What we learned about Mary ...

For our Bible story this week, we studied Mary. Advent is a nice long season … so when we are doing our Bible time together, we get to learn lots of different stories related to Christmas. I had so much fun learning about Mary this week so that I could teach about her to the grandchildren.

First of all, Mary was the promised virgin in Isaiah's prophecy hundreds of years before Jesus was born. "Therefore the LORD himself will give you a sign: the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel." (Is. 7:14). This passage is quoted in Matthew's Gospel with this additional comment, "--which means, 'God with us.'" (Matthew 1:22, 23). 

We talked a little bit about what the word "virgin" means. In the Hebrew, it simply means an "unmarried girl", or "one put aside." We learned that Mary was NOT married; however, she was promised to a man named Joseph … they were engaged to be married--we don't know if this had been arranged since Mary was a baby! But girls back in Bible times did marry quite young, and since Mary was NOT married yet, it probably means she was fourteen or even as young as thirteen when the angel Gabriel ("God is Mighty") appeared to her. And that's the first time we meet this young, unmarried girl  when Gabriel arrived in Nazareth (a town in Galilee) because God had sent him to give Mary a message!

Who else in the Bible did Gabriel appear to? I had to find this out! Well … it turns out that Gabriel appeared to Daniel in the Old Testament and he had a whole bunch of stuff to tell Daniel at the time. Also, Gabriel was sent to Zachariah to tell him that he was going to be the father of John the Baptist. This is what Gabriel said about himself: "I am Gabriel, and I stand in the presence of God!" Wow. 

What did Gabriel say to Mary? "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."

Highly favored! What does THAT mean?

 Was Mary God's favorite young girl in the whole world at that time? It sounds like she was! What had Mary done to make herself favored?!

"Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be." Well, at least Mary didn't think she was SOMETHING! She didn't seem to have any idea why anyone would favor her!

 "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God."

Thousands of years earlier, this was said of another biblical character. He lived in a completely wicked world; but somehow, "Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord." (Gen. 6:8) And because of that, Noah and his family were saved from the flood, remember? How had Noah found favor with God? And there is another example too: Abraham! Abraham was called out of the land where he lived and was asked to leave his ancestors and travel to a faraway country. We read where "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness."  Perhaps the reason Noah was favored was because he too believed God about the flood and then he spent the next 120 years building the ark!

 Gabriel knows that Mary is frightened. He calls her by her name and tells her NOT to be afraid. Don't be afraid, Mary! You are God's FAVORITE! Wasn't that kind of Gabriel? It's a kind introduction to something very scary that he is going to tell Mary! "You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus." Savior! And then Gabriel tells Mary how great Jesus will be, that he would be called "the Son of the Most High God!" and that he would rule David's throne with his forever kingdom! WOW.

Mary is STILL troubled, though and asks HOW ON EARTH WILL THIS HAPPEN?! She tells Gabriel that she isn't married yet … only promised to Joseph. To be pregnant with a child and have NO husband was a very serious wrong in New Testament times. A young girl could be accused of the crime of adultery and even stoned to death if her fiancé decided to bring her before a judge! Mary must have been very frightened at these words from Gabriel.

 Gabriel tells her that God's Holy Spirit would "come upon her" and that the "power of the Most High will overshadow" her "so that the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God." And then Gabriel told Mary about her relative, Elizabeth (who was way too old to have children and had been barren) who was six months pregnant at the time--Elizabeth thought she would NEVER have a baby! And then Gabriel tells Mary that "nothing is impossible with God." (Luke 1:37)

When I read about how Mary responded to this incredible message, I discovered WHY she was God's favorite. Mary did not protest--she did not ask God to pick somebody else (like Moses did)! She didn't ask for a sign (like Zachariah had done … or even Gideon in the O.T.). She didn't whine and complain about how dangerous this would be for her! Instead, this was Mary's response: "I am the Lord's servant. May it be to me as you have said." Impressive. Mary just says that whatever God wants to do, she is going to submit to. That's hard stuff. No wonder God favored Mary! 

Mary's song in Luke 1:46-55 very beautifully shows us the depth of her love for the Lord. 

"My soul glorifies the Lord

 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

for he has been mindful

of the humble state of his servant.

From now on all generations

will call me blessed,

for the Mighty One has done great things for me--

holy is his name."

I won't quote the entire song -- but it is a beautiful love song to the Lord from Mary.

While the kiddos colored their pictures, we played Keith and Kristyn Getty's song: "Magnificat" (which is their version of Mary's song … beautifully written and sung), as well as "Be Born in Me" and then "Mary, Did you Know?" We hopped on Youtube to do this. I was really pleased to see how much the children loved these songs.

So … we concluded that Mary was God's favorite because of her faith and her obedience. She was a young teenage girl who served the Lord and loved Him completely!