I wonder what it was like to be her.
She was so young.
Some scholars say she could have been as young as 13.
I imagine her to be fairly ordinary as far as her appearance goes. She probably had dirty feet, maybe frizzy hair, a blemish or two on her face… I doubt she wore long silky blue linens over her perfectly curled hair like the ones we see in the movies. She was just a simple Jewish girl. She probably didn’t stand out from everyone else. But I do see her with a kind smile; one of those genuine smiles that touches your soul, despite perhaps a couple crooked teeth being behind it.
Mary.
Such a little name, for such an important character.
This week I started reading through the gospel of Luke, but I still haven’t read past chapter 1. Something stood out to me for the first time that I never really considered before.
When Gabriel first appears to Mary, she doesn’t jump up and down with enthusiasm.
“And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!” But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying.” -Luke 1:28-29
Even before she knew that she was going to give birth to the Messiah, Mary was troubled. Nervous. Afraid.
I would be too if an angel appeared out of nowhere and started talking to me.
See, Mary wasn’t perfect. She had great faith. But she was still a human. She still felt human emotions. Although the angel told her that she was favored, that the Lord was with her, and that she was blessed,
she was still troubled.
But this isn’t what stood out to me.
Its actually what comes before in the narrative.
Mary had a cousin, Elizabeth , who was barren until an angel named Gabriel (yep, the same one who appeared to Mary) came to her husband Zacharias and told him that Elizabeth would bear a son, even in her old age.
Gabriel appeared to Zacharias 6 months before he appeared to Mary.
I don’t believe this was an accident.
After scripture tells us that Mary is troubled, Gabriel reassures her by saying,
“Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”
Gabriel tells her to not fear. He tells her again that she has found favor with God.
And yet, Mary still isn’t crying and worshiping and thanking the angel. Her next question in verse 34 proves that she’s still troubled and confused.
“How can this be, since I do not know a man?”
I’m not married. I’m just a girl. I don’t understand.
Gabriel patiently replies,
“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. “
What he says next however, is the thing that has left me in awe.
Gabriel reassures young Mary. He tells her how much God favors her. He explains how the Messiah will be conceived in her.
And then, he says this,
“Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible.”
Ok…you’re probably thinking. Whats so amazing about that?
I never saw it at first either. I think that’s often how God works. Behind the scenes. In and through circumstances that we don’t realize is his sovereign care until later.
See, Elizabeth didn’t just happen to be Marys cousin.
She didn’t just happen to get pregnant supernaturally 6 months before Mary did.
It was all a part of Gods plan to reassure the Mother of Jesus that she could trust him. That nothing was impossible with him. That he cared for her
Mary was going to suffer. I don’t know how people reacted, but I’m sure 90% of them didn’t believe her. I’m sure they assumed the worst; that she had lost her virginity before marriage. She was going to be disgraced. She was going to be rejected. Although God changed his mind, initially the man who was betrothed to her was planning on divorcing her after he found out she was pregnant.
It wasn’t going to be easy for Mary.
But God knew.
And God wasn’t going to let her down.
Before she ever felt troubled, while she was still oblivious to her future, God was preparing to reassure her and comfort her through her cousin.
Because after Mary utters her famous words “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word,” and after the angel departs, who does Mary turn to?
The person who would understand.
The person God had prepared beforehand to encourage her and strengthen her faith.
“Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah, and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.”
-Luke 1:39-45
Although Mary submitted to the Lord, I’m sure she still felt afraid. I’m sure she was still nervous. She was human, after all.
But God knew that.
So he chose her cousin to be the mother of John, who would pave the way for the coming of Christ. He allowed her to supernaturally become pregnant with him 6 months before Gabriel appeared to Mary so that Mary would have someone to go to, who would understand and comfort her and prepare her for what would lie ahead.
Sometimes God asks us to do hard things, big things, things that shake our faith and cause us to fear. But before he even gives us that hard thing to do, he is preparing us for it. He knows what we need.
Mary needed comfort and reassurance. She needed someone who would understand her situation and encourage her.
So God gave her Elizabeth, and then later he gave her Joseph too.
I don’t know where you’re at in life today. Maybe God has asked you to do something difficult, or placed a challenging situation in your hands.
You’re probably confused like Mary was.
You may be asking, why me, God?
Don’t be troubled. Don’t be afraid.
God asks those he favors to do hard things for him. He knows you’re a human. He wouldn’t ask you to do something difficult without giving you the grace to do it.
God is not an army general, who just gives us orders and expects us to follow through with them.
He’s a Father.
“As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.” -Psalm 103: 13-14
I’ve heard it said that God will never give you more than you can handle but I actually don’t agree with that.
I think every day he gives us more than we can handle, but just so we learn to depend on him and realize that its never too much for HIM to handle.
Children can’t live without their parents.
And that’s ok. That’s normal.
God doesn’t expect you to carry burdens that are too heavy for you to bear.
He may give you more than you can handle, but only because he wants to handle all that you’ve been given.
We all know what its like to feel like Mary did.
Confused, scared, troubled.
But we don’t have to feel that way.
If God is asking us to do something difficult, he’ll give us the strength and the grace and the comfort to do it.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed, if you’re feeling like you don’t understand, you’re not alone. Mary felt that way too. But look around you- God has probably provided an Elizabeth situation that you just might not be aware of.
His grace is so deep. His love is so full.
The same mercy God gave to Mary is available to you. Even when he asks us to do hard things, he never asks us to do it alone. He prepares us and he prepares the situations around us so that we can say as Mary did at the end of Luke 1,
“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; for behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name. His mercy is on those who fear Him, from generation to generation.”
Trust in the tender compassion of our great and mighty God.
Nothing is too hard for him. And with him, nothing is impossible.
