Ecce Ancilla Domini (The Annunciation) Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1849-50
Luke 1:26-38 MSG
In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to the Galilean village of Nazareth to a virgin engaged to be married to a man descended from David. His name was Joseph, and the virgin’s name, Mary. Upon entering, Gabriel greeted her:
Good morning!
You’re beautiful with God’s beauty,
Beautiful inside and out!
God be with you.
She was thoroughly shaken, wondering what was behind a greeting like that. But the angel assured her, “Mary, you have nothing to fear. God has a surprise for you: You will become pregnant and give birth to a son and call his name Jesus. He will be great, be called ‘Son of the Highest.’ The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David; He will rule Jacob’s house forever—no end, ever, to his kingdom.”
Mary said to the angel,
“But how? I’ve never slept with a man.”
The angel answered,
The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
the power of the Highest hover over you;
Therefore, the child you bring to birth
will be called Holy, Son of God.
And did you know that your cousin Elizabeth conceived a son, old as she is? Everyone called her barren, and here she is six months pregnant! Nothing, you see, is impossible with God.
And Mary said,
Yes, I see it all now: I’m the Lord’s maid, ready to serve.
Let it be with me just as you say.
Then the angel left her.
Mary is described as thoroughly shaken, wondering. I see that on her face, as Rosetti has painted her. Where did she get the courage to agree to what Gabriel has proposed? Did you notice that God waited for Mary to agree? Is the Holy Spirit with her in these moments?
Mary & Elizabeth - Reverend Lauren Wright Pittman.
Mary hears about Elizabeth's miraculous pregnancy before she agrees to accept God's plan. Does this news help give her the trust and courage she needs to say yes?
Luke 1.39-45 (excerpt)
Mary didn’t waste a minute. She got up and traveled to a town in Judah in the hill country, straight to Zachariah’s house, and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby in her womb leaped.
And Mary said,
I’m bursting with God-news;
I’m dancing the song of my Savior God.
God took one good look at me, and look what happened—
I’m the most fortunate woman on earth!
What God has done for me will never be forgotten,
the God whose very name is holy, set apart from all others.
His mercy flows in wave after wave
on those who are in awe before him.
He bared his arm and showed his strength,
scattered the bluffing braggarts.
He knocked tyrants off their high horses,
pulled victims out of the mud.
The starving poor sat down to a banquet;
the callous rich were left out in the cold.
He embraced his chosen child, Israel;
he remembered and piled on the mercies, piled them high.
It’s exactly what he promised,
beginning with Abraham and right up to now.
Mary stayed with Elizabeth for three months and then went back to her own home.
Mary says, “God took one good look at me, and look what happened—I’m the most fortunate woman on earth!” How excited she is now!
Mary and Elizabeth are together filled with the Holy Spirit. Nothing is impossible with God!
It is that sense of God’s presence in our lives that allows us to trust in the power of God’s peace even when we do little…Be sure to make this inner peace your utmost priority. . . . When we radiate the peace of Christ we are peacemakers, and then our peace action can witness to this inner peace. But without that inner peace our actions easily become instruments of the powers of war and destruction. - Henri Nouwen
You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.
- Isaiah 26:3
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