Mary’s Response
Text: Luke 1:26-38
Core Idea: When the gospel comes to us, we can ask questions and we can even express our doubts – but it also bids us to come and die so that we may live a life pleasing to the Lord. Then may the Spirit give us the courage and strength to count the cost and surrender our lives to Jesus because we can’t do this on our own.
INTRODUCTION
Well, we are going through the first chapter of Luke – exploring the events leading up to Jesus’ birth. And last week, we saw how God broke four hundred years of silence by appearing to Zechariah – telling him that his prayer was answered and that he would have a son who would prepare the way for the long-awaited Messiah. This of course should’ve filled Zechariah with joy and gratitude – but instead, he questioned God. “God, don’t You see that it’s logically and physically impossible for us to conceive? You’re too late, God – Elizabeth and I are too old. I don’t want to have my hopes up just to be disappointed again. So, give me some evidence. Prove it to me so that I can believe.” Zechariah was unwilling to believe that God was able to do the impossible – and as a result, he was silenced by Gabriel. In some ways, this could’ve been a very depressing way to end the story – but thankfully, there was a glimmer of hope as we saw Elizabeth pregnant. Despite Zechariah’s faithlessness, God remained faithful. Now, clearly, Zechariah’s response to this good news wasn’t commendable – it wasn’t pleasing to God. Then how should one receive the message of Christmas? What would be an appropriate way to respond to the gospel? Well, Luke will tell us how by pointing us to Mary. Then with that in mind, let’s open up our Bibles to Luke 1:26-38. Let me read this for us.
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 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.
Amen. This is the Word of God for you today.
Let me share three things that Mary did in response to the good news from Gabriel:
· SHE WONDERED
· SHE DOUBTED
· SHE SURRENDERED
1) SHE WONDERED
Our story begins with a girl named Mary – and here’s what we know about her. First, she was from a town called Nazareth. Now, Nazareth may sound familiar to many of us, but this was not the case for the original readers. They had no idea where this was – so much so that Luke had to tell them that it was located in Galilee. Nazareth was an obscure place, an insignificant place – and yet this was where Mary was from. Second, she was a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph. The word “virgin” in Greek literally means “a young woman of marriageable age.” Now, considering their cultural custom, many historians speculate that she must have been around 14-15 years of age when this happened. In other words, she was just an ordinary girl – looking forward to her marriage with a man she loved. This is important to note because the last thing we learn is that God sent Gabriel to tell her that she will conceive and give birth to the Son of the Most High. There was nothing special about this girl. Unlike Zechariah who was described as righteous and blameless in the sight of the Lord (Lk. 1:7), there was nothing that stood out about her – and yet God chose her to bring the Promised Messiah to the world. Why? Listen to what Gabriel says in verse 28, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” And just in case she missed it, he says it again in verse 30, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.” The word “highly favored” in Greek literally means, “to be bestowed upon with grace and kindness.” In other words, God chose Mary not because of her own worth but simply because of His grace and kindness toward her.
Then here’s something we can take home. We must remember that the gospel comes to us not because we are worthy or deserving in any way but because God is gracious and kind toward us. Why is this good news for us? Because it means that we don’t have to have everything put together in order to approach God. One of my favorite verses that I quote quite often on this pulpit is what Jesus said in John 6:37, “Whoever comes to Me, I will never drive away.” Notice that there is no condition in His invitation. He doesn’t say, “Whoever comes to Me after having done this and that, I will never drive away.” No, He simply says, “Whoever comes to Me, I will never drive away.” Friends, do you ever feel like you don’t deserve His love and forgiveness? Do you ever wonder if God’s patience for you has finally run out? Do you ever feel like God has grown tired of you and is holding you at arm’s length because you’ve disappointed Him too much – because you’ve failed Him over and over again? Do you ever feel like you have to get your act together before you can come to God again? If this is you, listen to His words again – “Whoever comes to Me, I will never drive away.” We have been adopted as His sons and daughters not because we are good, not because we’ve proved ourselves worthy, but simply because we have found favor with God. I know I could sound like a broken record – talking about grace over and over again every Sunday but we need to be reminded of this truth over and over again because we continue to forget. And because we forget, instead of humbly running to God, we continue to hide and work harder to prove ourselves worthy of His blessings and love. Then my prayer for you is that all of us will be freshly ministered by this gospel truth today knowing that only then will we experience true freedom. Listen to what Pastor Paul Tripp said, “In Christ, we are freed from having to be something. We are freed from having to prove we are worth something. We are freed from longing something that will give us importance, prominence, or power. We are freed from being addicted to people’s acclaim, respect, appreciation, and love. We are freed from letting accomplishments define us. We are freed from letting titles depict that we have worth. We are freed from asking cars, houses, and vacations to be markers of our identity. We are freed from getting our identity from being in charge or in control. We are freed from needing to look strong, prepared, capable, and unafraid. We are freed from needing to hide our weaknesses and deny our failures. We are freed from putting on a public face as an attempt to hide what is actually going on inside. We are freed from the toxic identity anxieties that haunt so many of us, that get in the way of what we have been called to do, and that harm our relationships. One of the sweet blessings of the gospel is how vertical identity frees us from horizontal identity chaos.” Brothers and sisters, we are treasured by the Lord of the universe not because of what we have or what we have accomplished, but simply because He delights in us. The Creator God, the Savior King is mindful of us because He loves us. Christmas reminds us that we have found favor with God.
Now, before we move to our next point, let’s quickly take a look at the way Mary responded to this good news since that really is what I wanted to get at in this first point. Verse 29, “Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.” Some people think that the ancient people had no problem believing in anything supernatural – but seeing Mary’s response here, we know that that can’t be true because when she saw Gabriel, she was terrified – she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. In fact, the Greek word for “wondered” is dialogizomai which literally means “to reason, to discern, or to be logical.” In other words, Mary was trying to rationally figure out how this was possible. She was basically asking herself, “Okay, what’s going on here? Am I really seeing an angel right now or am I hallucinating? If this really is a messenger of God, why would he come to me? What kind of message would he possibly have for someone like me?”
Now, this is really significant because it shows us that Christianity is not a mindless religion. Pastor Tim Keller once said, “Faith is more than thinking but not less than thinking.” In other words, it’s not wrong to use our minds to understand the truth better – to ask hard questions, to desire to know more, to rationally think through the truths of God. Of course, there will be things that will still remain a mystery. When Mary asked in verse 34, “How will this be since I’m a virgin” (a fair question), Gabriel didn’t give her a detailed description of how this would be made possible scientifically but simply said that the power of God will accomplish this. But the fact that she was troubled and wondered tells us that it’s completely okay to use our minds to wrestle with the truth. In fact, God welcomes it because if it’s done well, it will always lead us to worship as it did for Mary. Now, let me actually talk to our Anchor friends here. First of all, I want you to know that I’m always grateful for your presence here – but I’m especially thankful that you’re here today because I think you can learn so much through the way Mary responded. As I shared before, she would’ve been around 14-15 years old – similar to many of you here. This is so important to see because it means that you’re not too young to respond to the gospel. If Mary can do it, you can do it too. So, don’t ever think, “Oh, whatever – I’ll take faith more seriously when I get older.” No, start today. In fact, I invite you to begin your journey the way Mary did – by wondering, by thinking through the truths of God, by asking tough questions. If you have questions that you were too scared to ask, questions that you thought were too politically incorrect, questions that kept you from trusting God, ask your parents. Ask the people here. Ask me. Of course, this doesn’t mean that we’ll always have the perfect answer. But one thing we promise is that we won’t give up – we’ll continue to journey with you so that you can make sense of what you believe. So, don’t be afraid to use your mind – keep thinking, keep asking, keep wondering because it will only strengthen your faith.
2) SHE DOUBTED
Seeing Mary terrified, Gabriel said in verse 30, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call Him Jesus. 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, and He will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; His kingdom will never end.” According to Gabriel, we learn that Jesus will be great; He’ll be called the Son of the Most High; He’ll be given the throne of David; He’ll reign forever; and His kingdom will never end. Now, this would’ve caught the Jewish readers’ attention right away because this was the exact description of the Promised Messiah that they had been waiting for. I could share a lot of different passages regarding this but let me just share two. In 2 Samuel 7:12-16, God said to David, “When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son… Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.” Jeremiah 23:5-6, “The days are coming when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In His days, Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which He will be called: The LORD Our Righteous Savior.” Everything that God was promising in these passages (and more) was being fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ – Jesus really was the Son of God, the Savior King that the people of God have been waiting for. In Christ, the infinite became finite; the supernatural became natural; the immortal became mortal; the Creator of the universe came in the form of creation not to reign in power but to humbly substitute His place with us and die for us so that we would be set free from the penalty and power of sin once and for all. He didn’t come to be crowned but to be cursed so that we would be blessed. He didn’t come to bring judgment but to bear judgment so that His righteousness will be ours. Soon, He’ll humbly lie on a wooden manger but later, He’ll humbly be nailed to a wooden cross.
Then how should we respond to this truth? We should respond with worship to Him. Yes, the message of Christmas should comfort us, humble us, empower us to go and share the gospel with the world – but most importantly, it should captivate our hearts so that we would be moved to exalt His name. Then let’s do just that this Christmas – let’s guard our hearts so that we won’t be swept away by the distractions and the busyness of this season but be intentional to take some time to worship Jesus. You can sing songs of praise, offer up a prayer of praise, celebrate Him with one another as you share how He has been faithful in your life. Make this Christmas all about Him because He really is the reason for our celebration.
Now, is that what Mary did? Verse 34, “How will this be since I am a virgin?” I’m sure her mind must have been overflowing with endless questions. “The Messiah will be born through me? The Messiah that our people have been waiting for all our lives will come through me? Why? I’m a nobody from a place of nowhere. Shouldn’t the King come from a royal family? Why is this happening to me?” But she had to ask Gabriel the most important question – “How can I be pregnant since I’m a virgin?” Now, we looked at this last week, but do you remember what Zechariah said when Gabriel told him that his wife would be pregnant? Luke 1:18, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man, and my wife is well along in years.” Reading this, I couldn’t help but ask myself, “Wait, what’s the difference between Zechariah and Mary? Aren’t they both doubting? How come Gabriel disciplined Zechariah but comforted Mary?” So, I had to take some time to reflect on these two phrases and realized that there was a huge difference. Mary asked, “How can this happen?” but Zechariah asked, “How can I be sure this will happen?” In other words, yes, Mary doubted – but her question was still laden with trust while Zechariah’s question was filled with cynicism and disbelief. Mary’s question was about what God can do, but Zechariah’s question was about what God will do for him. Now, this is so important to point out because it shows us that doubt and disbelief are two different things. I shared this last week: doubting is not a sin – it’s just a sign of our weakness. It simply exposes how fragile we are as humans. In contrast, disbelief is this unwillingness to trust that God can do the impossible – to deny that He is sovereign and faithful. It’s true that doubt can turn into disbelief (which is why we need to constantly guard our hearts) but if we continue to anchor ourselves in the Lord, doubt can actually strengthen our faith even more. Think about it. Zechariah’s disbelief demanded God to respond his way, but Mary’s doubt humbled her to be in a posture of waiting – to wait for God’s way. In fact, because she doubted, Gabriel said something that brought great comfort and strength not just to Mary but to us as well – verse 37, “No word from God will ever fail.” The Greek literally says, “Nothing will be impossible with God.” Think about that for a second. God makes the impossible possible. Friends, do you believe this? This is the reason why we can hope. This is the reason why we can continue to fight the good fight even when our pain is great. This is the reason why we can sing even in our darkness. And this truth was given to us because Mary expressed her doubt. Then let me encourage you – don’t hide your doubts. Express them and humbly wait for God to respond as you meditate on that truth, “Nothing is impossible with God” – because who knows? God may use that opportunity to strengthen your faith. So, if you’re tempted to doubt, doubt like Mary, not Zechariah.
3) SHE SURRENDERED
When Mary doubted, Gabriel didn’t explain how scientifically this would be made possible – he just reminded her of the power of God. Then listen to the way Mary responded to his words – verse 38, “I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.” She completely submitted herself to God. Now, this couldn’t have been an easy decision knowing that her life would be turned upside down. Can you imagine the conversation that she had to have with Joseph? “Joseph, I have something I need to tell you. I don’t know how to say this because I don’t really understand it myself – but I’m pregnant. But it’s not what you think. I know it’s hard to believe but an angel came to me and said that I had found favor with God – and that I would conceive and give birth to a son. And He said that this isn’t going to be just any child, but He will be called the Son of God, and the Lord will give Him the throne of Father David. I know – it doesn’t make sense, but I don’t know how else I can say this. This really did happen.” Can you imagine how desperate she must have been? She knew that her marriage was on the line. But more than that, even if Joseph accepted her (which he did), Nazareth was a small town and people were bound to find out that Jesus was conceived before the marriage – which means that they would have to bear the weight of public shame and disgrace forever. She knew what the cost was – and yet she surrendered. She humbly said, “Lord, I am Yours. Do as You please. Come what may – I am all in.”
Now, many of us know the cost involved in surrendering our lives to Jesus. Because the world we live in is hostile to Christianity, we know that it may open us up to ridicule. Our reputation may be compromised. It can bring discomfort and cause us to be alienated. And we may lose so much more than we had expected. We know the cost of following Jesus – but the truth is that many of us are more tempted to negotiate the cost rather than count it. “God, I will give up this and that but don’t tell me I have to do this and that.” In other words, we’re constantly putting a condition on our submission. But listen to what Jesus said in Mark 8:34-37, “Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?” Then considering this, we must be able to say something like this, “God, I don’t know all that You are going to ask of me. But I’ll do whatever You say whether I like it or not because I know that You are always working for my good. I’ll patiently accept whatever You send into my life whether I understand it or not because I know that You’re sovereignly in control over all things. Lord, I am Yours. Do as You please. Come what may – I am all in.” Brothers and sisters, are you counting the cost or are you trying to negotiate with God? Is there anything that’s keeping you from surrendering your life to Jesus today? If so, remember that being a Christian is to die to ourselves and live for the Lord.
In fact, it’s possible for us to do this because that’s exactly what Jesus did for us. The message of Christmas is that Jesus counted the cost. Philippians 2:6-8 says, “Being in very nature God, [He] did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage; rather, He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross!” Donald Macleod wrote, “The wonder of the love of Christ for His people is not that for their sake He faced death without fear, but that for their sake He faced it, terrified. Terrified by what He knew, and terrified by what He did not know, but ultimately, He took damnation with love.” Brothers and sisters, Jesus counted the cost and loved us to the end. Then I pray that this truth will empower us to do the same – that we will count the cost and love Him to the end.
CONCLUSION
Lighthouse family, when the gospel comes to us, we can ask questions and we can even express our doubts – but at some point, it bids us to come and die so that we may live a life pleasing to the Lord. Then may the Spirit of God give us the courage and strength to count the cost and surrender our lives to Jesus because we can’t do this on our own. We need Him. Let’s ask for His help today.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1) God came to Mary not because she is worthy in any way but simply because she found favor with God (v. 28, 30). How does this truth help us practically?
2) When Mary saw Gabriel, she was greatly troubled – and she wondered (reasoned). Why is it important to use our minds in our faith journey? Do you have any questions about Christianity that you could not ask elsewhere? Share with one another.
3) Why did Gabriel respond differently to Zechariah and Mary (v. 18 and 34)? What may be the implication for your faith journey today?
4) Are you negotiating or counting the cost of following Jesus? Is there anything that’s keeping you from surrendering your life to Jesus today? Pray for one another