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The Mary Files

Words of Faith Final

The Mary Files

Words of Faith 12-15-2020

Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2020

Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com

Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL

www.faithfellowshipweb.com

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      NOTE: For the next few weeks, we will revisit a series of devotions Advent Devotions from the Words of Faith that appeared over the past 25 years.  The focus is on the scriptural story of the birth of Jesus.  These devotions lift up some of the most familiar and beloved scriptures in the Bible.  May the Lord richly bless you and yours in the season celebrating His magnificent birth.  JDH

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Luke 1

    [26] In the sixth month, 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."

 

       Luke was the only Gospel writer to get the "big scoop" … an interview with Mary, the mother of Jesus. He reports that he "carefully investigated everything from the beginning," and in doing so, managed to land the interview of a lifetime… the mother of Jesus.

      Many things are unique about Luke's writing and perspective, but perhaps most striking was his access to what we might call "The Mary Files," the special insight and experience from the mother of Jesus.

    Why was Luke granted such access?  How did he warrant Mary's story?  After all, she was entrusted to the care of John as if he were her son.  Why Luke?  It may be as simple as the fact that no one had ever asked much about the birth of Jesus.

   Even when asked, Mary did not tell all that she knew. There are so many more things that we would like to know about the childhood of Jesus, his teenage years, and the fate of Joseph. But through Luke, we get some details about His birth, and what Mary revealed seems carefully chosen and purposeful.  What a treasure.

      So, what is this all about?  What is the point of this carefully chosen story?  What did God want us to know through Mary and her recollection passed on to Luke, the researcher?

      One key may be in the simple phrase:  "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."  The phrase conveys the high favor or the grace of God.  The point of Mary's story here at the beginning is to set the tone, climate, and environment of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  It is a climate of grace.  If we miss everything else at Christmas, don't miss the grace.

      The Gospel is about high grace! "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."  We need to clearly understand that this is not a statement of worship.  At first hearing, it may sound as though the angel is worshiping Mary, but nothing could be further from the case.  In the Greek, the angel was simply hailing or calling a greeting to Mary so that he could announce that the grace of God that was upon her. 

      From the angel's statement, many have been tempted to think that it was somehow the virtue of Mary that caused God to choose her for the honor of bearing the Son of God.  This is not the case.  God's decision to bring Jesus into the world through Mary of Nazareth was not based upon her virtue. If that were the case, the angel would not have announced the grace of God.  

      Grace meets a need.  Grace is the "unmerited favor" of God.  The "high grace" that the angel announced was an unmerited favor.  Not that Mary lacked human virtue.  But her virtue did not somehow earn her a place as the "mother of God."  Her virginity was not so much an issue of her moral purity as an issue of Jesus' miraculous incarnation, the miracle of God.  Virginity actually was common in first-century Jewish culture.  God could have as easily chosen a prostitute to bear Jesus miraculously into the world. It would have been the same grace, the same unmerited favor.

      We don't want to miss the point that Mary of Nazareth was favored by God; God was not favored by Mary's personal virtue.  Without the grace of God, Mary of Nazareth was just as lost and separated from God as Mary of Magdala with seven unclean spirits.  The angel was not announcing that favor had been found IN Mary of Nazareth but that she was highly favored by God to express grace UPON her. That is highly graced! 

        This phrase is best called the Annunciation-- or Announcement because it announces the coming of the grace of God.  Good News!  The grace of God is here.

      Are you ready in this season to experience the grace of God?  He has announced it.  He has offered it.  He has paid for it. It is for us to receive it. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).

 

      O God, help me to see Your grace anew.  Help me to see that all humanity is lost without You.  We all need Your grace-- Your high favor.  Help me to receive Your grace.  This is what I desperately need.  Help me to share Your grace. In Jesus' name. 

 

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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2020

Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)       

2820 Business Center Blvd.

Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200

Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com

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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2010 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.