That Angel Gets Around

The last we saw of the angel Gabriel, he said to Zacharias, “every word I’ve spoken to you will come true on time—God’s time.”

And we hear this and …we…wait…

How long is God’s timing? How long will you be patient in his time?

Elizabeth was six months pregnant. She’d told her story around the neighbourhood. Then and only then did the angel visit Mary. Notice Mary’s response and compare it with Zacharias’.

 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.  But the angel said “Don’t be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will call him Jesus. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”  The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. The holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.”

“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her. (From Luke 1:26-38)

If you were Mary?

I like to think that by going to Mary first, and not Joseph, God was pointing out how he treasured women!