God called Mary to an Important Task

It’s possible to read the story of Jesus’ virginal conception in Luke 1 and Matthew 1 and see Mary as a passive participant, but that would be wrong. If we look closely at what Gabriel has to say in Luke 1:26-38, it is clear that God called Mary to do something. What is that calling? How would you have responded to Mary’s call?

Mary’s Mission and Her Challenges

In order to keep girls from having sexual intercourse before marriage, girls were married off young, like 12 or 13 years of age. This was not because a Jewish girl dated guys at that age. Rather, it is because the parents of the bride and groom decided that the two would be married while the children were very young. So at about twelve years old, Mary was visited by Gabriel, an angel sent by God to give Mary her mission.

First, Gabriel greets Mary in words that echo the call of Gideon in Judges 6. Gabriel said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you” (Luke 1:28). The angel of the LORD said to Gideon, “The LORD is with you, O valiant warrior” (Judg 6:12). Just as Gideon was not to be a passive vessel in God’s hands, so too Mary was not to be passive. She was called by God to a very difficult task. While giving birth is hard, that’s not what I’m talking about. This very young girl is going to become pregnant without a man involved. Yet, you can be absolutely sure that as soon as she began looking pregnant that her family, her neighbors, and of course Joseph would assume that some man had impregnated her. People were not stupid back then. They knew all about how babies are made.

Even if she was not stoned as an adulteress, the penalty for sex with someone besides the man she was betrothed to, the rest of her life she would be shamed by others. Imagine her telling her parents or Joseph, “An angel appears to me and told me that God’s Spirit would make me conceive a child. There was  no man.” Can you hear them say, “Yeah, right, and I have this bridge….” Whatever values U.S. culture has today, becoming pregnant during the betrothal period would have been a cause for great shame. She might have even been sent away from her family. She will hear the neighbors talking behind her back, or maybe even to her face, Honor and shame are not significant values in the U.S. Just look at the way famous criminals are treated. Mary’s culture was much more like Asian culture. She would have “lost face” with everyone.

God’s Plan and Purpose

No one would have believed her story. God was calling her to a very important task, to give birth to the Messiah, to the one who would be the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, in spite of the false accusations of everyone around her.  This would be a terrible burden to bear her entire life. Joseph would have felt deeply betrayed by Mary. He needed a vision to convince him that Mary was innocent of wrongdoing. Have you ever been accused falsely? Has God ever asked you to do something that, while right, would bring shame upon you? Mary was asked this by God.

Mary had to bear this shame, the pain of being seen as an adulteress, and then give birth to a baby without understanding how it happened exactly. She asked Gabriel how she could possibly get pregnant without sexual intercourse. Gabriel told Mary that she was to be the mother of the Son of God (Luke 1:32). The Holy Spirit would cause her to conceive. God can do what humans cannot. Mary is called to be a hero, like Gideon, to bring God’s salvation into the world. What a heavy burden to bear. Mary was not a passive participant. She was called to carry out a very hard task, even as some of the prophets and kings of Israel were. Ellizabeth recognized what Mary was doing. In Luke 1:42. Elizabeth said, “Blessed are you among women.” The same words were used of Ya-el in Judg 5:24, “Most blessed of women is Yael, the wife of Heber the Kenite; Most blessed is she of women in the tent.” English Bibles spell her name as Jael, but it is properly spelled Yael. (Hebrew does not have a “j” in its alphabet. German used a ‘j’ for the Hebrew letter yod, a ‘y’ sound.

God used Yael to deliver Israel

Yael was used by God to bring deliverance to Israel from an evil enemy, an army leader named Sisera. You probably know the story from Judges 4-5. After Ehud, the latest Judge over Israel died, the nation once again turned from the true God to idols. Therefore, as before, God allowed Israel’s enemies to raid and pillage the twelve tribes. Jabin, a king in Canaan, had an army that he sent against Israel. Its leader was Sisera. The army under Sisera oppressed Israel for twenty years. The army had nine-hundred iron chariots. At that time, an iron chariot would have been the equivalent of a tank sent against defenseless peasants.

Finally, Israel cried out to God. Their current judge was Deborah, who was also a prophet. In the story that follows Judg 4:4, you can think of her as sort of an Israelite Xena. Deborah sought to have Barak, a man, lead an army against Sisera’s forces, but he was a coward refused. So, Deborah declared that Sisera would be defeated by a woman. God used Deborah and her army to defeat Sisera’s army. Sisera ran away. He entered the tent of Yael and her husband to hide from the Israelites. However, Yael was a smart and courageous Israelite. She gave SIsera warm milk and covered him with a sheet. Once he fell asleep, she drove a tent stake through his head. This brave woman delivered Israel from Sisera and thus his army.

God used Mary to bring salvation to Israel

So too Mary was told by Gabriel and implicitly by Elizabeth that she would be bringing salvation to Israel. She needed to be brave for this. She could look forward to a terrible, lonesome future when Joseph rejected her. She probably saw her whole future going into the trash. What we see, however, is not what God sees. He chose Mary because of her piety and her humble willingness to bravely do what God had called her to do. She could perhaps have refused, but didn’t. Look at what happened because of that. Mary miraculously conceived and gave birth to the future King of the entire universe. It doesn’t get much better than that!

Be Imitators of Mary

One does not need to have the Roman Catholic view of Mary to see her as a role model of faith and strive to respond to God’s call as readily as she did. When God called Mary to serve, she said “yes,” “Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:37). Luke presented Mary in stark contrast to Zechariah. He had been a priest many years and should have understood Scripture well. When Gabriel spoke to him, Zechariah balked. “How can that possibl7 happen?” See Luke 1:18-20. Unlike him, Mary believed Gabriel in spite of what it would mean. What about us? If God calls us to do something hard, will we say, “Yes”? Will we have the faith of Mary or the doubt of Zechariah?

What about the virginal conception of Jesus?

As a side note, many people, including many Christians, have a lot of trouble believing in Jesus’ virginal conception. However, there are some facts that should be considered. Physics says that nothing comes out of nothing. You don’t get something out of nothing. Period. Genesis 1 declares that God created the universe. Whether he did it in a moment, or made matter and energy and caused the Big Bang is irrelevant. Only a God with absolute power could have made the universe with all its complexities, from DNA to hearts that would seek him. That absolutely, speaking scientifically, could not have happened on its own. If God could make the universe with all the amazing things in it, conceiving a baby without a father is mere child’s play, so to speak. No problem. The God who made it all can make a baby. Doubting Mary’s virginal conception means, to borrow from J. B. Phillips, that your God is too small.

Therefore, let us reject any illogical ideas that God cannot accomplish what he calls us to do through his own power. When he calls us, let us all say, “Yes.”