“Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, ‘Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!’ But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.’ Then Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I do not know a man?’ And the angel answered and said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.’ Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible.’ Then Mary said, ‘Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.’ And the angel departed from her” (Luke 1:26-38, NKJV).
The Point Is:
At this Christmas season our thoughts turn to the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, and rightly so. Jesus is the reason for the season! No Christ, no Christmas; it’s that simple. And yet the coming of Christ was not so simple. It required a miracle–a Divine conception, and Mary was the prime candidate. Humanly, our Lord’s conception was impossible, but not so with God. Nothing is impossible with God! Mary concurred with this glorious fact and responded accordingly. She humbled herself before the Lord, made herself available to the Lord, and exercised faith in the Lord.
Mary described herself as “the handmaid of the Lord,” which means she submitted herself to the Lord as His servant. She became an available vessel unto the Lord, through whom He could accomplish His Divine purpose. Then she simply chose to agree with God by saying, “Be it unto me according to Your Word.” And the rest is History!
[Francis Schaeffer has also noted the relevance of Mary’s faith: “(Consider) Mary’s response to the angel. The angel has come to Mary and says: ‘Mary, you are going to give birth to the long-promised Messiah.’ This was a unique promise, and unrepeatable. There is something totally unique here: the birth of the eternal second Person of the Trinity into this world. What was her response? She could have rejected the idea and said, ‘I do not want it: I want to withdraw; I want to run.’ She could have said, ‘I now have the promises, so I will exert my force, my character, and my energy, to bring forth the promised thing.’ But (what she did say) is beautiful, it is wonderful. She says: ‘Behold, the bondmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy Word.’ There is an active passivity here. She took her own body, by choice, and put it into the hands of God to do the thing that he said he would do and Jesus was born. She gave herself to God! This is a beautiful, exciting, personal expression of a relationship between a finite person and the God she loves.”] [1]
The Application Is:
Jesus was born just as God said! What God says always comes to pass, because whatever God says, He can and will do. Nothing is too hard for Him! God is still very much alive and at work in the world today. But, where are the Marys of today? Would to God, we would all be like Mary. We can be, and we certainly should be!
God is still looking for available vessels–containers of His Divine life (the Spirit of Christ that is, rather than the physical body of Christ). He wants you to magnify Him in all you say and do, by allowing His Spirit to work in and through you. Have you allowed Him to come into your life? Are you allowing Him to come forth through your life? Remember the words of Mary? They can be your words too. Let your heartfelt response be that of Mary. “Behold the servant of the Lord; be it unto me according to Your Word.” He’ll take care of the rest!
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From TGIM – Thank God It’s Monday! Dec. 3, 2007.
[1] Francis Schaeffer, True Spirituality. Quoted by Tom Wood in Graced Again (http://www.gracedagain.com), added by Grace Notes editor.
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