Mary

“And the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to 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.’” (Luke 1:30-33)

We are nearing the date on which we celebrate the birth of our Saviour. We have seen in Scripture some of the many ways in which the Father prepared the way for the Son to come to our rescue. We have seen God’s faithfulness to Abraham, his grace to Rahab, his redemption and welcoming to Ruth, his establishing of King David, his orchestration of the family of Zechariah, Elizabeth and John, and now we come to Mary.

Mary did not seem to consider herself as a noteworthy figure the way that we see her now. She instead calls herself a servant of God, humble, awed, and amazed, and she praises God for choosing to use her to fulfill the promise he made from the very beginning. The final pieces of God’s plan to send a Saviour were falling into place and God was once again using an unlikely person to accomplish his will.

There was nothing in particular about Mary that made her special or earned her this role, but God chose her and she received with humility the role and the gift of carrying and raising our Messiah. Similarly, although there is nothing that we have done to earn it, as Christmas draws near, let us receive with humility the gift of Jesus Christ our Saviour.