Mary was1. The Chosen One!
She was very ordinary, and yet the angel appears and says 'Greetings, favoured one!'
2. Given a Promise.
It was the promise that she would conceive, even though she was a virgin, and that her son will be the Son of the Most High, that he would be was chosen to be the King who will rule God's people for ever.
3. The one who trusts the Word of God
She asks how this will be possible, but when the angel tells her that nothing is impossible for God and that the power of God will come on her, she says, 'Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word' (v38).
Mary's response is clearly different to the response of Zechariah in verses 18-20. When he is told that his wife, Elizabeth and he will have a child, he says, 'How will I know that this is so,? For I am an old man, and my wife is getting on.' And he becomes mute during Elizabeth's pregnancy because he 'did not believe [the angel's] words'.
Mary is our model.
1. We have been chosen, called by God, for Christ to be born - not in our wombs, but in our very inner most being. He is Emmanuel, 'God with us'.
2. God has given us his astonishing promises: of his presence, the Holy Spirit, direction for life, forgiveness, prayer, effectiveness (fruitfulness), eternal life.
3. We are called to trust in God. There are times when those promises seem impossible, but we are called to put our trust in the Word of God. and we are called to go on trusting him, even when things get difficult.
Life was not easy for Mary.
She was rejected (at first) by her fiancée, who did not believe the story of the virgin birth!
She must have felt, when Jesus said that he belonged to a bigger family, that he was rejecting her (see, for instance, Mark 3.31-35)
She was there when Jesus was crucified, and it was as if 'a sword had penetrated her heart' (as Simeon prophesied would happen [Luke 2.35].
But she said 'Yes' and Jesus was born in her.
