“And blessed is she who believed …” the words that Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, greeted Mary with that long ago day in a town in Judah.  I wonder if a hug accompanied them?

 

What was it that Mary was believing?

“Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”
Luke 1:28

With nine little words, Gabriel offered two HUGE truths … Mary was favored; and the Lord was with her.

“Favored” the Greek word charis often translated grace speaks of Mary’s identity and reality. In a sue paraphrase, the text could read, Good morning, dear Mary, you who are experiencing the grace of God.

Have you heard the Lord call you ‘favored’? Jesus, the incarnation of grace, calls us favored too. Although his word might sound more like loved, as children of God, we are favored recipients of grace.

Mary’s favored status led to confidently thinking about and questioning what she was hearing. I get that. Her considering not challenging, allowed her to respond, “let it be to me”. Mary was alive to God.

“So you also must consider yourselves … alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
Romans 6:11

Paul penned those words, the first imperative in Romans, as the way to walk in newness of life (6:4). I ask myself, do my questions demand or trust? Do my questions validate my identity? Am I considering myself alive to God?

AND, “the Lord is with you!” Right now, you are experiencing the nearness of God.

The same greeting that wowed Mary that long-ago morning is for us, we who are loved by God — he is with us.

Gabriel’s message supporting the words of the prophets, was familiar to Mary, but I wonder, did Mary ever put herself in the story?

Isn’t that true of us as well?
Would we not be amazed if we knew God’s plans for us?

God not only speaks of our now reality, he also gives hope for our future.

Jesus speaking to his closest friends near the end of his life says in John 16,
“I still have many things to say to you …” (verse 12)

And I believe Jesus still has many things to say to me, err, us.

Are we listening?
How do we hear?
Are we, like Mary, pondering what we hear?
I wonder, what are the gifts God has for us in this new year?

I want to hear God’s affirmations.
I want to experience God’s nearness.
I want to believe that God has more words for me.
Like Mary, I want to consider his words and respond, Let it be to me.

I bet you do too.

And I’d love to walk boldly and expectantly into the new year hand in hand. Are you in?