Today we will begin to examine the story of Mary and Joseph. We’ve already looked at the story from the report in Matthew, but let’s look at what Luke has to say about Mary and her visit from the angel Gabriel.
“Now in the sixth month [of Elizabeth’s pregnancy], the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, a descendant of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, ‘Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.’ But she was very perplexed at what he said and kept carefully considering what kind of greeting this was. The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.” Luke 1:26-31 (AMP)
Gabriel was sent from God to Nazareth. In this translation, it is called a city, but commentators say that Nazareth was an obscure village in the Region of Galilee. This is the first time it’s mentioned in the Old and New Testaments. It’s far from everything and has no acclaim to it. It seems strange that God would use such a small unknown place to identify Christ with. There are multiple scriptures referring to Jesus as ‘Jesus of Nazareth.’ Nathanael, in John 1:46, asks, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” John’s birth announcement came to a priest in the Temple in Jerusalem, and yet our Savior’s birth announcement came to an obscure village in the middle of nowhere to a young girl. In God’s economy, no person or place is too unknown or obscure for Him.
This young girl, a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, is the one the angel was sent to. Her name is Mary meaning ‘exalted one.’ At some point in man’s eyes, she will be exalted, but I’m sure Mary has never seen herself in that way. She’s a poor girl in a small village just living her life, preparing for her marriage to Joseph. In comes an angel and declares a pretty amazing greeting calling her “favored one” and saying, “the Lord is with you.” The thing that strikes me in this account is that Mary doesn’t seem to be terrified like Zechariah when she sees the angel. She’s perplexed by what he says to her and carefully considers what this kind of greeting means. When the angel says, “Do not be afraid, Mary, is he saying this because he thinks she is afraid of him, or he sees her concern over the greeting and what it may mean for her? To me, this shows me that Mary was not some frivolous silly young girl. No, she is a thinker, and this is the first of many times she will ponder the events around her in her heart.
Mary has found favor with God. He has seen her and chosen her to be the mother of His Son. She will need to hang on to these words in the coming days.
Today’s truth is, that we are never too hidden for God to see and move in our lives.
Debbie's Perspective 
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