Day 125: Luke 1:35b-38

“I am the Lord’s slave,” said Mary. “May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel left her (v. 38).

I wonder if Mary knew when He arrived in her womb. Brothers in the faith might be appalled that I would ask such a question, but female minds were created to think intimate, personal thoughts like these! I have at least a hundred questions to ask Mary in heaven.

No doubt Mary would have some interesting stories to tell. Part of the fun of heaven will be hearing spiritual giants tell the details of the old, old stories. Mary certainly wouldn’t have thought of herself as a spiritual giant, would she? I would love to know the exact moment this young adolescent absorbed the news that she would carry and deliver God’s Son.

Gabriel ultimately wrapped up the story of the divine conception with one profound statement: “So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God” (v. 35). The term holy one has never been more perfectly and profoundly applied than in Gabriel’s statement concerning the Son of God.

Could a teenager have fathomed that she was to give birth to the Son who was the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being? (Heb. 1:3). Perhaps Mary’s age was on her side. When my two daughters were teenagers, and when they would tell me something, I always had more questions than they had answers. I’d say, “Did you ask this question?” to which they’d invariably say, “No, ma’am. Never even occurred to me.” I wanted to know every detail. They were too young to realize any were missing!

Mary only asked the one question. When all was said and done, her solitary reply was: “I am the Lord’s servant. . . . May it be to me as you have said” (v. 38). The Greek word for slave or servant is doule, which is the feminine equivalent to doulos, a male bondservant. In essence, Mary was saying, “Lord, I am Your handmaid. Whatever You want, I want.” Total submission. No other questions.

We might be tempted to think: Easy for her to say! Her news was good! Who wouldn’t want to be in her shoes? Submitting isn’t hard when the news is good! Oh, yes, the news was good. The best. But the news was also hard. When the winds of heaven converge with the winds of earth, lightning is bound to strike. Seems to me that Gabriel left just in time for Mary to tell her mother. I have a feeling Nazareth was about to hear and experience a little thunder.