Then the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus.’

Bringing forth the Son

When someone tells you something so ridiculous and insane, you usually don’t take them at face value. Most of the time, you don’t believe them. Imagine being in Mary’s shoes when she was told by an angel that she will give birth to the Son of God.

Mary has just been betrothed to Joseph and is living her life as a normal Jew in Nazareth. Then all of a sudden, an angel of the Lord named Gabriel shows up out of nowhere and lays down this bombshell of news on her. She reacted like most of us probably would have in her place. She questioned it, asking in Luke 1:34, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” Gabriel later replies in verse 37, “For with God, nothing will be impossible.”

Out of all the women in the world at the time, God chose Mary to be His vessel to carry the Savior of the world. She did nothing to earn this huge responsibility. God bestowed it upon her with His grace. It was all foretold in Isaiah 7:14 that Jesus would be born of a virgin.

So if God tells you something out of the ordinary, how will you react? Sure Mary questioned everything at first, but she was quick to be obedient as God’s servant. Can we say the same about ourselves?

This Christmas season, we can do our part to let the light of Christ shine through us as we help others. Not only can we share gifts and presents, but also the good news that Jesus came down from heaven as a baby born of a virgin to die on the cross and give us eternal salvation as His gift to us.

This week, pray about how you can be obedient to God’s commandment to you, no matter how crazy it sounds. Think about how you can serve others and show Christ through your actions.