He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will never end.”
Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I have not had sexual relations with a man?”
The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called the Son of God.
“And look, your relative Elizabeth has also become pregnant with a son in her old age – although she was called barren, she is now in her sixth month! For nothing will be impossible with God.”
So Mary said, “Yes, I am a servant of the Lord; let this happen to me according to your word.”
Then the angel departed from her.
The angel is announcing to Mary how awesome her Son is going to be, but you can tell she wasn’t totally paying attention. She’s not married yet and she knows that part of baby-making involves a husband. How is this possible?
The next stage of that, as she is realizing, is how is it even possible that this Kid is going to sit on the thrown of David, when the current king (Herod) isn’t really in the line of David? Romans are everywhere, the Jewish people are oppressed, and her Son is going to sit on the throne as king?
This is just one impossible statement after another. Aren’t things going continue to be the exact way they are right now? Isn’t right now the way it will be forever?
We do that today, don’t we? We get down in a circumstance and we think that’s the way it will always be. Maybe we fight with our spouse or a teen-ager and then blow it up “We’ve been fighting like this for years!” When you really only fight like that about once a quarter for the past 3 quarters.
Or “That’s just how he is and I have to live with it!” When somebody acts a certain way. The poor guy might only be like that after his annual review at work and when the Lakers lose, but we magnify it into his whole lifespan.
God (through Gabriel) says foo on that stuff. The Holy Spirit is coming and He’s going to work miracles and change things and no, Mary, nothing is impossible with God. As proof, Elizabeth, who everyone pretty much gave up on having kids, is 6 months pregnant.
There are probably a dozen hard cases that we’ve given up on. God calls those back to life and even makes life where it was thought to be impossible. Even if there is no true king, the King will sit on His throne. Even if there is no man, a woman can be a mother. Even if there is no hope, God can change the course of things and bring about His glory.
The King has come. Nothing is impossible. Respond to God like Mary.
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