Mary Says Yes

“‘I am the Lord’s servant,’ Mary answered. ‘May it happen to me according to your word.’” — Luke 1:38

Six months later, God sent the angel Gabriel again. This time he went to a little town called Nazareth, in Galilee, to a young woman called Mary. Mary was engaged to be married to a carpenter called Joseph, who came from the family of King David.

The angel came to Mary and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you.”

Mary was very troubled. What could this greeting mean?

“Do not be afraid, Mary,” the angel said, “for God is very pleased with you. You are going to have a baby boy, and you are to call Him Jesus. He will be great, and He will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His ancestor David. He will reign over God’s people for ever. His kingdom will never end!”

“How can this be,” Mary asked, “when I am not married?”

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you,” said the angel, “and the power of the Most High will cover you like a shadow. So the holy baby who is born will be called the Son of God.”

Then Gabriel gave her some more good news. “Your relative Elizabeth is going to have a baby too, even though she is very old. People said she could never have children, but she is already six months along. For no word from God will ever fail.”

Think about what the angel was asking. Mary was young and ordinary. She lived in a small, unimportant town. People might not understand. They might say unkind things about her. Her whole life was going to change.

But Mary trusted God. “I am the Lord’s servant,” she said. “May it happen to me just as you have said.”

And the angel left her.

Mary didn’t know everything that was going to happen. She didn’t know how hard some of it would be. But she knew God, and she said yes to Him.

The baby Mary was going to have would be like no other baby who had ever been born. He would be a real human baby. And He would be God’s own Son, who had always been with God, now coming to live among us.

The promise kept: Long before, God promised King David that a King from his family would rule for ever (2 Samuel 7:16). The angel told Mary that God would give her baby “the throne of His father David” (Luke 1:32). Jesus is that promised King.

Read it in your Bible: Luke 1:26–38

Dear God, thank you that Mary trusted you and said yes. Help me to say yes to you too, even when I don’t know everything that will happen. I am your servant. Amen.