'How?'

 But Sarah was barren and both of them 80+ years old. At the end of their ability, God brought a miracle to fulfill His covenant with Abraham. God enabled Sarah to have Isaac who would inherit the promise of God. Hannah was a faithful Israelite who spent much time in prayer before God. She and her husband Elkanah had been unable to have a child for years and years. Then Hannah said that if she would have a child, he would be given to the work of God. God then enabled her and Elkanah to have a boy, Samuel, who would become the great prophet who would anoint King David. When we come to the story of Mary, we already know that God has done it again. God works a miracle in an old couple’s life when Zechariah and Elizabeth are blessed with a son, John, who would later be known as the Baptizer. 

Mary’s situation is a little different. Gabriel comes to Mary and says, ‘You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 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, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” (Lk 1:31-33). Unlike Sarah, Hannah, and Elizabeth, Mary is young. She is of prime age to have a child. The problem isn’t that she is unable to have a child, but that she has no one with which to have the child. She isn’t married and has kept herself pure for the one she would enter into covenant with. She was right to ask, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” (Luke 1:34). “I’m listening.”

Jesus’ miraculous birth is set apart.  It had a different quality. The angel said, “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 the Son of God.” (Lk 1:35) God was doing something ancient. The Spirit of God was hovering over Mary to begin a new creation. Jesus would be the new Adam, the faithful one who would have the power to bring others into that same relationship with God. The thing is, Mary believed the messenger. She believed God could do the impossible and surrendered herself to His promise. Mary had a holy imagination, the faith of a child, a rooted trust in Abba, Yahweh. In the midst of her small, ordinary life in a small town in a battered country ruled by a tyrant, Mary was open to hear the voice of God. No matter how bad things looked – and they looked pretty bad – God could do something new and good and powerful.

There may be a lot of pain, brokenness, or chaos in your life at home or work. I encourage you to search for the Lord and say, ‘I’m listening. I’m ready for a divine disruption. Make something new, salvage this mess, put the pieces back together. I don’t know how you are going to do it, but I trust you. I’m all in. May your word be fulfilled in my life.”

Blessings,

Jonathan