Some of history’s greatest questions are wrapped up in the Christmas story….
‘Why did Jesus come at this particular time in history?’ Wouldn’t it have been better if He
had come sooner?’
‘Why did the angel appearing to Zechariah make Zech unable to talk for what seemed like
a relatively minor offense?’
‘Why did God make Mary and Joseph travel so far – maybe 70 miles – to get to Bethlehem
where the Baby would be born? Seems a little treacherous!’
‘Why Bethlehem in the first place? Wasn’t this a pretty insignificant town anyway?’
Here are a couple of perhaps the most frequently asked questions of all….
‘Why Mary?’
‘What was Mary thinking to accept such a difficult assignment, after all, the mother of the
Son of God, Himself?’
Talk about pressure!
Luke 1:31, 34, 37-38 (NLT) You will become pregnant and have a son, and you are to
name Him Jesus. … Mary asked the angel, “But how can I have a baby? I am a virgin.” …
(Gabriel said:) “..For nothing is impossible with God.” Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s
servant, and I am willing to accept whatever He wants. May everything you have said
come true.” And then the angel left.
In response to the angel Gabriel, she accepted the mission! But also, Mary had options. She
could have ignored the angel, asked for more time to think about his proposal, or followed
the path that he outlined for her. However, the way Luke tells the story, one thing Mary
couldn’t have done was to say, “I need more information.” Certainly the call was clear.
There may not have been a lot of details, but the mission was well-defined. And it appears
that at a high level, the direct face-to-face confrontation by Gabriel left few questions
unanswered.
While Gabriel gave Mary clarity about her life purpose and mission as Mary stepped
forward in obedience, God would continue to reveal to her more and more about her life
PLAN, which would give light to a few (but not a lot) more details.
In a way, I’m a little jealous of Mary. I mean – why did she get this “visitation” from
Gabriel with such direct instructions on her life mission, while the rest of us have to
struggle figuring out what God wants us to do? I don’t have an answer to that – and
probably never will. I don’t even know that I feel right asking the question. But, being
someone who has struggled earlier in my adult life with the “What IS God’s mission?”
question, and being, I think, fairly on target with God’s mission for me since then, here are
a couple of thoughts.
When I think about it, there are many answers to these last two questions of Why Mary?
And Why did she respond as she did? But it seems it all comes back to one particular
reality: Mary understood that this mission represented the pathway to God’s prescribed
DESTINY for her! She didn’t want to waste her life, but wanted to invest in something that
really matters! In this current series, The Giving of Christmas, we have described the idea of God’s DESTINY for us like this…..
Destiny – A focused and purposeful lifestyle committed to the generation of something
much bigger than myself, and leading to the continuous betterment of those around me.
Mary was ready to live a life of DESTINY. She knew that accepting God’s invitation to
become the mother of this GOD BABY would be the most meaningful and impactful way
to spend her life! Talk about something much bigger than herself! She was ready for a true
life adventure!
How about you? Are living your life as an adventure – pursuing this pathway to DESTINY
that God has prescribed for you? If the answer if ‘YES”, then stay on that pathway, and
look for twists and turns that God may have for you along the way. If the answer is ‘NO,’ I
believe Christmas is a great time to commit to finding this pathway. Dig into His Word –
maybe start with the Christmas story in Matthew 1 & 2 and Luke 1, and pray that God will begin to open your mind and your heart to this truth about this mission and DESTINY that He has for you!
Next time, let’s look at some specifics on HOW God might speak to you about your life
DESTINY!
Recent Comments