Luke 1:26-38

Luke 1:26-38

Greatest Story Ever—Scene II

I. God’s free gift of grace costs us everything but gives us even more; so we must receive it humbly (Vv. 26-34)

a. As this passage begins, we meet two new characters in God’s great story; a young couple engaged to be married. Mary, a virgin, likely 13-15 years old, and her young fiancé Joseph, a general contractor, who was of the line of David. They weren’t famous, influential, wealthy, or successful. They weren’t from a major epicenter of culture. They were a couple of young people from Nazareth, an insignificant little backwater town, with a questionable reputation. They weren’t worthy of any special honor in the world’s eyes, but God had unlikely plans for this unlikely young couple. In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent His angel Gabriel with important news. (Vv. 26-27; Luke 1:5-25; John 1:46)

b. Right away, even Gabriel’s greeting verified God’s favor of Mary, “Greetings favored one! The Lord is with you.” As is always the case with genuine spiritual encounters with God’s angelic messengers, Mary was startled, and naturally stunned and perplexed by his greeting. But Gabriel calmed Mary’s fears and reassured her that God was truly with her. Now, even before Mary could get her mind around his greeting, Gabriel delivered the meat of God’s message. God had chosen her to conceive and bear a Son named Jesus, who would be the Son of the Most High and God’s promised Messiah, who will rule eternally on the throne God established through David! Mary’s response, “How can this be since I am a virgin”, isn’t stimulated by doubt or a need for proof, like Zacharias, but by humility and wonder; it isn’t a question of if or when, but just how. God’s plan from the beginning was that His Messiah would be born of the seed of woman, and God is faithful to all His Word and plans, not because we deserve it, but because of who He is. We must see that Mary wasn’t chosen by God because she was exceptional by the world’s standards. There’s no evidence she was exceptional in any particular way, just proof that God is exceptional in every way. God could see Mary’s humble heart and he knew her faith intimately. God’s favor on Mary meant her life would be turned upside down, but she was prepared to humble herself and put God’s will before her own preferences, hopes, and dreams. (Vv. 28-34; Gen. 3:15; 2 Sam. 7:12-16; Isa. 7:14; 9:6-7; Ps. 14:2; 33:11; 89:4; Prov. 16:1-3, 9; 19:21; Dan. 7:13-14; Matt. 1:19-25; Acts 4:12; Rom. 1:1-4; 2 Tim. 2:8; Heb. 1:2-3; 1 Pet. 5:6-7)

II. God’s free gift of grace costs us everything but gives us even more; so we must receive it faithfully, completely trusting in Him (Vv. 35-38)

a. God is gracious enough to fill Mary in on some of the details through Gabriel. The only way for the Messiah to be born of the seed of woman, and not the of the seed of man, the natural process God has established, is for the Messiah to be conceived, carried, and born of a woman with no earthly father. In order to accomplish this with certainty, God chose the young virgin, Mary, whom He now reveals will be overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, to miraculously conceive His Son. He will be set apart and unique, for the purpose of ransoming humanity from our sin and back to the Father. Jesus had to be of the same nature as those He came to save. He had to live a perfect sinless life in order to qualify Him for His sacrificial death. He had to be fully God in order to accomplish sinlessness and for His sacrifice to be accepted, which is testified to through His glorious resurrection. All of human history since the fall had been working towards God’s entry into the world in flesh. Gabriel reassures Mary, that God is also at work in her relative Elizabeth who was past childbearing age and barren. God worked a miraculous work through natural processes in Elizabeth and Zacharias, and John was to be “filled with the Holy Spirit while in the womb”, “great in the sight of the Lord”, and a prophet of the Most High. But Jesus is conceived of the Holy Spirit, great without qualification or limit, and Son of the Most High. Gabriel reassured Mary, truly nothing is impossible with God. Humble Mary was moved to declare her complete submission, faith, and trust in God. She had done nothing to earn God’s favor, but she knew the value of God’s grace because she obviously knew God. How do we know? Because we offer all of who we are to all of God we know. If we know little of God, we’ll give Him little. If we know much of God, we give all we are because we know He gave all to redeem us and keep us. She knew that no matter what she had to give up for God, she would receive infinitely, impossibly, and eternally more through faithfully and completely trusting in Him! (Vv. 35-38; Gen. 1:2; 18:14; 1 Sam. 1:18; Job 13:15; 23:1; 42:2; Isa. 6:8; Zech. 8:6; Matt. 19:26; Luke 22:42; John 1:1-3, 14; 3:16-21, 36; 2 Cor. 1:20; Phil 4:13; 1 Tim. 1:15; Heb. 2:17-18; 10:5)