An angel came to speak to Mary. To announce the birth of Messiah Jesus.
He calls her highly favoured and he calls her most blessed amongst women. Why?
The core answer to this question is found in Luke 1: 31 – 33:
Mary, you have found favour 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.”
Mary is highly favoured because she would carry the King who will sit on David’s throne forever! The angel said "you have found favour with God." And later Elizabeth (verse 42) greeted her with the words: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the Child you will bear."
Mary is highly favoured – by the Lord. She is blessed – by the Lord.
Mary was called blessed, not because of her virginity and not because of her humility, but because of her son. God gave to Mary a distinction that he gave to no one else in the history of the entire human race. God gave to Mary the privilege of giving birth to the Son of the Most High, the Second Person of the holy Trinity.
During the Christmas season we honour Mary as the mother of the eternal Son of God, as a man. Not to exalt Mary, but to faithfully confess Christ completely – to assert that the beloved Son of the Most High, was "born of a woman" (Gal 4:4).
Mary did more than just carry the Christ-child to term. She was also the mother who cared for the physical needs of Jesus the infant and boy. She nursed him and took care of him in every way a baby needs to be nurtured. With Joseph, she brought Jesus to the Temple to have him circumcised and presented to the Lord. With Joseph, she fostered him and taught him the ways of the God of Israel. With Joseph, she was the one who taught him to memorize and sing the Psalms and say the prayers and follow the rites of the Faith.
Mary was blessed, favoured by God - to bear and to nurture the Son of God, to be a mother to the Saviour.
Nobody else will ever again do what Mary was called to accomplish. Yet, at the foot of the cross, Jesus said to his best friend John – there is your mother.
A new family is formed at the foot of the cross of salvation. Where we all became mothers, fathers, sons and daughters and brothers and sisters, a family called to look after, to care for and to foster the body of Christ – his physical body on earth today, yes, his church! We receive grace and favour from God to be able to choose to commit our lives to prepare the bride of Christ to meet with him in order to celebrate the wedding feast of the Lamb.
May we through faith make this choice this Christmastide anew!
“Here I am, the servant of the Lord! May I accomplish everything the Lord has said to me!”
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