“In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!’ But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’ And Mary said to the angel, ‘How will this be, since I am a virgin?’ And the angel answered her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.’ And Mary said, ‘Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.’ And the angel departed from her.”

For many, when they think of the beginning of the gospel their minds go right to the earthly ministry of Jesus. This isn’t exactly a wrong response – the central message of the earthly ministry, “repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” is in many ways the beginning of the good news that culminates with the crucifixion and the empty grave. Both Mark and John begin their gospels (admittedly with very different tones and styles), by briefly addressing the ministry of John the Baptist before moving right into the ministry of Christ. Some, when considering the beginning of the gospel, would think of the Christmas story, of the baby Jesus born in Bethlehem and laid in a manger. This again is in no way a wrong way to think of things – the good news of Jesus certainly had its beginnings in His birth, and this is a scene that Matthew briefly addresses and Luke recounts in great detail which we’ll look at in chapter 2. Neither of these paths are wrong beginnings as it pertains to the gospel, but as can be seen throughout Scripture and as we continue to see illustrated in Luke’s account, the good news of Jesus began long before He was born. In many ways it could be said that the gospel begins in God’s curse upon the serpent in Genesis 3:15,

“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

This is the good news – that despite the mortal wound of sin inflicted upon mankind, a triumphant defeat of sin lies in the future. All of the Old Testament – from the establishment of the Law, to the successes and failures of prophets, priests, judges, and kings, from the poetry of the Psalms to the trials of Job all guide us to a realization of the desperate need that is abundantly met in Jesus. What Luke’s gospel helps to display from the very beginning is that it has not just been the grand, overarching events that have been leading to Christ, but that God has been working within the lives of individuals, His glory displayed through them. Moving from Zechariah and Elizabeth’s news that they will have a son after so many years childless and seeing their responses, today’s passage shows us the young virgin Mary as she receives the news that she will be the mother of the Christ. Just as with Zechariah and Elizabeth, there is much we can take from the provision that God has made for her, and through her, all the world, as well as from her response to this news that is incomprehensibly huge. What we ultimately see revealed in the life of this blessed young woman is just one more example of what God has shown again and again, repeated from the beginning – from parted waves to fire from heaven, from creation itself to the virgin birth of Jesus, there is nothing impossible before God.

God of the Impossible

1. An Impossible Position

““In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!’”

Protestants are often accused by those in the Catholic and Orthodox churches of tearing down the sacred image of the virgin Mary. Admittedly, we can sometimes fail to appreciate the great significance of her role and character in the story of the gospel – however oftentimes what is labeled as “tearing down,” is actually an attempt to correct the gross overemphasis placed on the mother of Jesus by Catholic and Orthodox practitioners. Firmly held within the traditions of both of these churches are beliefs and practices around Mary that are not only not supported anywhere in Scripture, but almost deify her into a second Christ. While it’s never said outright, their treatment of her often places her near, if not on the same level as Jesus. There are teachings around, not just her righteousness (as we saw with Zechariah and Elizabeth), but her presumed sinlessness, her marriage to Joseph, and her perpetual virginity that all find their roots in a false gospel written well after the time of the Apostles. What’s so unfortunate (aside from the blasphemy of elevating her into spaces that belong to God alone), is that everything we see from Mary that is actually revealed in Scripture shows us an admirable young woman of great faith, and it’s in no way her fault that some have taken her image and essentially made her into an idol. What’s so fascinating is that from what we read in today’s passage, Mary was, by all appearances, a very normal young woman. While her spiritual condition was obviously one of righteousness before God, her circumstances are exceedingly ordinary. The first thing to note is that she’s living in Nazareth, a small town in the northern region of Galilee – not the more religiously prominent region of Judea in the south where Jerusalem was. Bear in mind, when Philip says to Nathanael in John 1:45,

“…We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph…”

Nathanael’s immediate response in the next verse is,

“… Can anything good come out of Nazareth?…”

This isn’t a region that is necessarily looked on as favorable, and it’s not where people imagined the Christ as coming from. But Mary being called from an unlikely or seemingly impossible position just reemphasizes something that God has illustrated before. Abraham was advanced in years, living among his father’s people in a pagan land when the Lord called Him. Figures like Joseph and Daniel were both prisoners in foreign lands who were raised up to be mighty rulers within the kingdoms that once held them captive. Gideon was the youngest son of a family within the weakest clan in Manasseh when he was called to be a judge over Israel. Both Moses and David were living lives as lowly shepherds when God called them – Moses after having fled Egypt and David as the youngest of his father’s sons. What God says to Samuel in 1 Samuel 16:7 is reflected in the lives of all these men, in the life of the virgin Mary, and in the lives of many more,

“… For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”

God did not call the righteous young woman who would bear His Son from the most likely of places – but neither did Jesus call His disciples from among the socially prominent or the religious elite. Those who would follow Him and learn from Him personally, who would be the first to begin the spread of the gospel around the world were not pulled from among the prominent and educated, but were made up most notably of fishermen, a tax collector, and a zealot. What man may think of as impossible because of place of birth, social standing, or education is in no way a limitation before the Almighty, and while this is shown again and again throughout Scripture, a shining example is the woman who is chosen to bear the Son of God, and physically bring Him into the world.

2. An Impossible Promise

“But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.”

There’s become a bit of a running joke as the popular culture has figured out that Biblical angels aren’t little cupid-like figures – people will read of the living creatures in Ezekiel 1:15–18,

“Now as I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the earth beside the living creatures, one for each of the four of them. As for the appearance of the wheels and their construction: their appearance was like the gleaming of beryl. And the four had the same likeness, their appearance and construction being as it were a wheel within a wheel. When they went, they went in any of their four directions without turning as they went. And their rims were tall and awesome, and the rims of all four were full of eyes all around.”

Or the ones in Revelation 4:6–8,

“And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, ‘Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!’”

Admittedly, neither of these examples are called “angels” but I understand why the connection is often made. Regardless, people will read these passages and blend them with others like the one we read today, Gabriel’s words to Zechariah or when Daniel is told in Daniel 10:12, 19,

“… Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words.” … “… O man greatly loved, fear not, peace be with you; be strong and of good courage…”

The joke is that people imagine a many eyed, many winged heavenly being popping out of nowhere and the first thing they say to you is, “Hey, don’t be afraid.” Does it have a comical spin? Certainly. Is it the most accurate Biblical representation? No, it’s not. Remember that “angel” means “messenger,” and we know from examples like Genesis 19 when the two angels come to Lot in Sodom that they can absolutely appear as seemingly ordinary humans. So bearing in mind that Gabriel likely isn’t appearing to Mary as a many eyed, eagled headed, spiritual being, what can we take away from Mary’s troubled and confused response and Gabriel’s immediate assurance that she shouldn’t be afraid? The confusion itself is fairly logical as far as responses go – a stranger approaches, based on the context of the conversation this isn’t in public, so Gabriel is quite possibly visiting Mary in her home, and the first words out of his mouth are, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” Gabriel doesn’t have to appear as a many eyed wheel within a wheel for this to be confusing or require some unpacking. We have to consider that Gabriel’s “don’t worry,” doesn’t mean the same thing as it would coming from another fellow human. A person may tell you news that is disturbing or confusing and then tell you not to worry, or that it’s okay, but all they’re giving you is their best assessment of things. They may be absolutely right, but they could also be completely wrong, because people have the ability to be quite fallible. But Gabriel is not a person, he’s an angel of the Lord, he stands in the presence of God and has been sent to deliver a message that is not his own, but the Lord’s. I can tell you that everything is going to be okay and not to worry all I want to, but if all I can offer you to support my claims are worldly assurances, then they’re only worth the vaporous, temperamental certainty that all flesh is subject to. Gabriel telling Mary, however, to not be afraid doesn’t carry the weight of human assurance or rationale, but of the promise and certainty of God – she doesn’t have to be afraid, in fact she shouldn’t be afraid, because she has found favor with God. During the exodus, when the Israelites found themselves with the Red Sea before them and the army of Pharaoh behind them, they’re not told to take up arms, or to stand and fight. Rather, in the midst of their despair Moses says to them in Exodus 14:13–14,

“… Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”

In the early days of the church, as Christians were facing rampant persecution, imprisonment, and martyrdom Paul writes in Romans 8:31, 35-37,

“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” … “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”

In the flesh there are many reasons to be fearful – I’ve heard a psychologist point out that while many people will ask, “why are you anxious, why are you depressed, why are you afraid?” It is actually far more logical to ask, “why aren’t you anxious, depressed, and afraid?” Life in this sin-stained world is not pleasant or easy, fallen humanity is a landscape of suffering and so far mankind is operating at an essentially 100% death rate for everyone who’s ever lived (If you want to tweak that percentage for Enoch and Elijah, be my guest, but I have no clue how to calculate two out of billions, so I’m just going to go with 100%). If we have any certainty, if we have any reprieve, any hope, joy, or peace, any Light in this present darkness, then it comes from God alone, and this is exactly what we see in the assurance that is given to Mary. This is part of the impossible promise that Gabriel brings, before we arrive at the news that Mary will conceive and give birth to the Christ, she is offered a comfort that none but God can truly give – that she doesn’t have to be afraid, because she has found favor before the Lord.

“And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’”

The world is broken, through the transgression of man sin entered in, and with it a permanent separation from God. There was nothing we could do, filthy as we had made ourselves to claim redemption, to free ourselves from this stain – our destruction was assured, and by any accounting of man, our salvation was impossible. But then God, who owed us nothing, God against whom we had declared war in our rebellion acted where we could not, made the move in His great power to offer a reconciliation that we ourselves could have never sought nor brokered. In Ezekiel 36:25–27 the Lord says to His people,

“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”

This is just one of a multitude of examples showing God’s loving and righteous work toward reconciliation – another being the prophecy that Gabriel is promising will be fulfilled by God through Mary from Isaiah 9:6–7,

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.”

The people of Israel (and through them, the whole world), are told that they will dwell in an eternal kingdom where God is their King forever – an impossible promise, except for the final sentence, stating that the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. This is not something achieved by the plans or ambitions of mankind, but by the work and power of the Lord, and just as Mary need not fear because of the certainty that she has found favor before God, so too we may all hold great hope for the work that God has promised for the sake of His holy name. The message that Gabriel brings, the news that he shares is that this seemingly impossible promise will be fulfilled through this unassuming, albeit devoted young woman, living in the small town of Nazareth. Through her story we can again see and take heart in the fact that things which are incomprehensible and seemingly impossible in the minds of men are no obstacle at all before God – what the Lord has promised He will deliver, always and without fail.

3. An Impossible Explanation

“And Mary said to the angel, ‘How will this be, since I am a virgin?’”

There is always a risk of our religious practices tilting toward legalism, just as there is always a risk of leaning too far in the other direction and dispensing with rule and order altogether to operate solely off of feelings. Neither extreme is faithful to what God calls us to, neither is supported by His Word. If we look at passages like the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7, or Jesus’ tirade against the Pharisees in Matthew 23, we see abundant affirmation that it is not just what we do, but why we do it that matters – not action alone but the spirit of the action. When Gabriel delivers his message to Zechariah, he questions what the angel has to say. Zechariah should know better – he’s in the temple speaking to an angel of the Lord, not to mention the fact that Gabriel makes allusions that tie back to miracle children born to barren parents in the Old Testament. There was no real excuse for Zechariah’s doubt, and yet, if we’re honest with ourselves, his question is also somewhat understandable. God has promised that the priest and his wife will have a child, Zechariah expresses a practical doubt because he and Elizabeth are both advanced in years – he should trust in the power of the Lord over his own understanding, but his question doesn’t come from a place that’s completely devoid of logic. What’s interesting is that in today’s passage we see Mary ask a question that on the surface seems like it’s not so different from Zechariah’s. When Gabriel says that Elizabeth will have a child, Zechariah questions this because of their age. When Gabriel says that Mary will have a child, she questions this because of her virginity. Now, even from the standpoint of human reasoning, it’s easier to comprehend overcoming the hurdle of conceiving at an advanced age, for which there is a Biblical precedent, versus conceiving as a virgin, for which there is no precedent, only prophecy, seen in Isaiah 7:14,

“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

Regardless, both questions come from a place of practicality – while we can fully acknowledge that Zechariah should have known better than to question Gabriel’s message, we also don’t want to disparage his character completely over this one mistake – he is still a man called righteous before God. Why then are the two treated so very differently – Zechariah rebuked and struck dumb for a time, Mary offered great comfort and explanation? The text doesn’t give us a direct explanation, but I think we can infer two likely solutions, either of which, or both may have been a factor. First is the possibility that we’re seeing a reflection of a heart issue. There is a significant difference between asking God questions, and questioning God. If you look at Judges 6 when God calls Gideon, the Lord is incredibly patient with Gideon’s questions, and in the matter of the fleece, God goes above and beyond to reassure the man that He has appointed as Judge. However if we look at the constant questioning of the Israelites in the wilderness, or Korah’s rebellion, where God’s appointment of Moses and Aaron, and His promise of provision was questioned, His response was severe. Based on these precedents we can look at Zechariah and Mary’s situations and infer that though their questions seem similar, there was a different spirit behind them – that while Zechariah expressed true doubt in this moment, Mary spoke out of a true desire to understand. The other likely possibility I see is that of the two, Zechariah was held to a greater degree of accountability because of his role and station. James 3:1 tells us,

“Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.”

Really stop and consider the two people we’re discussing here – we have Zechariah, who first of all is a man. It’s not as some will make it out, that there was no religious education given to women in Jewish society, but there was certainly a greater emphasis and prioritization on educating the men. Next there’s the fact that he’s a priest – so not only is he a Jewish man, but his vocation is directly wrapped up in the service of God. Finally we know that Zechariah is advanced in years – he didn’t just become a priest yesterday, this is something he’s been at for many years. Conversely we have Mary, a young woman, who not only isn’t a priest, but doesn’t live anywhere near the temple. I’m not suggesting in any way that Mary was somehow uneducated or ignorant of the teachings of the Old Testament, but between the two of them it makes a tremendous amount of sense that the old priest would have been held to a greater degree of accountability for questioning the angelic messenger of God than the young virgin. Either or both of these things could provide explanation, or it could be something else entirely, but regardless it’s important to consider these things if for no other reason than to remember that whether we can pin it down or not, there is a reason. God does not act arbitrarily, Gabriel, His messenger who stands in His presence didn’t render these two different treatments on a whim. There was a reason, and whether we know it or not, that’s an important factor to remember.

“And the angel answered her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.’”

While there’s a lot that may be assumed and inferred around the virgin conception and birth, Luke and his orderly account of things gives us some details that are exceptionally good to know. Mary wasn’t just going about her life when one day, much to her confusion and distress, she found herself pregnant despite her complete lack of sexual activity – God ordained so that she knew what would happen beforehand, and she knew why this was to take place. Not only is Mary given explanation about what will happen to her and why, she’s given further information that she is not alone in being part of momentous events, as God is working miraculously in the life of her cousin Elizabeth. In this God again shows abundant kindness to the woman He has chosen to be the mother of the Christ. We have to consider in this what it would have meant for Mary to learn that her cousin was pregnant – it’s very unlikely that she sat around and considered the possibility of her miraculously conceiving as a virgin before, and how impossible that might seem – any contemplation of that is almost certainly just now occurring to her as she’s delivered this news. However, we can be certain that she’s given consideration to Elizabeth, her cousin, and how it truly seems impossible for the older woman who is commonly known to be barren to have a child. The news of Elizabeth’s pregnancy is just greater affirmation, that Mary may know the certainty and absolute truth of Gabriel’s words – that nothing is or will be impossible with God.

“And Mary said, ‘Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.’ And the angel departed from her.”

While there is much (often too much) that is assumed about Mary, the mother of Jesus, the Bible only tells us so much. Matthew’s account briefly addresses her, and Mark’s even less so. John offers a bit more, mentioning her presence for Jesus’ first miracle at the wedding at Cana, as well as her being there for the crucifixion and placed by Jesus into John’s care. It is Luke by far who gives us the most detail, but even then, it’s only so much. While she is certainly a significant part of the story, the gospel was never about Mary. That being said, of all the information we’re given (or not given about her), her response to Gabriel’s message may be the most telling thing we see in regard to her spiritual standing and character. She has a question, and Gabriel explains. I don’t think there is anyone who would think it unreasonable for her to have some follow-up questions, for there to be more curiosity or worry about all that is about to happen. We know that at this point in her life she was betrothed to marry Joseph – a sudden pregnancy with no clear explanation would have likely ruined her future marriage and earned her the condemnation of her whole community. There’s a possibility that depending on Joseph’s reaction that she could have been put to death for presumed adultery. We know from Matthew’s gospel that upon finding out about her pregnancy Joseph’s intention was to discreetly divorce her, which may have spared her from some of this public reproach, but still, all of these possibilities and more could have been on the table as far as Mary knew, and she asks about none of them. Her only response is one of complete obedience, of absolute trust in God, of faith in His plan for her. We don’t see questions or doubts, we don’t see tears or panic – she is told that things that should be impossible will and are currently coming to pass, and her response is nothing but clear and beautiful faith. Her reaction shows a deep certainty in what Gabriel has told her – that nothing will be impossible with God, and so we see a shining example of what it looks like to fully trust in the boundless provision of our Father.

Pastor Chris’ sermon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtEXT7K0SLM