Thank You Mary, Mother of Jesus

A Virgin Conceives

"In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to the Galilean village of Nazareth to a virgin engaged to be married to a man descended from David. His name was Joseph, and the virgin’s name, Mary. Upon entering, Gabriel greeted her:

Good morning!
You’re beautiful with God’s beauty,
Beautiful inside and out!
God be with you.

She was thoroughly shaken, wondering what was behind a greeting like that. But the angel assured her, “Mary, you have nothing to fear. God has a surprise for you: You will become pregnant and give birth to a son and call his name Jesus.

He will be great,
    be called ‘Son of the Highest.’
The Lord God will give him
    the throne of his father David;
He will rule Jacob’s house forever—
    no end, ever, to his kingdom.”

Mary said to the angel, “But how? I’ve never slept with a man.”

The angel answered,

The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
    the power of the Highest hover over you;
Therefore, the child you bring to birth
    will be called Holy, Son of God.

“And did you know that your cousin Elizabeth conceived a son, old as she is? Everyone called her barren, and here she is six months pregnant! Nothing, you see, is impossible with God.” Luke 1:26-37

This is the 6th message in this Thanksgiving Series*, which also morphed into an Advent Series.

The passage we read above immediately follows the verses we read from the 5th message and basically is a continuation of that message. Links to the first five messages in this series is listed below.

Today, we will continue with the Advent (Arrival of the Savior) story. And now we focus on how Mary would eventually come to understand and accept this responsibility of carrying and raising the child who has been prophesied and written about for hundreds of years before she was born, as the Messiah.

Messiah

Messiah is the Hebrew word (Mashiach) meaning the Anointed One. The consensus in their place and time was that the Messiah will be born to save them from their oppressors. Little did they know that the promised Messiah is so much bigger than that. He will be born to save not just the Jewish nation but the whole world.

And this birth of the Savior, we commemorate this Advent Season. He was born for you, me and everyone else, all inclusive.