Luke 1:26-38 Expecting Unexpected
Good morning! We are back in the Gospel of Luke this morning, chapter one and we are going to look at verses 26-38, page 855 in the pew Bibles.
Let’s pray.
This account that we are going to look at this morning shares a common theme with our text from last week, and that is, the angel Gabriel announcing babies to those who least expected them.
Mary and Elizabeth were not expecting the unexpected, rather it was expecting that was unexpected! (you’re welcome.)
Let’s look at our text…
26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
I’d like to do two things this morning based on this text. First I’d like to examine what Mary is versus what she is not as there has been much confusion about this based on the teachings of the Catholic church. The second thing I’d like to do is to contrast Zechariah’s and Mary’s responses to Gabriel and his message.
If you grew up Catholic or if you have ever watched much TV, you’re familiar with saying the “Hail Mary.” Maybe if you’re a football fan you’ve heard of throwing a hail Mary.
In case you’ve never thought about the meaning of that phrase, it’s a pass where the ball stays in the air long enough to say the “Hail Mary.” And if you grew up Catholic you can probably recite the “Hail Mary,” or Ave Maria, as it’s often assigned for penance in confession.
It goes something like this: “Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen” (please don’t say your amen to that.)
That prayer is based on parts of this text and partly on Elizabeth’s response when she sees Mary later in this chapter, and partly on the wicked imaginations of men.
So it’s important to consider what Mary is not versus what she actually is.
Mary is not our mediator, meaning she is not to be prayed to. 1 Timothy 2:5 says, For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus…
Mary is not “full of grace,” she is the recipient of grace. This prayer falsely attribute Mary with being full of grace in and of herself instead of being a sinful child of Adam in desperate need for forgiveness just like the rest of us.
Here’s the reality of what the Bible says about Mary versus what the Catholic Church says about her:
Gabriel said that she was highly favored, the Catholic Church says that she is the dispenser of favors.
Elizabeth said that she was blessed among women, the Catholic Church says that she is raised above women.
Mary said that she was a servant of the Lord, the Catholic Church says that she is the Queen of angels and Saints in Heaven.
The truth is that the Catholic Church has made Mary into an idol saying that she was conceived without sin like Jesus, when in reality, just like us, she too has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. She too has been saved by faith in Jesus.
Jesus Himself said, in Luke 11:27-28 when a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” 28 But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”
What Gabriel said was true, she was highly favored, she was chosen by God to bear the Lord Jesus and should be honored for her faithful service not worshipped.
So now that that is out of the way, let’s consider our text and compare Mary’s experience with Zechariah’s. I said to Karole-Ann this week as I was preparing that this all seemed very familiar, just another sermon about Gabriel showing up to tell somebody else that they’re having a baby!
The reality is, that though there are definite similarities in these accounts, the reactions of the recipients of Gabriel’s news was actually quite different.
So let’s look at their reactions.
26 In the sixth month (actually Elizabeth’s sixth month of pregnancy) the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be.
Zechariah was serving in the Temple in Jerusalem and Mary was living out in the sticks, in the backwater town of Nazareth.
11 And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. 12 And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him.
Zechariah and Mary were both doing their thing and Gabriel shows up. Both are troubled, the Greek root word is the same. But they were troubled by different things. Gabriel hadn’t said anything to Zechariah yet, he was troubled by his presence. Mary, on the other hand, was troubled by what Gabriel said. Not that his presence was not surprising but her main concern was what the angel’s greeting meant.
Mary was a pensive person, we can see that throughout the Gospel accounts, that she treasured up things and pondered them in her heart, wondering about the meanings of things. When the shepherds showed up at the manger, and when Jesus was a boy in the temple and he was teaching the experts there in Jerusalem at twelve years old.
When Gabriel appears to Zechariah he was gripped with fear, but when he appeared to Mary she carefully considered his greeting.
Another major difference is in their response to what Gabriel was there to tell them, that they were each going to have a son.
We looked at Zechariah’s response last week. He responded with doubt and distrust. He said, “How will I know this? I’m and old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” He basically asked the angel Gabriel who stands in the presence of God, “How do I know that what you’re saying is true?” He dishonored God with his response.
Both Zechariah and Mary responded with questions of “How.” But where Zechariah questioned the plan’s accuracy, Mary questioned its possibility.
Zechariah asked, “How can it be?” Mary asked, “How will this be?”
She didn’t doubt the Lord’s word through Gabriel, in fact her response showed just the opposite. Her response showed admiration and faith. She simply asked, “How is it to be contrary to the natural laws of human birth?”
34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
Mary had a fiancée not a husband, she was betrothed to Joseph but they weren’t married yet. Betrothal in the first Century was a legally binding arrangement ended only by divorce as you can see from Joseph’s heartbreaking response to finding out Mary was pregnant and that he wasn’t the father in Matthew 1.
Because Mary did not yet have a husband, in her mind, there was no way for her to conceive a son.
But Gabriel went on to explain the plan a little more fully and to bolster her faith with news that her old cousin Elizabeth was expecting too.
35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
Where Zechariah responded to the angel with doubt, Mary responded in faith and humble submission. But where Zechariah was made mute for his response, Mary would suffer much more for hers.
Mary would have to suffer the shame of being pregnant before she was married, the Law said that she was to be stoned to death. She had to explain the situation to Joseph and to her family. But even after Joseph’s dream and his decision to take Mary as his wife, she would have to watch her Son suffer more than any man even though He was innocent. She would watch as He was beaten and crucified for the sins of the world.
Warren Wiersbe wrote, “Mary’s believing response was to surrender herself to God as His willing servant. She experienced the grace of God and believed the Word of God, and therefore she could be used by the Spirit [of God] to accomplish the will of God.”
Gabriel’s message to both Zechariah and to Mary is not unlike the gospel.
The gospel announces the grace of God into impossible circumstances, though we are sinners and are undeserving of God’s forgiveness, because of His great love for us he sent His Son Jesus to live a life without sin and to die on the cross in our place, that whoever would believe in Him, through faith in His Name would be forgiven of their sin and given a place to live in his eternal Kingdom as His child forever!
Let’s respond like Mary, in humble submission and faith.
Amen.
