Luke 1:26-28 (NIV)
In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
The angel, Gabriel, is going to be kept pretty busy during the time of Christ’s coming. First, he is sent to give a message to Zacharias in the Temple. Now, six months later, he is making a visit to a young lady in Nazareth. Her name is Mary, a rather common name during this time in history. So many young women are named Mary during this time that we often give other identifiers when referring to Mary in the New Testament. There is Mary the sister of Martha and Lazarus. Then there is Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Mary the wife of Cleophas. There were a lot of Mary’s! Why did so many parents name their daughters Mary? Well, we may get a clue to this if we look at the meaning of the name “Mary.” According to Strong’s Concordance, Mary means bitterness or rebellion. So what did the people of Israel have to be bitter or rebellious about at this time in history? Well, the Roman occupation and their rule was bitter to them, for sure! And my opinion is that these parents who named their daughters Mary were expressing their rebellion and bitterness against the occupying forces that governed their lives. We’ll see throughout the story of the nativity just how much the Roman rulers meddled with the lives of their subjects. None of us would have liked it.
So, Gabriel is sent to this young lady named Mary, living under the Roman occupation in a little town named Nazareth. Not much is said about Nazareth in the scriptures. And when it is mentioned, it is not nice. When, years later, a young man named Nathaniel is invited to come hear Jesus of Nazareth speak, he remarks, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46 NKJV) Apparently, Nazareth did not have a good reputation. So it would seem that this young lady with the bitter name is growing up in a small, obscure town with a bad reputation. Not a great start to her story, is it?
Yet when Gabriel greets Mary, he calls her “highly favored.” And he says that the Lord is with her. How can this be? Well, God knows her heart. And we will soon see what Mary is made of by her response to the Lord’s message.
Mary’s first response to seeing an angel is the natural, human response of fear. “Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.” (Luke 1:29 NIV) Gabriel responds with the usual angelic response in these situations. “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.” (Luke 1:30a NIV) Then Gabriel tells Mary the reason for his visit. He tells her the message and mission God has for her.
Luke 1:31-33 (WEB)
Behold, you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a son, and shall name 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 the house of Jacob forever. There will be no end to his Kingdom.”
And Mary’s response in verse 38 is, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.”
We are so familiar with this story, that we may overlook some things in Gabriel’s response. Sometimes our minds jump ahead to the little baby, Jesus, lying in a manger; God with us. Yet, let’s not forget that this is the fulfillment of the very first prophecy of God in Genesis 3:15. Here is Jesus, the Seed (fruit, descendant) to be born of a woman. He will defeat Satan and death and evil. God remembers what He said and will fulfill what He promised. And He is going to use someone who has a heart to serve Him, who is obedient to Him. And Mary finds favor with God because she has a heart like that.
The other thing I want to point out is, when we read that the Lord will give Jesus “the throne of his father David,” we may be thinking of His heavenly throne. But God is also talking about an earthly throne, where he will one day “reign over the house of Jacob forever.” This is to be fulfilled at His second coming. Yet in the earthly nature of this throne, God is also speaking of an inheritance Jesus will be receiving from His earthly parents. You see, both Mary and Joseph are from David’s family line. (Matthew 1:1-16, Luke 3:23-38) And here, in a little, unpopular, disdained town, God sees Mary and reminds her that she is a daughter of kings. The occupying authority may look down on her as not noteworthy and having no power, but God says, “I place my favor on you.” And he reminds her that she is the daughter of kings. And He calls her into His service for a very special task.
Mary was an ordinary person living in difficult times, given a bitter name. Yet the way in which she lived has forever changed the way we think of the name “Mary.” You see, the name Mary is still very popular. Yet now, when people name their daughters Mary, they are usually doing so with thoughts of Mary, the humble yet noble mother of Jesus; Mary, the one favored by God.
Please don’t think that your circumstances or background will limit God’s ability to use you. Did you have an ignoble birth? Did you grow up on the wrong side of the tracks? Was your education lacking? Are you overlooked and unnoticed? All God wants is a yielded heart willing to obey Him. Live righteously. Live for God. And He will remind you that you are a child of the King of Kings. And if you are willing to serve Him, He will without doubt give you a mission to accomplish.
Galatians 4:4-7 (NLT)
But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.” Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir.
Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
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Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scriptures marked WEB are from the World English Bible. The World English Bible is in the Public Domain.