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Looking at Mary

Gabriel called Mary “favored woman” (Luke 1:28 NLT), and the biblical meaning is that she was imbued with special honor. Of all the women on earth, she was given the privilege of carrying God’s Son (and she would receive Him as her Savior, just like all others who believe), but Gabriel didn’t say she was perfect or sinless. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23 NKJV). “All” in that verse means all. It doesn’t exclude anyone. Mary was a sinner, just like you and I are sinners, but God had chosen her. The Bible doesn’t say why she was chosen except that she was a virgin; the other reasons are known only to God alone. But we do know these things about Mary from Scripture:

• We know that she was a woman of faith because she believed the Lord would do what He said.
• We know she praised the Lord and magnified His name.
• We know she was in awe of the Lord and recognized His mercies.
• We know she recognized God’s power to scatter the proud and lift up the humble.
• We know she was hungry for the good things of God.
• We know she felt God’s love and mercy for Israel because she knew that God keeps His promises.
• We know she knew God’s Word because nearly all the words from her prayer in Luke 1:46-55 are from Scripture.
• And we know she was obedient because she put her yes on the table when she said to Gabriel, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true” (Luke 1:38 NLT).

For a common and ordinary girl living in a plain, ordinary village where nothing ever changed, the birth of God’s Son would ricochet around the world, and nothing would ever be the same again.

Mary was favored by God. Throughout her life, she may have questioned why she was chosen and most certainly would have remembered words from the Scriptures, particularly the prophet Isaiah, who said, “The Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’)” (Isaiah 7:14 NLT) Quickly thereafter, Mary would have recalled the angel Gabriel’s words to her: “The word of God will never fail” (Luke 1:37 NLT). Indeed, God’s word had never failed.

Mary honored her word and provided a loving home for God’s only Son. She laughed and cried as she raised Jesus through His childhood and stood weeping in anguish as Romans raised Him up on a cross. She was the only one who had been present with Jesus from the cradle to the cross. And through everything, the Lord was with her. Just as He is with you.