The Birth of Jesus Foretold

Advent Meditations

December 8, 2020

The Birth of Jesus Foretold

Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.”

Luke 1:38a

Read Luke 1:26-38

There is much for us to ponder in this very familiar passage foretelling the birth of Jesus. Today’s passage follows the foretelling of the birth of John the Baptist. In that passage, God invited Zachariah to take a leap of faith. Zachariah was serving in the Temple, the place where God would be expected to speak to His people. An angel of the Lord spoke, and Zachariah balked. In today’s passage, Mary received her invitation from the Lord, and she didn’t balk: “Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true” (Luke 1:38). The trained theologian balked, the laywoman believed.

We also see an introduction of our Trinitarian understanding of God introduced in this passage. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are all present in this passage. This first advent of Christ is the decision and active will of all members of the Trinity.

The angel Gabriel’s greeting to Mary, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” (verse 28 NIV) is the basis of the Catholic doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, that Mary was free from original sin so she would be worthy to bear the Christ child. I am not a Catholic theologian and I am not promoting this doctrine. But it does give me another point to ponder.

My Takeaway: We have no definitive information of the age of Mary when she became pregnant with Jesus, but the best guess is fifteen or sixteen. Reflecting on the Catholic doctrine, God began preparing Mary to be the mother of Jesus before she was born. I think I need to read and mediate on Psalm 139.

   ¹³ For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book

before one of them came to be.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2020 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.