“Greetings, O favored one, The LORD is with you!” (Luke 1:28).
Perhaps today, you will hear this message from God as Mary did more than two-thousand years ago.
Right now, you don’t feel so favored.
Maybe you are lying in a hospital bed wondering how you can make it another day…wondering WHY you should make it another day.
Perhaps today, you sit in a dirty house, bills barely paid, no expectation of your needs being met tomorrow, with a broken down life; and while the world around you seems to celebrate with lights, presents, food, and family, you have only ever known a cheap version of this pursuit of happiness that everyone but you seems to have found. But it never lasts and you don’t feel like pretending today.
Others may have it all – the family, the lights, the nice home and cars and endless presents to give and to get. Yet something is missing. Something big. None of these satisfy, none of this means what they say it means. The endless pursuit of happiness will continue tomorrow, and down deep you know you’ll still not find it.
Maybe I haven’t described your specific version of misery – poverty, friendlessness, hopeless addiction, a general sense of emptiness, joblessness, failure, sickness, pain, lovelessness – regardless, you don’t feel very favored.
Back to Mary – she was visited by an angel of God. She was afraid. She was troubled in this moment. But through an angel, she was being told by God that she was favored.
Your idea of favored up to now has ebbed and flowed. If you could be free of the misery you feel, you’d be favored. You’ve been working hard to find this favor. Free yourself from the misery I may or may not have described, and you’ll be favored.
For one, the effort may thus far have been merely secular. You haven’t even thought of God as you’ve sought this favor. Work hard, eat healthy, meet your goals – the favor will come. At times, you’ve felt you found it. Moments of pleasure, fruit of your labor, results from your work have brought you the favor everyone around you craves – riches, pleasure, and whatever else you thought you desired. You earned it. But where is it? Death still looms.
Another, who seems to have been born into misery of some sort – poverty, pain, sickness, lovelessness, etc…, has worked all your life to find the favor that seems to have been given so freely and easily to those around you, and yet you remain in your despair this day while others celebrate.
To one, the story to which I refer – a young lady given this word of favor – is a fairy tale. It’s for the weak. Yet, you’ve worked your entire life to find this favor. You’ll earn it, and people will notice, you’ll finally be fulfilled. And then you’ll die.
To another, you think you believe it. And you keep trying to find it. And you keep failing. You believe in the God of this story, and you keep trying to work hard enough to please Him so that you to will find favor.
When you all are exhausted, you meet together (“The rich and the poor meet together, the LORD is the Maker of them all” – Proverbs 22:2). You meet together having found the same things to be true: “What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?” – Ecclesiastes 1:3.
And yet you’ll “toil” on, you’ll try again tomorrow – to find favor. Or not, maybe you’ll give up and exit this world of impossibility having finally given up on finding this favor.
Some for now during the lights, smells, presents, friends, and family will be lulled into thinking that you’ve found this favor. Today you enjoy its rewards. You’ve worked hard for this. You’ve made good decisions and now you enjoy the favor that is found for those who choose the right.
This, you believe is the favor that Mary found. She was in your mind “to be favored”. Maybe your life seems to be favored, and it must be because you to have like Mary been obedient or pleasing to God such that you have experienced this favor. And you thank God.
Your prayer to him might be like a very religious and wealthy man who in ancient times went to the temple to pray. Jesus tells us that his prayer went like this: “God, I thank you that I am not greedy, dishonest, and unfaithful in marriage like other people. And I am really glad that I am not like that man over there. I go without eating two days a week, and I give you one-tenth of all that I earn.” (Luke 18:11-12).
If Mary’s angel had appeared to him in that moment, perhaps the religious man would have said: “I’ve been expecting you…you must be here because of the favor that I’ve found with God”.
In contrast, the “man over there”, was a tax collector who had also come to pray. Jesus tells us that he did not think he was good enough to look up to heaven. He was sorry for what he had done and falling on his face and pounding on his chest he prayed like this: “God have pity on me! I am such a sinner!”
Jesus then tells us that it was the second man who went home pleasing to God rather than the other. (Luke 18:13-14).
This man, like Mary, would have been “troubled” or afraid at the sight of an angel from God. He knew that he was “such a sinner!”
The favor that you have been looking for, again some thinking they’ve earned it, is a favor that only comes to sinners. A sinner is one who recognizes that God sits in the place of honor and authority. It is God as the Creator of all things who deserves all glory, and honor, and power. And a sinner recognizes that they have tried to usurp that power. They have tried to sit on God’s throne, rule their own lives, and seek worship from the world around them.
But God, who is rich in mercy has graced them or favored them such that he has chosen them before the foundations of the world were even laid to be blessed as Mary was here. In fact, in letters to Mary’s brothers and sisters in a city called Ephesus, a man named Paul wrote these words so like the message spoken to Mary by the angel: “Grace to you, and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”. (Ephesians 1:3)
The grace he speaks of is not the grace that the religious man in Luke 18 had believed he’d received and had thanked God for. The grace he believed he’d received was one that was reciprocal. He had been so obedient (in his own eyes) and so well behaved that he could now say “God, I thank you…. that I am not like other people”.
But Mary, like her brothers and sisters (chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world) had been made to see the true nature of grace, the true nature of what it means to be “favored” by God. She would have agreed with the words in in Paul’s letters to the church in Ephesus: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, has made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved – and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are HIS workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:1-10)
Mary had been given UNDESERVED and UNEARNED favor – or Grace. And in this she was made to see the true spiritual nature of all things. She was made to see her own true nature: “dead in trespasses and sins” and her need to be made alive – alive to the world to come (“coming ages”), the nature of her need for true riches, not earthly riches that are wasting away and come to nothing (“the immeasurable riches of His grace”), and that all of this would come by the promise of God of a Savior – Jesus (“His…kindness toward us in Christ Jesus”) and this is all by faith (“saved through faith”) which is a gift of God (“And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God”).
After the visit from the angel, Mary herself wrote words similar to Paul’s: “And Mary said, “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. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy,”
(Luk 1:46-54)
If you are still seeking earthly favor – physical riches, an easier life, “your best life now” (remember false teacher Joel Osteen?), then you are still blind. You are blind your sin and you still walk in the darkness of self-worship – even if you are religious and sincere. No matter your outlook on this Christmas day (misery or self-earned cheer), you will ultimately be disappointed. The greatest disappointment will be realized in death and eternity as you will find that the favor you labored for on the earth was really one of self-love and your eternal punishment will be far greater than any earthly disappointment you ever experienced.
But perhaps today you will be visited like Mary with the favor of God, and your eyes will be opened to your great need to be reconciled to your Creator.
This reconciliation comes not by your earning of favor, not by the works of your hands, but by the promise of God.
If the Bible is new to you, or the Bible has always been a book that you perceived to be a document of “how to earn God’s favor”, may you turn to it with fresh eyes today. In it God has recorded for us how it is that he “favors” His people like Mary. It is by a promise that He makes over and over throughout its pages. Then it is a record of His fulfilling of that promise. The promise is that He will destroy Satan and the death that Satan has brought upon man through sin. The promise is that He will do this through a Son. The promise is that this “Son” is to be named “Emmanuel” or “God with us”. The promise is that this Son will be a righteous and perfectly obedient “Son of man” and as both man and God will suffer the just and righteous wrath of God in place of His people: “She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
(Mat 1:21)
And indeed God kept that promise. That promise was fulfilled and while today is a confusing day in the west with a weird mixture of something to do with this Son is somehow conflated with lights and gifts and good smells and earthly blessing, God’s people (no matter where on earth, no matter whether they call today “Christmas” or not, no matter their financial state, no matter their health, no matter their standing with men, no matter their earthly situation…) trust in one thing, one thing only for true joy. That thing is a person, a promised Son, a promised Savior who humbled Himself and came as a baby, grew up as a man, was tempted in every way as we are yet without sin and then He became sin for us – on a cross. He died and was buried and He rose from the dead, defeating death for all of His children who like Mary say today:
And Mary said, “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. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy,
(Luk 1:46-54)
I pray that today more of His sheep will hear His voice and that you will be given eyes to see and ears to hear this good news of great joy.
“And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
(Luk 2:8-14)
Mary
Luke 1:26-28 "Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And coming in, he said to her, 'Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you'."
Troubled at this saying!
How else to feel?
Fear had engulfed her
When Gabriel appeared.
God's messenger could only mean
that God Himself had seen
that she had not kept His holy law though she'd tried, and tried, and tried...
He could see inside!
Now he had come,
God's messenger, to bring just wrath upon her.
His hand raised to strike her head bowed low,
Instead gently waved with greetings to show that he had come with favor,
and to save her...
Her fear turned to perplexity,
He said: "Greetings favored one! The Lord is with you",
Words she'd ponder in her heart for eternity,
How can this be?
She'd heard of Adam, rebel son,
hiding in fear with his wife,
awaiting the promised blow that would take the life
from one who would turn from
God's law and believe Satan's lies.
He must have felt
as Mary did now....
The angel of God, hand raised high above the bowed head of guilt
spoke instead words of promise that would bring life, not death
through a coming Son.
But the just blow still struck with holy wrath.
Blood still flowed.
An innocent lamb now lay wounded and bleeding as God showed
His righteous law kept by Himself as he clothed
Adam and Eve with work of His own,
discarding their rags and covering them with
His righteous provision
of the blood and robe of the one
who represented the now promised Son.
To Mary, such mercy was a mystery.
Since Adam, this amazing history
of a chosen race,
a people of God
under sentence of death
expecting God's angel to bring the sword held high
upon the head bowed low,
receive instead God's favor
and a promised Son to deliver.
From Adam, to Abel, to Enoch, to Noah,
to Abraham, to Sarah, to Isaac, to Jacob, to Joseph,
to Moses, to Joshua, to Rahab,
to Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, and Samuel...
God had given His favor and faith in His promise
to deliver by one,
the promised Son.
Mary, like the rest
had done her best
but as sons and daughters of Adam,
they'd all failed the test.
Now, the angel was here,
the promise still good,
No need to fear.
The Spirit of God would come,
and she would bear a Son.
What had she done?
To be part of this plan of God to save a people
for His name and by His own hand?
She was yet unmarried,
Did God not need her to participate in His plan to save?
What if she gave...
just her willingness,
wouldn't that be all that God needed
so that she
could see...
God's plan work, wasn't she free?
Foolish Mary! nothing to be done...
for she was a virgin
The Holy Spirit would come.
Just like her father Abram, she for a moment
thought to help
God keep His word and save a people for Himself.
But God's angel prevailed proclaiming the gospel,
God's will, not man's,
God's work, not Mary's
A virgin shall conceive,
what must she believe?
That God has done it,
God has sent the promised Son
Not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man,
but of God...
Just as promised in the garden so long ago,
Mary's son came into this world of woe...
A mystery so great that even wise men like Nicodemus
thought that God's kingdom would come to us
in ways we can see, touch, and feel,
That God's Messiah would heal
in ways that we can affect by our will.
But this promised Son now here
taught him gently just like the angel to Mary
that those in God's kingdom were not born
by active participation
of sinful man for the good of the nation,
but by the willing Spirit of God
who comes upon His chosen
to fill up His kingdom
with only those in...
robes of righteousness given by God Himself
who shed the blood of His own Son
and raised Him from the dead to live in...
a world to come,
a kingdom with no end
with God as the light
and the Son as the Savior
who has scattered the night.
Now in this season
what is the reason
for your hope?
Soon, the angel of death
over you will raise his hand to judge
and only some will save.
Do you fear this day?
What will you say?
One born of the Spirit will join with Mary and pray:
"My soul exalts the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For He has regard for the humble state of His bondslave; For behold, from this time on all generations will count me blessed. For the Mighty One has done great things for me; and holy is His name. And his mercy is upon generation after generation toward those who fear Him. He has done mighty deeds with His arm; He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart. He has brought down rulers from their thrones, and has exalted those who were humble. He has filled the hungry with good things; and sent away the rich empty-handed. He has given help to Israel His servant, In remembrance of His mercy, As He spoke to our fathers, To Abraham and his descendants forever." Luke 1:46-55