‘Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.’
Luke 1:26-29
What have you created or achieved that you are especially proud of?
Perhaps that sense of accomplishment and delight resembles, to a small degree, how God sees Mary. Today we read the first part of God’s message to her: God highly favours her, and the Lord is with her.
We are not told why God highly favours Mary. Part of it must have been Mary’s heart. We are told that ‘People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart’ (1 Samuel 16:7). We understand that Mary’s heart was pure and humble.
Still, I suspect that God’s favour comes more from God’s own heart than from Mary’s. We see God’s heart in Israel’s history. After Israel escapes from slavery in Egypt and God reveals his laws to them, Moses gathers the people together and says, ‘The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples’ (Deuteronomy 7:7). Rather, Moses says, God saved them because God loved them and kept his promise.
God highly favours Mary because God loves Mary. God remembers his promise to Mary’s ancestor Abraham, that God would bless and save Abraham’s descendants, and God chooses Mary to be the vessel through which the fulfilment of that promise would come.
Although the honour and calling that God has for Mary is unique, God’s love and faithfulness for her is the same as for us. And just as we inherit the curse of sin and death that God placed upon Eve, so too in Christ we inherit the blessing of favour and life that God gave Mary.
Mary accepted God’s love for her, and so bore Christ, who would go on to save us from death. We can hear similar news: God loves us and the Lord is with us. May we too accept God’s love for us in Christ, and so receive the Spirit of Christ into our hearts, giving us life.
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