Hey everyone! Next up is a guest post by my wonderful husband Jake!
What does it look like to be singled out and favored by the Creator of all the Universe? Power, prosperity, and prestige? Jesus' mother Mary experienced this favor firsthand and it's not exactly what we may have had in mind, but there's so much to be learned!
In Luke 1:28, the angel Gabriel shows up in a small living room and greets Mary saying,“Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!” As far as Mary knew, the last time Gabriel stepped on the scene was to Daniel, when he was sent by God to give Daniel understanding pertaining to the restoration of Jerusalem, the coming of the Messiah, and the desecration and desolation of the Temple (Daniel 9:21-27). Now, here he is standing in Mary's humble home in Nazareth saying that the Lord has chosen her to bestow His blessing and favor upon. It's no surprise, that this "troubled" Mary and left her "considering what manner of greeting it was." Can you imagine her thinking, "Who me? Favored by God? Blessed among women? I'm just a young girl from Nazareth." Nazareth wasn't looked fondly upon, remember Nathaniel in John 1:46, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” But this is how God deemed fitting to bring is His son into the world. This says so much about God, what matters to Him, and How he sees and evaluates. "For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Sam 16:7)
But what is more interesting is the blessing and favor Mary experienced. I would suppose it is a bit different than what we would expect from such a claim. The virgin birth (although prophesied about by Isaiah centuries before) in an honor/shame based culture would have been undoubtedly a scandal that would have the whole town talking. Can you imagine bearing the stigma of being pregnant before marriage in that culture? According to the law, adultery was punishable by death! (see Leviticus 20:10) Or think about the 90 mile trek from Nazareth to Bethlehem Mary made...in her third trimester! Anything but comfortable, I'm sure. And it was only to get there to find that no place would let her in and ended up giving birth in a stable for animals, laying her newborn in a feeding trough! Did this offend Mary? What happened to being highly favored? She had believed and obeyed, and this was how she was treated? Was God testing them? Training them? Preparing them? Was he shaping them to base their hope in His promises and His nature rather than temporary ease and comfort? The promises of God undoubtedly must have been running through their minds throughout the course of the experience, sustaining them along the way. The Angel had foretold that her son would be great and will be called the Son of the Highest and sit on the throne of His Father David. And that he would reign over the house of Jacob forever and of His kingdom there will be no end. (cf. Isaiah 9:7)
Mary and Joseph would have been familiar with the promise made to David that from His line would come a King who would sit on the throne forever. And to think Mary was carrying this one inside her body!
"When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever"(2 Samuel 7:12-13,16, NKJV)
The whole scenario is teeming with conflicts and pressures inward and out. This is the setting God chooses and divinely sets up for the His entry into human history as a man. If we peer in just a little closer, the knowledge of God is dripping off of God's dealing with Mary. There's so much to be said about who He is, His works, and His ways. It's much more than a nice Christmas story, this really happened and it tells about what God is like and what He values.
For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God. (Luke 16:15)
Mary's experience shows us that being highly favored by God is more than having everything going your way and a smooth ride through life. Mary would certainly attest to this, in fact, in Luke 2:35, while Simeon is blessing Jesus, he tells Mary "a sword will pierce your own soul"referring to the pain of seeing Her Son crucified. Some blessing, eh? But she believed that she was involved in something so much greater than a life of side-stepping discomfort, therefore she obeyed. Oftentimes, I expect blessing and favor with God to translate to increase in wealth, comfort, and ease. However, a misplaced hope (blessings in this age) leads to painful letdowns, discouragement, disillusionment, offense, and depression. Don't get me wrong, God does bless our circumstances and we need to seek that from Him, but when our hope is anchored in His promises (rewards, blessings, resurrection, etc. in the age to come) we have a grid (ie. carrying the cross) for embracing suffering and self denial and can carry our heart like Mary with faith, obedience, and perseverance when the going gets rough! May God's great and precious promises fill our heart with grace and peace!
