Luke 1:26-38 (NIV)
26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called[b] the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.”
38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.
Reflection
Gabriel’s proclamation to Mary was not only about the birth of Jesus, but it was the fulfillment of a long-awaited promise of the Messiah, the Savior of the world. As the people had waited for many generations, they were receiving the Son of the Most High, the eternal King whose kingdom would never end. He was coming in flesh and blood. Yet, rather than being proclaimed to powerful rulers at the city gates of Jerusalem for all to hear, it was told to a poor young teenage girl in an unknown town for no one else to hear. While she did nothing to receive this great honor, she did a great thing by humbly receiving the news in trust with a servant’s heart and graciously asking that all of God’s word be fulfilled.
Response
Jesus is no longer a promise to come or long-awaited anticipation, but He is the ultimate fulfillment of God’s word. Jesus fills everything, all of the missing or broken areas of our lives. In Him is the fullness of all of life. As Mary responded with a servant’s heart, may we surrender to God. Believing that Jesus is the Son of the Most High, let’s confess that there is no one greater or better. Like Mary, let’s ask that all of God’s will be fulfilled in us, on our campuses, in and through our missional groups and churches.
