Tonight for Scriptures we read:

And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her,

Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

Then said Mary unto the angel, how shall this be, seeing I know not a man?

And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. For with God nothing shall be impossible. (Luke 1)

And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.

I had not noticed before, but tonight it struck me that as the story goes, Mary had not yet conceived, the power had not yet overshadowed her. These things only happened after Mary gave her consent.

I’d say that is an amazing lesson from God on the worth of a woman that he would ask her permission to bring about the central point of his work and glory.

So in this season I praise the Son of God for being willing to bear the burdens of the world and each of us, but I also praise Mary, mother of God, who was willing to bear the Son of God.

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