actually cousins, then Jesus and John the Baptist would have been second cousins.  Thus, we have two unexpected babies to be born, One of a virgin, and one of a woman past child-bearing age, both miracles from God, both born to women who were highly favored and blessed.  Before the angel departed, Mary said, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.” And so it was.

Next time: Joseph’s Reaction to this news.