Luke 1:26-28

In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” ~ Luke 1:26-28


God chose cousins to bring in a new kingdom, the kingdom of God. John the Baptist had already been conceived and was growing in the womb of Elizabeth, and so he was born before Christ. So, he became the forerunner of Christ’s ministry, in fact heralding that ministry in with the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan river. Though John came before, it was Christ who was the preferred, the pre-existent one, as the eternal Son of God. The heavenly messenger was Gabriel, the angel who had visited Daniel nearly five hundred years before and had visited Zacharias and had informed him about the conception and what the office the forerunner of Christ would be like. This person would be his son, granted to him and his wife in their old age. Then there was young Mary. A favoured young woman chosen to carry God’s only Son. A humble girl, not a princess, not to be married to the elite of the nation, but to a poor carpenter. Not to be born with a coveted cradle bed covered in silks and lace, but a manger bed filled with straw for the feeding cattle surrounding him in the barn. This is the beginning of life for the Son of God! Why would God’s Son come in this way? Long had been the time of the Messiah awaited. And here, the mother of the Redeemer was the least one expected to bear such an honour. Yet, this God of ours honours the humble and the meek, this God of ours loves the lowly and the downcast. This God of ours comes to the outcast, the broken, the weak, bringing love, healing, mercy, and strength. God’s undeserved love proceeds in blessings for all who come to Him in such a way. We are all “Mary”, for there is not one of us who deserve the Redeeming Son of God to come and live with us and within us. The Lord is with you!

Pastor Julia

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