And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.”

Read the beginning of Mary’s Story here: Luke 1:26-56

We know this story so well, we don’t even hear it anymore. Slow down. Take Mary out of royal robes and remove the crown from her head and the perfection from her reputation. It is about to be smashed to the ground and into the mud anyway.

Mary is just a young girl. She is not quite – almost, but not quite, old enough to be married. Or she already would be. She is still living in her father's house. She is 'pledged to be married' to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. She is in agreement with this. But it hasn't happened yet. When it does happen, the whole village will know about it. It will be a big celebration with vows and singing and dancing and feasting and a set-aside time of honeymoon and seclusion between her and her new husband. But all of that is in the future. It has not happened yet.

This angel Gabriel showing up is a problem. All the wonderful words like ‘highly favored’ and ‘God is with you’ aren’t going to make this an easier problem to deal with. God has a plan, but it appears His timing is off. Gabriel tells Mary she is going to conceive a son – before her wedding day. All the words capitalized right now -  like the Holy Spirit and the power of the Most High - probably felt a little too unreal to comprehend at the time. It still is a difficult concept for us 2,000 years later.

Why is this illegitimate baby so important? So important he needs to be conceived now, while Mary is still a virgin, before her marriage day? 

“The child to be born will be holy. He will be called the Son of God,” Gabriel explains gently. “He will be called Jesus.” (If we were hearing this in the Hebrew voice, we would hear the name as Yeshua, Yehoshua, or Joshua – like the one who fought the battle of Jericho and led the Israelites into the Land of Milk and Honey. But our scriptures came through Greek speakers so we hear 'Jesus' instead.) Gabriel continues, 

“He will be great. 

He will be called the son of the Most High. 

He will be given the throne of his father David by the Lord God. 

He will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever.

His kingdom will never end.”

And then Gabriel tells her something sweet and equally unbelievable that will be a comfort and a companionship. Her cousin Elizabeth, old and way beyond child-bearing years, will also be giving birth to a God-ordained Holy child. It was a kind assurance in a whisper of truth, “For no word from God will ever fail.”

And with that, Gabriel departed.

God favoring you and angels showing up is not necessarily a happy day. It usually means your plans have just changed. Your fiancé will choose to disown you. Your wedding day will be tarnished. You will not be called ‘favored’ by the women who will notice a baby bump appearing too soon. Your son will be whispered about by the neighbors and taunted by the bullies. No. God changing your plans is not the best of news.

Some of us have seen this up-close. God rarely asks us to do the easy thing. When God ‘favors’ us it usually takes us out of our comfortable life and our comfortable plans. Better to only whisper His name and hope He doesn’t notice you too much. Because when Gabriel shows up with a plan, it is going to wreck yours.

Mary packs her bags and leaves town. She shows up at her cousin Elizabeth’s front door.

We listen in on the most beautiful greeting that has ever been recounted. Mary's young sweet voice calls Elizabeth's name as she enters into her home and the baby John within Elizabeth's womb dances for joy! The Holy Spirit fills Elizabeth with heavenly knowledge and Mary does not even need to tell why she is there. Elizabeth knows fully and completely! "How can I be so honored that the mother of my Lord would visit me?"

Wait. How could Elizabeth say such a thing? How could she know such a thing? Listen again; “The mother of my Lord?” No one has ever said anything about the Lord God having a mother! Especially a young teen girl! Shhh! Imagine a rabbi overhearing such a crazy conversation! But these two women, both who will carry life impossible inside their wombs, know an unbelievable truth. They know an amazing secret that will change the course of mankind: God is coming into this broken, imprisoned world in the body of a flesh and blood human baby.

“You are blessed among women,” old Elizabeth assures this young girl. “Blessed is the child you will bear.” Mary’s response is a song of worship for the God who is merciful to the humble. It is a song of praise to the God who keeps His promises.

Mary stayed with Elizabeth and Zechariah in their small town in the hills of Judea for three months. Count them out; Three months before Mary would return to her own hometown of Nazareth and face the scandal of her unmarried pregnancy. Three months to know and be known by the loving hand of Elizabeth.

I imagine this was a place of safety and comfort for Mary. I imagine this was a house filled with joy. Preparations were being made for the coming of Elizabeth’s baby. Mary could help her older cousin get ready. They could plan together and dream together, each knowing that God’s Spirit moved beside them and within them. What a kindness that God gave them one another – one too old, one too young – as they prepared to raise a Prophet and a Messiah.

Their world was getting ready to change in a way unimaginable. Actually, the whole world was getting ready to change in a way unimaginable. Elizabeth's son would cry out, "Prepare the way of the Lord!" Mary's son would cry out, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do.”

Pause for just a minute. Shhh. Mary has not yet had a shame-filled conversation with her parents or with Joseph. The donkey has not yet been loaded for the journey to Bethlehem. There is no brighter star shining in the heavens yet and the shepherds watch their flocks quietly in the night as they always have. The world is waiting. Waiting. And a young girl, alone in Nazareth, knows why.

Matt Maher - Gabriel's Message

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHWtWIcSN3U&list=RDGHWtWIcSN3U&start_radio=1

The angel Gabriel from heaven came

His wings as drifted snow

His eyes as flame

"All hail," said he "thou lowly maiden Mary

Most highly favored lady, " Gloria, Gloria

"For known a blessed mother thou shalt be

All generations laud and honor thee

Thy Son shall be Emanuel

By seers foretold

Most highly favored maid, " Gloria, Gloria

Then gentle Mary meekly bowed her head

"To me be as it pleaseth God, " she said,

"My soul shall laud and magnify His holy name."

Most highly favored lady, Gloria, Gloria

Songwriters: Edgar Pettman / Sabine Baring-Gould

Gabriel’s Message lyrics © EMI Music Publishing, Oxford University Press