Transcript
Speaker: The following podcast is a Jill Devine Media production. Christianity has become known for judgy people, strange words, ancient stories, confusing rules, and a members -only mindset. This is why I stayed away from the church for so long, but it's not supposed to be that way. I'm Jill Devine, a former radio personality with three tattoos, a love for a good tequila, and who's never read the entire Bible.
Speaker: Yet here I am hosting a podcast about faith. The Normal Goes Along Way podcast is your home for real conversations with real people using real language about how faith and real life intersect. Welcome to the conversation.
Speaker: Let's be honest, how would you respond if you found out you were going to have a son and that he would be the Son of God? That's what we're going to look at today as we read how Luke describes Mary learning that she was going to have the Son of God. This is what Luke writes in his letter. In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, who was a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary.
Speaker: The angel went to her and said, Greetings, you who are highly favored. 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 favor with God, and you will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.
Speaker: 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 the house of Jacob forever. His kingdom will never be." Now let's stop here and just wonder and marvel at what Gabriel is telling Mary.
Speaker: He is telling her that this person they've been waiting for, this king that the Jewish people have been waiting for for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years is going to come and that he is going to be her son.
Speaker: When he says that Joseph is the descendant of David, that is what the prophets had said would happen. That is who they said that this Messiah would be connected to the descendant of David. And so what we're seeing is all of the waiting start to come to an end and to be fulfilled through Mary.
Speaker: And yet Mary says, how will this be? Mary asked the angel, since I am a virgin. The angel answered, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth, your relative, is going to have a child in her old age. And she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible with God.
Speaker: I am the Lord's servant, Mary answered, may it be to me as you have said, then the angel left her. Wow. In just those few verses, we have encountered the fulfillment of this long promise of God to send a savior to take care of his people and to usher in a new kingdom for them.
Speaker: And do you see the connection between Mary and Elizabeth? Not only are they relatives, but God answered, awaiting with Elizabeth and Decoriah for a son. And now through Mary, he is answering, awaiting a longing of his people for a king, for a savior. And of course, Mary had questions.
Speaker: How is this going to happen? She's a virgin. And of course she was probably scared. And of course she probably had so many questions. And yet, it is with such wonder and awe that I look at how she responded to Gabriel. I am the Lord's servant, Mary answered. May it be to me as you have said.
Speaker: Think about Mary's response today as you go about your day. Think about what it must have been like to find out that this long -awaited promise was going to happen through her. That the Son of God would be formed in her body. That she would be the first one to experience the presence of Jesus.
Speaker: and such an intimate experience that he would be formed in her womb. She would know the savior of the world before anyone else did and have a connection to him that was like anyone else. And yet she had nothing to do with it happening. The only thing that she did was she said, yes, let it be so.
Speaker: What might it be that God wants to fulfill in your life? Think about what blessing, what promise He wants to bring into the world through you, to birth something through you. Maybe all you have to do is say yes. Be still.
