Highly Favored

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

HIGHLY FAVORED

Luke 1:26-38

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." 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. 31 You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end." 34 "How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?" 35 The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. 37 For nothing is impossible with God." 38 "I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her.

NIV

Because this is such a beautiful story of the beginning of the time Jesus came to earth in the form of man to redeem his people, we needed to keep it together, although there are various points we can focus on. The first of these points is the greeting from the angel Gabriel to Mary. Why was Mary “highly favored”. Of course, Gabriel also told the Lord is with you. Mary even questioned why this angel gave her such a greeting, although we are told she was troubled at his words, it does not seem that she was troubled having an angel appear before her and talk to her. However, what stands out is Mary being “Highly favored”. We do wonder about the favor of God, and that we are told that God does show favoritism, but then there was only one woman in the world who could bring the Savior into the world. It is also true that this woman had to be a virgin, never ever having any relations with a man so that her pregnancy would be a miracle in itself. Jesus was conceived in her womb by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is all true and could mean this is why she was highly favored by God. It is not that Mary was worthy of more favor than we are, for God shows the same favor to all his creation, but the fact that God was going to use her to bring Jesus into the world in the image of man, would be a highly honored happening. There are conflicting beliefs about the life of Mary as to whether she was sinless, or simply a normal young virgin living in a small town where she was known by many. Because there is absolutely no scripture to indicate anything about the birth of Mary, it would be inappropriate to make and confirmed belief, so we would think Mary was a normal young virgin who God determined to find favor upon her by bringing Jesus into the world through her. This could mean, that any of us should find favor with God, and have found favor with him because he sent Jesus to pay the penalty for our sin. In fact, we might even say that God is looking upon us as “Highly favored” people because what Jesus did for us. Why would we not be so highly favored when Jesus came to died for us, and conquered death,and by his resurrection and that He has gone to prepare a place for us, and because he has prepared this place, He is going to come back and take us to the place where He is. How much more of a favor from God could we ask for? He has freed us from the penalty of sin, and has given us everlasting life. There is no question that we are “Highly favored”.