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26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. ~ Luke 1:26-30
This is the second time in this chapter that Gabriel, the angel, appears. The first time he appeared to Zechariah, this time to a teenage girl by the name of Mary. According to v.26, it happened during the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy when Gabriel was “sent from God."
In this Gospel account, Luke focuses on God. This means the source of the message was God. This is really the key to the whole story. Luke is recording the truth about God's intervention in mankind's sinful and hopeless predicament. And, Mary appears to be an insignificant woman in an insignificant town. In fact, Mary's hometown was Nazareth which wasn't the seat of anything. It wasn't an important place at all.
"Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked in John 1:46. A place so despised and insignificant that nothing good was expected out of it. They asked back in that day, “Why would God use a young teenage girl from a backwards no good village to bring the Messiah to earth?” Isn’t that what we often ask, when we try to put God inside our neat little box, a box that we’ve built out of our preconceptions of what God should be and do?
According to 1 Corinthians 1:28, God chooses the despised and weak things of this world, things counted as nothing at all, and uses them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. He does this so that no one can ever boast in His presence. According to 1 Corinthians 1:29, He does it so that in our weakness, we can only point to Him and say it was all because of the Lord Jesus. Our weakness, our insignificance brings glory to God when He uses us to do His work.
According to v.27, Gabriel appeared before a virgin which means "one who has had no sexual relations." According to Roman law, the minimum age for girls to be engaged and married was twelve years old. Girls were usually engaged around 12 or 13 and married after the engagement or the betrothal was over. The reason they did this was because they therefore would guarantee their virginity.
So, here was a young girl, "pledged" or engaged to a man. Literally the word used is betrothed, which was a legal binding, an arrangement by the parents. It was a legal document notifying that the parents had agreed that their children would marry. There was no sexual relationship during this period of betrothal which usually lasted a year. The couple did not live together, and only death or divorce could sever the contract. And if the man died, the betrothed girl would be considered a widow.
Mary was engaged to Joseph, a descendant of David. He had Davidic DNA. He was in the royal line. His blood line had come right through David. This is key because it was predicted that through King David would come the Messiah.
Joseph was a young boy, aged 13 or 14 who had royal blood. And even though Joseph was not His father by blood, he was of the line of David and passed that on to the Lord Jesus because He was his son, if not by birth, by adoption, which was legally binding.
Mary means "exalted one." Nothing more is said of Mary. Luke doesn't say she was a devout believer, like Zachariah and Elizabeth. In Luke 3, there is Mary's genealogy. Even though Mary is not named in the genealogy, because only the men are named, that would be the line that led to Mary so that the Lord Jesus would have royal right passed down to Him by His legal father, Joseph. The Lord Jesus would have royal blood passed down to Him through, His mother, Mary. In every sense, then, the Lord Jesus was royalty because Joseph was David's descendant, and Mary was as well.
According to v.28, Gabriel enters Mary's house and says, "Hello, favored one, the Lord is with you." Mary was the recipient of God's grace. God gave her grace because she needed grace. Mary needed grace to go through the birthing process, but also the difficulties that would follow.
But, that is a side note. You see, Mary was conceived into sin and therefore she was a sinner. And all sinners need the grace of God, in order to have a personal relationship with Him and to be used by Him in this fallen world. We cannot go to Mary and receive grace. And, Mary can't hear the prayers of anybody. Only God hears prayers.
In v.29, we read, "Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be." It was what Gabriel said that shook Mary. She was troubled, disturbed, perplexed, and confused, because she knew she was a sinner. In fact, this is why in Luke 1:47 when she praises God, Mary says, "God, my Savior." She knew she needed a Savior.
In v.30, we read, "But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.’" Mary's confusion and perplexity were rooted in fear, but Gabriel reassured her with the favor or grace of God. This was really important due to the fact that appearances of angels always created fear in people.
This highlights the fact that we have nothing to fear. We definitely have no reason to fear the wrath of God because the Son, the Lord Jesus has paid our debt. Even when we sin deliberately, we have no reason to fear because the Son absorbed in His body while on that tree so long ago all that would separate us from the love of God.
To this point Mary doesn't even know what the message from God will be. All she knows is that God has chosen her to be gracious to her. By the way, as a footnote, God is only gracious to those who believe in Him. He gives no grace to those who refuse Him, He gives no grace to those who do not know Him or who are known by HIM. The Lord was with Mary and the Lord was gracious to her in a special and unique way. This was necessary because to this point in time, she did belong to Him just yet.
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