“Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!” (Luke 1:30-33)She was deep in thought. The wedding was a few months off and her family was getting ready for it. She was proud that she was going to marry Joseph. He was tall and strong and handsome. He had a good business and made a good living. And on top of it all, he loved her.
She had always known, as had all the girls, that she would one day marry the one her parents chose for her. As a young girl, she had spent a fair amount of time wondering who it would be. She would look at all the men in Nazareth and try to figure who it would be.
Would he be older, like Ezra, the butcher? He was a good man, but he was a lot older than she. He had lost his wife a couple of years ago and was beginning to think about remarrying. He did have two children that needed a mother.
Or would it be Solomon, or Benjamin or one of the other boys? She was so glad when they told her that Joseph had asked for her hand and they had accepted. She knew that as an obedient Jewish girl, she would have to defer to her parents in their choice of her husband. But oh she hoped he was handsome and near her age.
But then it happened. As she walked along thinking about all this, she almost bumped into a man. When she looked up at him, she knew instantly that he was an angel. And she was afraid.
She fell on her face. Why was he here? There was the story that when you died you saw an angel come to get you, but she didn't think she had died. She felt fine. What was he here for?
He lifted her to her feet and spoke to her in a voice that was so otherworldly. She had never heard anything like it before in her life. It wasn’t roaring or any of the ways you would think an angel would speak, but it had such authority and such power. It was the kind of voice you didn’t talk back to.
The first thing he said was Don’t be afraid. A little late for that. And how was a girl who was only fourteen years old not supposed to be afraid when she saw an angel?
Then the angel told her something that completely changed her life, both for the better and the worse. You have found favor with God.
And he told her she would have a child. Wait a minute. She was a virgin. She had been saving herself for her husband. How could she have a child? What would everyone think when she became pregnant?
She was more afraid. The angel had told her: The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God.
The Son of God. The Messiah. The Prince of Peace promised to her people for thousands of years. She would be his mother. His mother! She!
She felt the power of God wash over her in a way she had never felt before. And when she did, she knew she was pregnant with God’s Son.
Oh, what a fortunate woman she was! Any woman would jump at the chance to be in this situation! And she was chosen. She!
She was so blessed, she thought, and her soul magnified the Lord.
Now what in heaven’s name was she going to tell Joseph?
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