Have you ever thought about what it means that God treated Mary as He did in Luke 1? It is no small feat to have been singled out by the creator of the universe for the task of carrying in your womb the only son that would be born from Him. What can be found in its meaning for those having lived in its physical reality and therefore what might it mean to us, the fact of a life lived in a way to be so significantly noticed by God? Mary’s response to the Angel’s declaration gives us insight into what kind of people God chooses to do His will in History.
She was troubled by the Angel’s words of God’s favor. This doesn’t stop the Angel, though, as he continues to communicate God’s message to her. She would be with child, even though she is a virgin. Her child would be called the Son of the Most High God. God will give her son the throne of His father David. His kingdom will never end. The Holy Spirit will make her pregnancy happen. Nothing is impossible with God.
Mary’s response? Humility. “I am the servant of the Lord, let it be to me according to your word.” Nothing more, nothing less. This is why God chose Mary. She was the one who, even at the risk of social and familial denunciation; even at the risk of scorn and ridicule from her friends; even at the risk of losing her husband and surely the risk of losing her own life responded with humility to God’s work in, around and through her.
This is what God is looking for. The Psalms are replete with God’s goodness to and even defense of the humble. We are told and shown throughout the New Testament that God is gracious to the humble but brings down the proud. Interestingly, if we look closely at Jesus in Gethsemane, as He lay broken in the throes of agony over His impending doom, we hear echoes of His mother, “Yet, not as I will but as you will.”
We are so intent on making God in our own image that more often than not completely miss His presence with and counsel to us. From the birth of the Savior to the Savior crying out, God shows us that Humility is His most desired position of our hearts. Because we live in a culture (Christian and Non) which so highly cherishes personal achievement and strategic ambition we miss the fact that humility in the heart of this girl is the reason for His favor towards her.
Because of hundreds of years of Scriptural misinterpretation, we miss the essence of what God is trying to show us in the life of Mary and, conversely, in the life of His and her son, Jesus. We miss that in both mother and son, in the time of their greatest trial, Humility is the dominate factor- “Let it be to me according to your word;” “Not as I will but as you will.” We miss that there is nothing about us, without the underscored acceptance of our complete inability to do anything without God desiring it to be done, that would make us appealing to God.
Let me ask you something, how long has it been since you’ve considered the pride in your life? How long has it been since you realized that your life is rife with pride, whether sjameful pride in thinking that you achieved a specific thing in your life or the acceptable pride of a “job well done,” which is merely a step away from arrogance and thereby wickedness? Have you ever considered that you may very well be prideful about all of the things you’ve done for God and all of the things He owes you because you’ve been so faithful in His service? When was the last time you really thought about the person God chose to carry, birth and raise His only Son? Have you ever put yourself in a position in which you, as Mary, could call out to Him with these words:
My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
And his mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
The point of these questions is not to regulate your life and make you say these words on a daily basis.
It is to give you a needed pause to ask if you are living and giving your life in such a way that if God were to intervene you would recognize Him and call out to Him as the One in whom your soul completely trusts. It is a matter of Humility, yours and mine. We are dealing with a matter of Sovereignty, God’s or ours.
“I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word.” Have you ever said these words to God? Take some time to reflect on Mary’s life. Don’t be afraid of it but revel in the reality of God with us and in the incredible nature of God who chooses to call anyone who would live humbly before Him.
