“In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!’”
The love of God is perplexing. You always find it in places no one would expect. This passage begins with the archangel of heaven being sent from the throne of God to a city. And which city is expected to greet an envoy from the almighty? Rome in its splendor? No. Jerusalem? It’s what the wise men assumed—that a king, God himself, would come to the seat of power, so they go looking for him first in the palace. But no. Nazareth: a fishing village in Galilee, a lot some of the towns in our association. And which ruler of men will receive this ambassador of the King of Kings? A young girl, not yet married, whose name, Mary, simply means “beloved.”
So you see why, in v.29, Mary is “greatly troubled” when the angel greets her as though she’s royalty. The word here for greatly troubled literally bears a picture of distress and confusion moving through her beyond what she was really able to bear. Notice, she’s so perplexed she doesn’t even respond to the angel at first. I wonder what she was doing at the time—I’ve seen artists depictions of everything from sleeping in bed to making dinner, quietly going about daily life, not expecting anything extraordinary to happen. You almost get the sense that she thought there had been some kind of mistake.
The language here, translated “favored one” is based on the word grace, meaning unearned, unmerited favor. The only thing the text says Mary has done is in v.30 where it says she found the grace and favor of God, meaning, she looked for it. Between Mary’s name, her reaction, and Gabriel’s greeting, we see the unmerited love and grace of God showing up in the last place anyone would have thought, which is comforting for me.
New Orleans is not typically a place important things happen (judging by our world’s standards) and it’s not typically a place powerful people live. But I wonder, if we looked for it, if we might find the unmerited grace and favor of the God of heaven in this place as well.
The word used to call Mary blessed and favored here is used one other place, in Ephesians 1:6, in a passage talking about our adoption as Christians into the family of God. A great honor given without any hesitation, without any requirement to those who look for it: God with us.
British poet Malcolm Guite writes beautifully of the first advent of Christ through Mary, god-bearer, when he came to live among us, and the second advent of Christ upon his return to bring the kingdom of God on earth in full; but he also writes of a third advent, which is the real presence of Christ among his church today. In every place where people gather in worship, even in the places you would never expect God is with us. Even here in New Orleans, even in your church, even when you would least expect it.
And since you are reading this, I have to believe—like Mary—you’re looking for something, even if you don’t know what, and I know God’s love has found you. Even if you’re reading this in the last place you would expect to find the love of God. God’s love is perplexing, and his grace, his favor, is given without any kind of merit or requirement to those who look for it.
