Mary the Mother of Jesus (Luke 1: 26-37)

Grace International Baptist  (11 May 2025- Mothers’ Day)

1. Intro

1.1. We Honor Moms: Today is special as we’re celebrating Mothers’ Day. We set aside this day to honor all our moms and tell you we love you and that you have a special place in our lives. All of us here have a mom, the one who gave birth to us and who had the biggest hand in bringing us up! Many of us are now doing the same and are bringing up children. This is such a high calling. We love you and honor you. We also have those who may not have biological children but they have filled a very, very special place in the lives of others, they are spiritual mothers because they give wisdom, care and love to others. Spiritual mothers are much needed today.

1.2. The Greatest Mom: For today, I want to go back and look at the greatest and most highly honored mom of them all, the one who God chose to be the earthly mother of Jesus. I want to begin by saying that Mary is just like one of us. Her greatness comes from the fact that she’s human, just like one of us. She’s not supernatural, she does not have miraculous powers and is also a fallen creature. Please, please don’t make the mistake of putting her up there on the same plane with Jesus and the Trinity. It is a terrible mistake when people do that. She is great not because she’s without sin. She deserves that special place of honor because she participated in God’s redemption plan just like Paul, just like Peter, and the other heroes of our faith. Today, I want to take a look at her when the Lord intervenes in a special way to inform her of His plans for her. This comes in the visit of the angel Gabriel to announce the coming of Jesus through her. If you were Mary, what would you do?

2. The Angel visits Mary

2.1. “O favored one, the Lord is with you” (1:28): At the time, Mary was very young, probably a teenager, and she was already betrothed to Joseph. People got married early in those days.

They weren’t just girlfriend and boyfriend but deemed to be married. They weren’t living together but the marriage ceremony was just a date away.

This was the time of preparation, making arrangements, clothes, the banquet. They are from 2 families and soon they’ll be living as husband and wife. So, these things need time to get ready for.

We are not told much about their families but it’s safe to assume that they weren’t rich people. People were usually poor and just got by. A very big “but” here: she was favored by God!  The angel uses the words: “The Lord’s favor is with you,” “you have found favor with God.” The angel is saying “Mary, you occupy a special place in God’s heart.” You are special not just by what he’s going to do and make you the earthly mother of Jesus but also by her life and witness. The Lord sees what the ordinary person can’t see. Of David, it is said: “The Lord looks at the heart”. Yes, she’s a human just like us and so God is gracious but I hope that when the Lord looks at me or when the Lord looks at us, GIBC, as a community, it will be said that we have the Lord’s favor. I hope it won’t be said that we have the Lord’s disfavor! Not all churches can say that they have the Lord’s favor! In Revelation, words such as “I have this against you,” which was said to several of the 7 churches. We see in Mary some great qualities as a person. Please bear in mind, there’s nothing better in this life than to have the favor of God.

2.2. “A virgin betrothed” (1:27): humans then just as humans now, are sexual beings, and the temptation to consummate a relationship between couples is always there, whether married or not. Maybe it was the practice of the times not to and Mary and Joseph did not. Today, there is no such social pressure to remain a virgin till marriage. Today, people consummate their relationship even before marriage because we live in the most permissive era ever.  When we respect the command to keep sex till marriage, we not only honor God but we also honor the marriage relationship that we want to be a part of. We hurt ourselves when we go against the divine order that’s been set for us, principles that are spelt out to us. The Lord doesn’t want us to have relations not just because he’s a spoiler but because sex is more than a physical thing but also a spiritual dynamic. He made the rule because abstinence while single blesses his people. There are spiritual dynamics involved and when people express themselves sexually with as many partners as they wish for, they pollute themselves. In other words, they open themselves to influences far beyond the physical.

But, what about those who don’t keep this practice? Fortunately, we have grace and forgiveness.

We see how loving and gracious Jesus is to the Samaritan woman. She’s the one who married 5 times and is living with someone who she’s not married to.

What Jesus does is he pours his grace to those who’ve been hurt, those who’ve sinned and been cast out and who live in disgrace. I want to say this to our young people in fact to all of us today: we all go through temptations just as Mary and Joseph went through temptations, but they honored the Lord, they honored their relationship, and they both found favor with the Lord. Their restraint built a strong foundation for their marriage, a marriage that would be stressed and tested because of who will be born to them. Honoring the Lord strengthens the cords of your marriage against all the stresses and trials that will come.

3. Greatness comes from Servanthood:

3.1. “Behold I am the Lord’s servant”:  Mary wasn’t perfect or the 4th member of the Trinity. We dishonor her legacy when we hold her up to what she was not. She was like us, human with all the weaknesses and frailties. We win God’s favor when we keep short accounts with the Lord. That means having a humble repentant heart. 5 of the 7 churches in Revelation had unrepentant sin. Keeping short accounts means confessing and being repentant and being humble- spirited. God uses more of those people who adopt the posture of a servant.

5 Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’ 6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you” 1 Peter 5:5-6 (ESV)

3.2. She Suffered: If we as individuals or as a church community want to be used by the Lord, then we should be like Mary. Perhaps we don’t really talk much about her because she didn’t go and preach. Actually, she served by suffering much. She suffered greatly! She suffered for the kingdom. Put yourself in Mary’s position. She’s living in an ultra-conservative culture and suddenly one day, she is pregnant. She’s not yet married but she’s growing in size by the day. How is she going to explain her pregnancy to her parents? How’s she going to explain this to the neighbors? People didn’t live far away from each other in those days and there are no sealed windows or glass paneled doors to keep the neighbors’ ears and eyes out. What’s worse, how’s she going to explain her pregnancy to her betrothed, Joseph? No one has heard of a virgin birth. Can you imagine her saying something like: “I was visited by an angel and then I got pregnant?” There is a prophecy from Isaiah:

“Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” (Isa 7:14)

Assuming that people know their scriptures but even if they did, why would they think that those words were written for her?