Rev Gav

Open

Luke 1:26-31

²⁶ In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, ²⁷ to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. ²⁸ Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!”

²⁹ Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. ³⁰ “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! ³¹ You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus.

Reflect

The angel Gabriel made a second announcement — this time to a girl called Mary. Gabriel means ‘God is my strength’, and the first appearance of Gabriel was to Zechariah, with a message about the coming Messiah, and how Zechariah’s son John was going to be a great prophet. This time, the announcement from Gabriel took place in a tiny, insignificant village called Nazareth in Galilee — not to someone of social status, but to an unmarried, teenage girl living in an oppressed and occupied country.

Mary was engaged to a builder called Joseph and one of Joseph’s ancestors was the great king David of Israel. This is important because the prophets of old had predicted that the Messiah would be of the line of David — in other words, that David would be one of Jesus’ direct ancestors. Mary had kept herself pure — she was a virgin — and Luke wanted to point this out because of the next part of the message, that Mary was going to have a baby and she was to call him Jesus which means ‘saviour’.

Think on this; the King of the universe, the highest of the high, was going to be born to someone with little social status – the lowest of the low. It did not mean that God could not use people if they had a high social status — just that social status did not mean anything to God — and it still does not. God looks for people who love him and who are open and honest with him. We call this humility.

It is difficult to measure your own humility, but I guess you can ask yourself, “How open to God am I?”, “Am I being truly honest with God about my life – the things I think, do, say and feel?”, and, “Do I recognise that I cannot live independently of God?”

Do

Today, be truly honest with God about yourself, and as a first step, tell God how you’re feeling.

Pray

Holy God
Thank you that you don’t choose people
based on their role, status or wealth,
but on the condition of their hearts.
You know my deepest thoughts,
my moods, my feelings and my reactions.
Help me be completely honest with you,
that I might be your servant,
this day and for ever.
Amen.

Think

1. What does God’s choice of Mary tell you about the character of God – i.e. what God is like?

2. Do you think that God would choose you? Why or why not?