(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)
I have often wondered how much Mary knew and understood about her ancestry. She was a daughter of Abraham, a descendant of King David. For the descendant of a king she appeared to be quite poor and lacking in many of the physical and material things of life. She came from Nazareth. It was a town not known for being the home of the wealthy or well to do. No one famous ever came from Nazareth, no prophets, no kings, no one worthy of note. It was just a little place in the Galilee region where the common every day people lived out their lives, that is; until the birth of Jesus.
I have to wonder if we really know what we think we know when we ponder the life of Mary so many years ago. Was she really poor? She did apparently eventually share the income from Joseph's carpentry work. Joseph was a descendant of King David but by this time in history the Jewish people were under the Roman occupation. The glory days of being a descendant of David were over. This helps to put the physical poverty of these two into perspective. Joseph was just an ordinary man, a carpenter, who did ordinary work that might have been hard to come by in those times. He was not living among the wealthy who could pay him high prices for his labor. It seems though that the lack of material blessings did not matter one bit, they were very rich in spiritual blessings.
When we first hear of Mary in the scriptures she is pledged to Joseph but not yet living with him. She is visited by an angel named Gabriel who greets her with the words: "Hail Mary." It was a greeting that greatly troubled her.
Why did this greeting trouble her? The scriptures say she was "troubled" by the greeting and considered in her mind what type of greeting this might be. Maybe it was the next line that caused her to be troubled: "The Lord is with you." My first thought is that would be wonderful! That wasn't Mary's immediate reaction though. How odd it seems upon first reading this scripture that Mary would have been "troubled."
Keeping her reaction in mind, you may begin to grasp the fact that most likely Mary had somehow studied the Torah extensively. Women were not taught to read in those days, nor did they have the opportunity to go to school like men. It was a most unusual thing for a woman to grasp the deep significance of the Holy Word. Can't you just visualize Mary sitting quietly and unnoticed at the feet of the great teachers when no one was paying attention? Can't you just sense that she was listening and deliberately soaking in every word from the holy scriptures, even asking questions as a young child when she had the opportunity?
Perhaps she had learned much from Elizabeth who possibly had learned much from her husband Zacharias who was a priest. Perhaps Mary knew so many people full of the Spirit of God that she had soaked in The Word from all of them at random times and places as she grew up. Who knows how it happened, but it is obvious that Mary knew the holy scriptures.
This must have been the case because anyone who had studied the Torah in those days would have recalled the stories from the first five books of the bible and astutely recognized the fact that any time someone was being called out by God to do a daunting task the very same words spoken of by Gabriel to Mary (The Lord is with you) were always used.
These very words had been repeated to great servants of God over and over, like a pattern neatly laid out by God. When Mary's ears and heart heard the angel proclaim "The Lord is with you." she probably knew instantly she was about to receive an invitation from God to play a crucial role in His plan for mankind.
She must have recognized the fact that these same words were used from God to Moses in Exodus 3:12. Moses was told at a burning bush that God had a mission for him. He considered himself unworthy and unequipped. He was afraid. God assured Moses by stating that He would be with him. God was doing the same for Mary.
Mary knew this in her heart. These were not just words to her. Her love and devotion to God had prepared her for this day. She had been listening, praying, learning, leaning into God's will from her childhood. She loved, cherished and knew the story of Moses. She would have sensed the weight of this moment in history. Perhaps that is what helped her to give the answer that she gave, the answer that greatly pleased God so much that He proclaimed her blessed above all women.
Though she sensed and knew what the greeting meant; she also knew that these divine callings throughout history usually entailed great sacrifices and challenges to the one being greeted by such sacred words. She must have known she was about to be drawn out of her comfort zone, from a cozy simple life to a challenging and complicated life. She must have felt from that moment that her whole world would change from a life that required simple day-to-day faith for small things to a life that required great exceeding faith of eternal consequences. Things went from very simple to very complicated in one tiny moment. Life is often like that for all of us. When these things happen our answers are important. In Mary's answer to God the most significant moment of all time was confirmed.
We can be assured in these life changing moments that God will be with us. The angel continued to reassure Mary. "Do not be afraid Mary, for you have found favor with God."
Mary must have also thought of Abraham. God found so much favour with Abraham that He made a covenant with him that would bring blessings to all nations of the earth. God used the life of Abraham to make all things new. Mary recognized this. Mary must have sensed the responsibility that went along with having "favour" with God. She must have known if you did not follow through and keep what God has asked of you, even when favoured - the whole world might never be right again and all hope of newness could possibly be lost forever. She must have considered the responsibility that she would be stepping into when she gave her answer; but her faith was bigger than her fears and her God was larger than the earthly troubles she would need to endure.
She gathered all the courage within her soul and said those beautiful most perfect words: "I am a servant of The Lord, let it be done unto me as you say."
And once again, God used one of His faithful servants to make all things new!
