How Would You Respond?

Luke 1:29-33 (NKJV): But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give 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.”

Scholars say that Mary was between the age of 12-16 years of age. She was still living at home waiting to complete her betrothal period with Joseph so that she could be with him.

When we see this interchange between her and the angel, we can possibly come to the conclusion that she had been praying. Usually, God sent an angel to someone to bring a message or an answer to them when they are praying.

Imagine, being as young as she was, and having this angel appear to you. We know from other accounts that when an angel appeared, there was a lot of glory around them. Usually, people would bow down to worship them when an angel appeared but, the angel would tell them not to because they are just a servant like them. When the angel appeared, we can gather that there was glory around him because he told Mary to not fear.

Right after he told her not to fear, he told her that God was going to do an extraordinary thing through her. She was going to be the one chosen to carry The Messiah. I can imagine him saying to her, “Do you remember when Eve was deceived in the garden and Adam sinned by eating the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? Do you remember that when God spoke to them that He told the serpent that Eve was going to conceive a son that would crush the serpent’s head and his heel would be bruised? Well. You are that Eve who will bring that son.” (In the account of the fall of man we know that the devil had entered into the serpent and that God was speaking to him. We also know that Eve means woman.)

How would you react if you heard that you would be involved in this promise of The Redeemer coming? Would you have questions as Mary probably did? (The questions are meant for reflection, not for anyone to answer how they think I or someone else would want them to answer)

How awesome to see God use ordinary people to do extraordinary things.