And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”
Watch session one: Jesus responds to our need
As stories go, everything about Mary’s seemed impossible. It seemed impossible that, after four hundred years of silence, God would send a messenger to a young girl probably no more than fifteen years old. It seemed impossible that a girl would find fa – vor with God. And it seemed impossible that through a virgin would come “the Son of the Most High” (Luke 1:32).
It certainly seemed impossible to Mary.
It’s hard to picture it—an ordinary Mary. A Mary without a glowing halo. A Mary without that expression of demure solemnity we’ve come to associate with her virginity. But the truth is, Mary was just that: ordinary—a noname girl from a no-name town, living in an insignificant corner of the Roman Empire. Still, we struggle to accept her ordinariness.
“But Mary was humble,” we object. Or, “She was holy,” we tell ourselves.
No matter how we put it, we all do it. We buy into the idea that God chose Mary because there was something about her that made her extraordinary. Something that made her worthy of God’s notice. Something that made her special. But that’s not the picture of Mary we get from the Gospel of Luke. Far from it. When Gabriel appeared to Mary and called her “favored,” when he exclaimed, “the Lord is with you,” Mary didn’t know what to do with it. Surely Gabriel had made a mistake. Surely he’d gotten the wrong girl. Mary, the gospel writer tells us, “was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be” (Luke 1:29). Mary’s story seemed impossible. It seemed impossible to her, and it should seem impossible to us—but that, of course, is precisely the point.
Mary’s story is impossible. But for grace. It’s easy to come to Mary’s story and be so overcome by the miracle of the Virgin Birth that we forget about the miracle of grace. We forget that it was grace that sent Gabriel with a message of good news to a no-name town under Roman subjugation. We forget that it was grace that looked on Mary, an unimpressive, ordinary girl, with favor. And we forget that it was grace, through the power of the Holy Spirit, that made it possible for a virgin girl to bear the very Son of God—Jesus, the rescuer of humankind. Grace is the outpour – ing of God’s condescension, the bridge that connects the ordinary and the impossible. It did in Mary’s life, and it does in our own.
We live within the limitations of our ordinariness. Maybe we have ordinary skills. Maybe we have ordinary jobs. Or maybe we have ordinary relationships. But we can find comfort in knowing that the same grace that moved in Mary’s life is the grace that moves in ours. It is the grace of a God who bends to look on us with favor. It has nothing to do with us and who we are, but everything to do with Jesus and who he is.
It is because of grace that Gabriel could say to Mary, “Nothing will be impossible with God” (Luke 1:37). And it is because of grace that God says the same to us.
Do you really believe God graces the ordinary? Or are there places you strive to be better than ordinary in order to earn God’s grace?
Comments (13)
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I want to say that I 100% believe that God graces the ordinary but I am still striving to earn God’s grace, like it isn’t freely given already. I know in my heart that I don’t need to try to earn what has been so freely given but I doubt my worth so I strive to be better and I strive to earn grace. IT IS EXHAUSTING!
I relate so much to what you just said. I think that’s what David was hinting at in Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God.” That we shouldn’t try to exhaust ourselves. Just embrace that it is freely given.
Sometimes I believe it for I have seen God show up and minister to me in the day to day mundanes. But other times i don’t believe and try to prove myself
Yes, I believe God graces the ordinary and the extraordinary. God’s grace is infinite, but I am still strive in places, to be better than ordinary.
The five graces of sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste. Each needs to be honored in the full experience of life.
I truly believe he graces the ordinary. This is where his light shines. When I strive to be better than the ordinary or prove myself to someone, it is usually for selfish reasons and has nothing to do with him. That is how I fall short everyday! He is the only audience we should be trying to impress.
I absolutely believe that God graces the ordinary! It is impossible to earn God’s grace; by definition it is freely bestowed by the One Who made us and gave us our lives.
Amen!
Yes, I believe Gods grace to the ordinary. Gods love knows no bounds. Nothing is impossible through Jesus Our savior.
The answer to these questions is "both." We’re human; our very nature urges us to earn what we want. We cannot believe anyone would give us something without strings attached (because so many people who give to us want things in return.) On the other hand, it only takes one day in the life to figure out that we got from point A to point B with a big helping of God’s grace! And no matter how we pad our social media feeds or talk ourselves up to others, most of know that we’re ordinary.
Absolutley I believe God grace’s the ordinary. I also know there are places I strive as well. For me it’s both.
I believe that God graces the ordinary and the bible shows us many examples of that. But, deep down I think I still strive to "be good" and earn God’s grace. I was brought up this way and even though I have grown so much spiritually, this thought is still with me. With my children, I’m trying to teach them that God’s grace is freely given to all who believe that Jesus is Lord and Savior so when they get older they, hopefully, won’t have a hard time understanding it like I do now.
Yes I certainly believe in his miracles because I’ve seen them. It’s not a coincidence, it’s a miracle.