Beyond the Weekend

December 22 | Mary

December 22, 2020

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE

“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her. Luke 1:38

Read: Luke 1:26-38
Listen: 
Luke 1

TODAY’S MESSAGE

Our spotlight now moves a couple of blocks in Nazareth to the house of a young woman. The energy is probably even higher at Mary’s house, the bride-to-be. Mary may have known for quite some time that she will be the wife of Joseph. But now the days are rapidly passing by as the official wedding celebration draws near. Time is growing short.

As she waits, she receives a visitor—the angel of God, Gabriel. Gabriel, whose name means “God is Great,” only speaks to three biblical characters. He speaks to the Old Testament prophet Daniel to explain a vision (Daniel 8:16), the priest Zechariah to announce the birth of John the Baptist (Luke 1:8-20) and here to Mary. While Gabriel’s first two messages were necessary, this one is stunning. He tells Mary, an unremarkable young virgin from a relatively obscure town, she will be the mother of The Anointed One. Gabriel calls him “the Son of the Most High,” which means he is the divine Son of God and the long-expected Messiah.

Mary knew she would one day have a family, but she probably never thought it would begin this way. Her reaction to this startling news is amazing. In humility, she describes herself as “the Lord’s servant” (Luke 1:38). She humbly serves even as the future is incredibly unclear.

Mary’s choice to be God’s servant should resonate with us. Each of us, by design or default, is the servant of something or someone. For many of us, we’ve made the same decision Mary did. We’ve committed our lives to the Creator God who loves us very much. But some of us are enslaved to destructive habits, dysfunctional situations or a degrading lifestyle. If so, Mary’s baby came to set you free.

IN YOUR CHAIR TIME TODAY

Consider to what or who are you a servant? Like Mary, we get to choose. Christmas 2020, even in the middle of our chaos, would be a great time to say to God, “Yes, I want to be your servant.” If you’d like to talk with one of us about what it means to be a follower of Jesus, contact us at btw@adabible.org. We’d love to start a conversation about this important decision.


Download a printable PDF of the BTW week here.

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