OK, so chances are you’ve heard this story before, but just in case here’s the Twitter-ized version in 140 characters:
Engaged teenage virgin gets visit from angel, told she is “highly favored” by God, and through the Holy Spirit, will give birth to a Savior. (Luke 1:26-38, greatly paraphrased)
This is (and this may be the understatement of all-time) a big surprise; not just that Messiah would come, but that he would come so humbly, so lowly, in such an unlikely, unspectacular fashion, not upon clouds with pyrotechnics, not on bejeweled chariots or gilded thrones, but in the tiny belly of a quiet peasant girl.
In this moment, Mary is given two things from God: An invitation and the promise of His presence.
This is nothing new in The Story of God and His people. From the beginning, we see Noah, Abraham, Joshua, the prophets, the disciples; all given the opportunity to participate in tremendous, yet breathtakingly difficult tasks, with little reassurance from God, except that He will be with them.
Mary though, gets an unprecedented promise; a brand new, cosmic game-changer. When the angel says, “The LORD is with you.”, he’s really saying, “You are with the LORD; you are with child.”
The promise for Mary, is not just that God will be with her, but that He will be within her.
Mary is invited to carry and deliver Christ, to a hurting a broken world. Her life, her very body will be the portal, the doorway through which divinity steps onto the planet.
The angel begins this Biblical bombshell, by telling Mary that she is “highly favored”, which is actually pretty odd to our ears. Today, most of us think that to be favored by God, means we will receive ease and comfort and reward; that if we do good things, God will give us good things. But for Mary to accept this invitation she will face struggle, embarrassment, pain and great adversity.
Don’t mistake difficulty for the absence of God. Don’t think that because things are not pleasant that God is not present. The Bible shows us that when things are most uncomfortable, most unstable, most impossible, God’s presence is acutely close.
After setting aside her initial (and understandable) fear, Mary finally does consent to what God desires to do in and through her, and yet, as amazing as this story is, it actually gets better.
Jesus will later be born, and go on to teach and preach and heal, and do and say all the mind-boggling, creation-altering stuff that we know so well, and in his final conversation with his disciples, closes with this doozy:
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:4-8
Think back to Mary—sound familiar?
Later, after Jesus leaves, the Apostle Paul will confirm what Jesus had promised, telling a small community of believers:
19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. 1 Cor 6:19-2o.
What Jesus vowed, Paul verifies: The Holy Spirit, the very presence of God is now within them, and us.
When we come to trust in Jesus, Scripture tells us that we become living temples of the Holy Spirit; breathing churches; that God actually resides in us.
What that means, is that now we, like Mary, are called to carry and deliver Christ to a hurting a broken world.
You, like that frightened teenage girl are pregnant with the miraculous.
You, are filled with a Divinely-initiated possibility, that far eclipses your flaws and failings and history and limitations.
You, are invited to consent to the difficult, messy, outrageously good work that God wants to do through your life and in your life, to bless His people.
If that all sounds too crazy for you, well then, maybe the Gospel is too crazy for you.
Let me be your angel, and give you the good news, you who are highly favored: God wants to birth something beautiful in you.
This Christmas, may you, like Mary, throw aside fear and excuse, and bravely say… yes.
