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 favoured! The Lord is with you.”
Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favour with God.You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
The angel, Gabriel really gets his step count (or wing count) up in the opening of the Christmas account. He’s got a few messages to deliver. This next one is to Mary.
At this point, we don’t know too much about Mary other than the fact that she is in Nazareth and is pledged to be married to a man. This, clearly, is about the last point in time that Mary wants anything to derail that plan.
And yet, along comes Gabriel with a troubling message. Mary has been handpicked for a task – give birth to a son called Jesus.
Well, that appears to put a spanner in the works. And talk about awkward. It’s pretty obvious what Joseph’s going to think. He knows he’s not the father.
But God’s perspective – seen through his representative in Gabriel – is that he isn’t concerned. It all seems rather matter-of-factly.
What about you? Does the whole Christianity thing seem a bit awkward? Do you wonder why some people talk about it, well, rather matter-of-factly?
Or if you already believe in the whole Christianity thing, does it seem like God is asking you to do something a little different, outside the box and, frankly, awkward?
God’s not asking you to deny your emotions. But maybe he’s got a very good reason for it. You might be ‘greatly troubled’ but ‘the Lord is with you’.
Yours matter-of-factly,
Alison
