Who? Me?
“Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. (Luke 1:28-29, NIV)
As I’ve pointed out, a prominent theme of Luke’s gospel is God’s favor and blessings on those who the world often despises and holds in contempt. The angel, Gabriel’s greeting to Mary, a peasant girl living in the despised village of Nazareth, is an example of this.
Notice that Mary is “greatly troubled” at Gabriel’s greeting that she is “highly favored.” She wonders, “what kind of greeting this might be.” It’s easy to explain Mary’s reaction as the natural response of anyone to an angelic appearance, but that’s not Luke’s point.
Luke makes it clear that Mary was troubled at the “words,” not the appearance, of Gabriel. She was troubled because this messenger from God said that she, a poor peasant girl living in a backwater town on the outskirts of Israel, surrounded by a very high population of non-Jews (more Gentiles than Jews lived in Galilee), was favored by God.
“Who?” “Me?” “I’m a nobody from nowhere.”
A nobody from nowhere who God, in his loving grace, chose to carry in her womb the Messiah.
Let me ask you a question: Who are you?
You may be a somebody, a person of reputation and distinction. You may be a nobody, an outcast, a reject, or, more likely, just someone living day to day, paying the bills, trying to squeeze a little joy out of a joyless world.
Here’s what I want you to understand about the good news of Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God - through Christ, we are all equal. God has leveled the playing field.
That’s why in the New Testament letter of James, we read these words, “Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. But the rich should take pride in their humiliation.” (Js. 1:9-10, NIV)
The words of Galatians 3:28 teach the same truth - “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
As we learn to see all people through the eyes of God, we truly begin to enter into an understanding of what it means to be citizens of the greatest nation (kingdom) that has ever been and shall ever be.
“People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God.” (Luke 13:29, NIV)
In Christ,
Dan
Tis the season to celebrate God’s calling in our lives.
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