Luke 1:26-38
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.
And Mary said, Behold, the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.
How terrifying would this have been? Having a baby out of wedlock in Mary's time was not the casual thing it is now. Now, people hardly bat an eye when a single Mom has a baby. But back then, it could be a death sentence.
Having a baby said that you had sex before marriage (kind of obvious), and you could be killed for doing that. At least you would be disgraced; no one would marry you, and you would carry that stigma for the rest of your life.
But Mary didn't even argue. Yeah, she asked questions, but she asked how it would happen. That's a pretty sensible question. She knew that it was physically impossible for her to be pregnant, so she wanted to know how that could happen. But she did not say no. She didn't even ask to think about it or anything. As soon as Gabriel explained to her what would happen, and that it was possible, she accepted it.
Would you accept something that fast? Would you be more like Mary, who accepted what the angel told her, or like Zacharias, who sort of questioned what was said?
And the interesting thing, when you're looking at the two of them is that the things that Gabriel told Mary were much more frightening than what he told Zacharias. Zacharias was told he would have a son. That was cool. He was married, but his wife was barren. It was something they hoped for, but didn't think they would ever have. No one would look down on them for having a son, in fact, people probably already looked down on Elisabeth for being barren. After she bore a son, they would rejoice with her, and she would be in good standing once more. But with Mary, her reputation would be crushed. She would not have a chance at marriage again. Having a son could have ruined her life. But still, she's the one that accepted what she was told would happen.
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