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Mary: The Lord’s Servant
• Mary is the simple girl in the middle of Christmas.
• She is rarely mentioned in the Bible beyond Matthew 1-2, and Luke 1-2.
Luke 1:26 (NLT), In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, 27 to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. 28 Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!” 29 Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. 30 “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High.”
• Kent Hughes, “Before the angel Gabriel showed up, Mary was, "... a nobody in a nothing town in the middle of nowhere.”
• Mary was favored.
• Mary was confused.
• Mary will conceive.
• Mary will name him Jesus, meaning “the Lord saves.”
• Jesus will be very great!
Luke 1:32b (NLT), “The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!” 34 Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.” 35 The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God. 36 What’s more, your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren, but she has conceived a son and is now in her sixth month. 37 For the word of God will never fail.”
• Jesus will be given the throne of David.
• Jesus will reign over Israel.
• Jesus will rule His kingdom forever.
• Gabriel is looking beyond the 1st coming of Christ to the 2nd coming of Christ.
• The Holy Spirit will “overshadow” Mary.
• This is language borrowed from the OT where God’s powerful presence/glory cloud fills the tabernacle.
• Jesus will be without sin (holy).
• Jesus is the Son of God (fully divine and fully human).
• Gabriel’s final words, “...nothing will be impossible with God.”
• The virgin Mary will conceive by the Word of God.
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Conclusion:
Luke 1:38 (NLT), Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” And then the angel left her.
• The Biblical picture of Mary is of a meek and ready servant – believing all that God has said and wanting it all to come true in her life.
• Mary’s love for God is expressed beautifully when she calls herself, “the Lord’s Servant.”
“Let us be willing to go anywhere, and do anything, and be anything, whatever be the present and immediate inconvenience, so long as God's will is clear and the path of duty is plain.” - J. C. Ryle
What about other views of Mary?
1. The Mary of Catholicism?
• The assumption of Mary, the immaculate conception, perpetual virginity, co-redemptrix?
• Going back to the 4th and 5th centuries, there was a trend towards the veneration of Mary, honoring her images, praying to her, and viewing her as a helper in salvation.
• But, these views come from church tradition/authority beyond the Bible.
2. The Mary of the Quran?
• Mary is mentioned 34x in the Quran.
• Mary is the only woman mentioned by name in the Quran.
• The Quran is confused about Mary – saying she was the sister of Aaron (that’s Miriam)!
• The Quran hints that Mary was part of the Trinity (Allah, Jesus, and Mary).
• Muslims picked up on the Mary devotion in their time, and borrowed teachings from false gnostic Gospels, and assumed it was true Christianity.
3. The Mary of Netflix?
The Protoevangelium of James
• James (half-brother of Jesus).
• Written AD 140.
• Details about Mary, Joseph, and Jesus.
• Claims to be a precursor to the Gospel.
• Says Mary was a perpetual virgin.
• Rejected as a false Gospel.
• Used for the Netflix Movie, “Mary.”
• The final words of the movie are, “Love will change the world?” (The writer of the movie was referring to Mary’s love, not Christ’s love).
The Gospel:
**I John 4:9-10 (NLT), “God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 10 This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.”**
