Luke 1:38 And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her
The Christmas story begins with a ministering spirit, an angel named Gabriel. Luke 1:26 says that Gabriel was “sent from God unto a city…named Nazareth,” and he was sent “to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph…and the virgin’s name was Mary.” Thus begins the Christmas story, God’s story of God’s Son.
If you had been Mary, how would you have felt when the angel brought this message? Mary could have felt fear. That would have been the Jewish mindset of the day. Verse 30 says, “And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.” Every time angels approach humans, they seem to begin by saying, “Don’t be afraid, fear not.” The very appearance of Gabriel would have been a shock and fearful, and beyond that, the message he brought was fearful. If Mary was to be with child in a miraculous “virgin birth,” then she was in jeopardy, open to severe punishment. She could have felt fear.
Mary could have felt entitled, that would not have been the Jewish mindset of the day, but rather a modern mindset. I remember hearing an interview where someone made a very passionate, strident comment, saying, “God should have asked Mary for permission first.” That is a very modern American sentiment based on a limited mindset. We can sometimes feel entitled and put upon, as if the task we have been given by God or others is not fair; we feel like we deserve more. Many times when we are commissioned with something, we feel fear or entitlement. Mary was given a great commission, yet she did not respond either of these ways.
On the other hand, Mary could have felt flattered. In verse 28 the angel said, “Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee.” He says again in verse 30 that she was favored of God. When Mary saw her cousin Elisabeth, she said that Mary was the mother of “my Lord.” Mary was recognized to be in a place of great significance and service. She could have felt flattered, that is not ancient Jewish or modern American, but just a human response to receiving such a great commission from the Lord.
What was it that made Mary useful? It was not merely gender. Without being crass or light or trite, Mary had the gender she had to have to be the mother of the Christ child. She also had the genealogy in order to be the mother of the Christ child. There were certain things that had been prophesied as to the lineage of the Christ. Mary was of the right genealogy and gender, and probably a number of other things that merited being chosen by God. But the one trait that becomes very obvious as you read Luke 1 is humility. It is humility that makes us useful. It is not our gender or genealogy. It is humility. Mary felt grateful and blessed.
In verse 48 she says, “From henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.” What a peace and thank-filled person to consider all your blessings instead of being fearful, entitled, flattered, or superior. There was a sense of humility and peace. Proverbs tells us that “only by pride cometh contention.” That verse is so profoundly correct. If I always have to be the best, brightest, most spiritual, most correct, strongest, most powerful, and richest, that is a problem. God Almighty is called the highest. Jesus is called the Son of God, Son of the highest. Sometimes we think, “He is the most high and I am the more high. I am higher than any other servant of God.” Mary didn’t have that attitude. She had the right attitude toward people because she had the right attitude towards herself, and she understood who God was and had the right attitude toward Him.
In verse 46 Mary said, “My soul doth magnify the Lord.” She didn’t magnify herself. In the following verses, you find the contrast between the humble and the proud, the rich and the poor. When you think about it, this humility is simply saying, “Who am I?” in response to who God is. That is what Mary did. In this case humility is who I am in response to who God is.
We see so many examples of humility. John the Baptist was a mighty man, yet a man of incredible humility. He put Christ in the place He deserved and was willing to say, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” Elisabeth recognized Mary as the mother of her Lord. She wasn’t jealous of Mary. Mary herself who did not feel put upon to have this task, nor feel like she was superior. She felt grateful. She said, “Be it unto me according to thy word.”
There is a national strategy summed up in the phrase, “Peace through strength.” I believe that. It worked back in the 1980s, and it is imperative now. You do not have peace by planning for peace. You have peace by being up to the enemies the country possesses. So, peace through strength is true, but when it comes to personal life, peace does not come because I am strong, rich, powerful, or better. Peace comes through humility. I don’t have to be the best and brightest. I don’t have to be deserving or have everything be fair. I need to be useful. I need my life to count. That comes not because of my genes, gender, or genealogy. Mary was in the right spot in each category, but the reason Mary was used by God as a woman we can be grateful for and admire is because she was humble.
The person who most personifies humility is the Christ child Himself, who left the glories of heaven to live on this earth, born to die that we might live eternally. Things may not always be understandable to you, but how should we respond to God’s ownership and leadership in our lives? We should not respond with fear, entitlement, or feeling flattered, but with humility, realizing who He is and therefore how we find our place in this world. Humility is what makes us useful. This is a lesson we can learn from this wonderful woman Mary.