The angel comes to Mary and tells her that she is “highly favoured”. Wow, that’s great! So what does this favour look like? Here is the bombshell: “You will conceive and give birth to a son.” A few issues would have occurred to Mary at this ‘annunciation’. First of all, she was a virgin; so there is a physiological impossibility to consider here. But more serious was the fact that Mary wasn’t married, which meant that her pregnancy would bring her disgrace at best and death by stoning at worst. We know now that the angel would visit Joseph too and clear things up with him. Mary, however, didn’t know this would happen. But wait there is more! The angel told her that she would give birth to the Messiah even though she lived in Nazareth. But the Scriptures clearly indicate that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2). We know now that just before the birth of Jesus the emperor called for a census which would require people to return to their ancestral land, which in Joseph’s case meant Bethlehem. But Mary didn’t know this would happen. So there are a number of issues with this so called ‘favour’. The favour of God comes in very strange forms. It often looks like confusion at best and sheer doom at worst. Have you experienced the strange providential favour of God? Maybe you are experiencing it now. Are there things going on that seem confusing and worrying? Let your trust be like that of Mary who responded to God saying: “May your word to me be fulfilled.”
What is God saying to you in your present situation? Trust God to fulfil his promises for you through whatever means.
Read Luke 1:26-38
