The Birth of Jesus Foretold – Luke 1:26-38
When Mary is handed the tough assignment of being the mother to the Messiah, she doesn’t look for a way out, or make excuses, or ask dozens of questions wanting to know the whole plan before she agrees to it. Mary shows us that faith says yes.
Every story has some kind of tension or problem that needs to be solved. And in this week’s story, the tension is, how is Mary going to respond to the angel’s announcement?
This is a heavy responsibility that’s being placed on her. This is a risky situation that she’s going to be stepping into. How will she respond to it?
We see at first, as she is processing all of this information, that she does ask a question. “How is this going to happen? I’m a virgin.”
And the angel answers it with this beautiful response of promising the Holy Spirit’s power and protection and using her relative Elizabeth as this living example that God can do the impossible.
But even after the angel’s wonderful response, I’m sure there were probably still questions in Mary’s mind.
I know I would have so many questions. I want to see the whole plan laid out before me so that I know what I’m stepping into before I sign on that dotted line.
So what kinds of questions might Mary have had? What kinds of questions would you have in that situation?
Maybe, “How am I going to tell other people about this? Because eventually it’ll be really clear that I am pregnant and I’m not married yet. Will they believe me?
“Will Joseph believe that I wasn’t cheating on him?
“Will my parents believe that I’m not getting into trouble? And what happens if they don’t believe? There’s a huge risk I’m taking here. If they don’t believe me, Joseph could divorce me, people could stone me. This is a serious situation.
“And then once I have the child, how am I supposed to be a mother to God? I’ve never had children before. I don’t know how to parent them.
“And am I really the right person for this?”
I’m sure all of these questions at one point went through Mary’s mind, but in this moment where she is faced with this angel and this invitation to be a part of this incredible work God is doing, she responds with, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.”
Mary says yes.
She doesn’t bring out other questions. She doesn’t bring out objections. She doesn’t do what Moses did: “You need to find somebody else, or what if I was plan B or plan C, like try these other people first, and if they say no, then you can come back to me.”
No, Mary says yes.
What does her response tell us about her, about her character?
It tells us that she’s humble. She calls herself the Lord’s servant. She sees her role as someone who is there to serve God, that whatever he asks, she is going to respond to.
We also see Mary’s openness to God’s plan. I’m sure Mary had dreamed about what her married life would be like, and this was not part of her dreams. To enter her marriage already pregnant and not by her husband, this was not part of the plan. But Mary is open to the plan that God has. She lets go of her own plan to let God work out his plan through her.
We see that Mary is available. Again, she doesn’t say, “Choose somebody else!” She makes herself available to God’s plan, whatever that might be.
We also see Mary’s incredible faith that even though there are probably so many questions hanging out there, she trusts that God’s going to answer them in his time, in his way to give her what she needs in that moment. She has the faith to say yes to God.
And in fact, that’s what our key truth for today, the last key truth of this story is, faith says yes.
Even when the plan is not laid out in front of us, even when there’s risk involved, even when the information we’re receiving seems beyond what we can handle, faith says yes.
For me, starting this podcast required faith, to trust that I would learn what I needed to, to trust that God would enable me to deliver these lessons in a way that connects with you, but is faithful to his truth. And it’s been hard at times, but I know that in faith I need to say yes.
What about you? What is God calling you to step out in faith in?
Today as you go, I want you to think about that. Think about if there is maybe a command in Scripture that God has called you to obey, but it’s going to require faith.
You need to say yes.
Maybe it’s a tough conversation that you need to have, but you’re afraid of how that person is going to respond.
You need to say yes.
Maybe it’s a worry or a fear that you’ve been holding on tight to because you can’t stand the idea of not being in control. Maybe in faith you need to say, Yes, Lord, I give it up to you.
Maybe you haven’t taken the most important faith step yet of trusting Jesus alone as your Savior. Today needs to be the day that you say yes to him. Today needs to be the day where you recognize that you are a sinner in need of a Savior and that your own good works can never save you because that stain of sin goes deep. And the only way to have forgiveness from those sins and to have the shame of sin removed from your life is to trust Jesus Christ.
Because as we’ve seen in these stories, He was no ordinary child. He was God in human form, and he has come to save his people from their sins. He did that by living a perfect blameless life, a life without sin, so that he could take the punishment that you deserve.
We’re told in Scripture that the punishment for sin is death. So Jesus Christ died in your place as your substitute, taking on the punishment that you deserved.
But He didn’t stay dead. He rose and conquered death, coming back to life. And he offers you the gift of eternal life if you trust him alone for your salvation.
Today, if you have not yet trusted Jesus and decided to follow him alone for your salvation, then today you need to in faith say, yes.
And if you have done that, tell someone. And then continue on that journey, learning in God’s Word, being with other believers, and when you come to a faith situation, continuing to say, yes.
Amy C Walters 
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