The Blessed Virgin Mary

 

The Blessed Virgin Mary

That’s quite a title! But, as we will quickly see, it is a deserved one.

Mary is a central figure in the Christmas story. (You see how nothing gets past me??) First, I will look at why she is the “Blessed Virgin” and then, when I examine her faith, I will point out some aspects of faith we haven’t seen before. All of this is from Luke 1.

26 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,
27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and favor is related
28 And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
29 And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.
30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.

In the sixth month refers to Elisabeth’s pregnancy (we will look at her faith next).

Hail, thou that art highly favoured / thou hast found favor with God – In the phrases Thou that art highly favored (28) and thou hast found favor (30) the word favor is related to grace. On top of this Gabriel says to her, Blessed art thou among women (28).

As the Douay-Rheims Bible (translation from the Latin) puts verse 28:
And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.

This is where the Catholic and Orthodox churches get, “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.” If we believe the Bible, we need to admit she is indeed the Blessed Virgin.

In my early years in the faith, I was among the saints who were so afraid of being considered Catholic that they either ignored Mary or made sure to declare she was really nothing special. None of that for me now. I don’t worship her, but she is indeed The Blessed Virgin Mary! Blessed is she that believed. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.

Why was Mary blessed among women? She was chosen by God to give birth to the Messiah. This would have been the hope and dream of every Jewish girl in those days, and Mary is the girl!!

Now on to her faith. Elisabeth said, Blessed is she that believed. So right away we know that she believed Gabriel.

she was troubled at this saying - this shows her humility. That’s when the angel repeats, Thou hast found favor with God. He then proceeds to tell her she shall conceive and bear a son, and that her son will be the Son of the highest, and sit on the throne of David as King of Israel. In other words, the Messiah (31-33)!

34 Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?

One minor problem, “I’m a virgin. How shall this be?” It seems she understood the angel’s words to mean she’s going to get pregnant now. Zacharias had a similar question, “Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years.” Is she about to lose her speech as well?

35 the angel answered and said unto her – rather than rebuke her, Gabriel explains how this will work. Why did Zacharias receive a rebuke and Mary an explanation? Zacharias demanded proof. He had prayed for this blessing and was now skeptical, a fancy word for unbelief. Mary on the other hand only wanted to know how in her case it would be possible to conceive, after all, Zacharias and Elisabeth were going to conceive the old-fashioned way. The angel ended his explanation with, 37 For with God nothing shall be impossible. He was helping her faith! Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. He had given her the Word from God; he had explained how this Word would come to pass; now he adds this, with God nothing shall be impossible. Fuel for faith!

38 And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.

This is powerful! She believed what he told her! “God said it, I believe it, that settles it for me.” Mary heard the word and believed it. Amen! But there are aspects of faith which we’ve not seen before.

(1) There were going to be repercussions to her turning up pregnant: she wasn’t married so she could expect family and social difficulties; there was also a great risk of losing her husband-to-be. Believing the Lord included trusting Him with the details and the fallout. This is important. She believed the promise, but she also trusted the Lord.

(2) And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. There are several words that have been used to describe this: yield, surrender, submit; they all involve the will. She heard the promise, You will have a son who will be Messiah and believed it; she trusted the Lord to work this out in real time; and she said, “I submit myself to your plan.” I haven’t mentioned submission before, but this is often a vital step to faith, “I’m yours, Lord, have your way in my life.” This is an essential step in the deeper life in Christ.

Here is Mary’s faith. And what great faith it is! She has faith to receive a work she cannot do herself. She not only believes the words of the angel, in faith she offers herself to God for Him to do His work in her. And as she believed for grace to conceive, she believed for grace to enable her to handle the consequences of being pregnant before being married.

Mary is indeed blessed among women and a woman of great faith.

All to Jesus I surrender,
All to him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust him,
In his presence daily live.

I surrender all,
I surrender all,
All to thee, my blessed Savior,
I surrender all.
(Judson W. Van DeVenter, 1896)

THURSDAY: Elisabeth