GOING FROM ORDINARY TO EXTRAORDINARY

Christmas is in a few days, and while I have been busy buying Christmas gifts and planning our Christmas dinner, I have also been listening to Christmas music. One of my favorite Christmas songs is Mary Did You Know by Penatonix. The group sings the song simply and beautifully, and the words remind me of why I am celebrating Christmas. December 25th might not be the actual birthdate of Jesus, but it is the date that Christians have selected to celebrate his birth. I think about the birth of Christ, and as a woman, I also think about His mother, Mary.

Mary was an ordinary teenager when the angel Gabriel appeared to her and told her that she had found favor in God’s eyes. If the story had stopped there, it would still be enough to cause panic in most people’s hearts. She was not a woman, but still a child when an angel appeared to her. I would still be trembling, and I imagine that Mary was also scared.

Luke 1:28

²⁸ The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

The first thing that Gabriel said to Mary was that she was highly favored and that the Lord was with her. My first thoughts would have been, “me?” “why?” “I am just an ordinary person.” Have you ever noticed that the Lord seems to pick “ordinary” people to do His work?

Gabriel’s next words tell us that Mary was scared, and he tried to calm her nerves.

Luke 1:30-33

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.” 

So much for calming Mary’s nerves. Remember, she is a teenager, single and a virgin, and the angel Gabriel is telling her that she is going to have a son. He tells her that her son is going to be the Son of God!!! Can we take a moment to appreciate Mary for not passing out on the spot? I can only imagine that Mary was in a state of shock because the only thing that Mary replies is:

Luke 1:34

³⁴ “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

The fact that Mary glossed right over the fact that she was going to be the mother of the Savior of the World, and went straight to “but how,” makes me think that is was the teenager in her talking. Gabriel doesn’t rebuke her for her question; instead, he tries to calm her by telling her that the “Holy Spirit will come upon you.”

I think that Mary’s reply to Gabriel is one of the reasons that she was chosen for this great honor.

Luke 1:38

³⁸ “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

Mary was scared, confused, and not prepared, but she obeyed. Mary believed and obeyed. Did she think to herself, “what is Joseph going to say?” Did she worry about what everyone in town was going to think about her? Did she worry about being single, being poor, or how she was going to raise the child of God? My guess is that those thoughts all ran through her mind, but she pushed them aside and said, “I am the Lord’s servant.”

I hope every one of you has a wonderful Christmas surrounded by friends and family. But take a few minutes to appreciate Mary, the mother of our Lord, and Savior this holiday. Because, while she might be humble, she was anything but ordinary.

Have A Blessed Day!