Luke
1:26-38
26 Now in the sixth month the
angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth,
27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.
28 And coming in, he said to her, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you."
29 But she was very perplexed at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was.
30 The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God.
31 "And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.
32 "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David;
33 and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end."
34 Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?"
35 The angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.
36 "And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month.
37 "For nothing will be impossible with God."
38 And Mary said, "Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.
27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.
28 And coming in, he said to her, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you."
29 But she was very perplexed at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was.
30 The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God.
31 "And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.
32 "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David;
33 and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end."
34 Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?"
35 The angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.
36 "And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month.
37 "For nothing will be impossible with God."
38 And Mary said, "Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.
"Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day." - Henri Nouwen.
Joy to the world...we sing without thinking what it meant, or what it cost. For Mary it was an angel-visitation that asked her to say yes to what must have seemed ludicrous to anyone other than Mary.
A Virgin Birth?
Lots of modern day unbelieving critics have written to say that it is all a myth created by the Apostles and early church believers to deify Jesus - that Jesus was just a human being who was a zealous Jewish preacher who wanted to reform Judaism and that his followers made up the deity parts in order to make him their god and create a religion around him.
BAH, HUMBUG...Modern cynics don't have the ability to look beyond their own two feet and see a universe full of mystery and wonder. Children have more insight in observing their world than they do. They are stuck in their atheistic, agnostic pseudo-wise mindset where anything that is not observable with their eyes and tested in a laboratory cannot be wisdom and therefore cannot be true. BAH, HUMBUG...
I'll stick with faith...because in Faith, obedience comes forth, and from obedience comes JOY...real Joy in seeing what God can do.
Henri Nouwen is correct...
Joy doesn't HAPPEN to us...we Choose Joy...every time we say Yes to God.
And then we keep choosing it day by in trust, in believing, in walking out our lives with faith, love and hope in the living God.
Peace
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