Lent: Journey Through the Holy Land – Part 4

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.

Luke 1: 26-38

In preparation for our journey to Israel, I spent time reading scripture and reading three books written by COR’s Senior Pastor Adam Hamilton. Our journey was set to follow Jesus’ life from His birth (Christmas) to His resurrection (Easter). Growing up in the church, my Sunday School classes always spent a lot of time on Jesus’ life so I was familiar with much of the Gospels and the Christmas story. But after reading The Journey by Adam Hamilton, my perception of the Christmas story changed. If you haven’t read it – I encourage you to read it – especially during Advent! 

In his book, Adam focuses on five areas of the journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem, starting with Mary of Nazareth. Our journey in Israel did not start in Nazareth, as logistically we would have spent a lot of time on the road traveling from Tel Aviv to Nazareth then to Bethlehem and then later back up to the Galilee region. But, the Christmas story starts in Nazareth with the visit of the angel Gabriel. 

In the time leading up to Jesus’ birth, the town of Nazareth was probably considered an insignificant little town with an estimated population between one hundred and four hundred people. It’s almost safe to make the assumption that Nazareth was not much of anything as in John 1 when Philip tells Nathaniel about Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth, Nathaniel responds with

“Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

Yes, Nathaniel – something incredible came out of Nazareth. God chose a humble young woman from a looked over town and gave us the greatest gift.

Today in Nazareth, you can visit the Church of the Annunciation, which is built over the cave that was Mary’s home. I think the Church of the Annunciation was one of my favorite churches as it kept the cave in the center of the ground floor and then the rest of the church was build above and around it. It is a beautiful place.

You enter in on the ground floor and you make your way around to the back side of the building. From here you descend several steps towards the home of Mary. 

Once you ascend back up to the ground floor, you follow a spiral staircase with beautiful stained glass windows up to the upper level. At the top of the stairs you come out of a doorway to an incredible stained glass window. It takes your breath away. 

The walls leading towards the altar are filled with mosaics and art. It is magnificent. On the upper level you can see down below to the lower level with the cave.

After taking in the Church of the Annunciation, we gathered outside and read the scriptures about Gabriel’s visit to Mary. 

The NSRV version describes Mary as perplexed and I love that description of her reaction to the angel’s words. Mary was unable to grasp the angel’s words clearly or to think logically and decisively about it. She was baffled. And she didn’t even know yet that she was going to give birth to the Savior! All Gabriel had said was “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.”

Can y’all even imagine what she was thinking?

She couldn’t comprehend what was happening – and the best was still yet to come!

And as the angel continued to give her the news, I’m sure her mind kept racing – but did you hear her response?

“Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” 

From what we can tell about society during this time is that Mary was most likely around the age of thirteen. She was engaged to be married to Joseph. And she was just told that she would have a child out of wedlock.

I am twice Mary’s age and I can absolutely guarantee that I would more than likely try to pull a Jonah and the words “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word” would not be coming out of my mouth. I can’t comprehend how she was able to react in this way – but I do know that it had to be out of faith, out of love for God.

In his book, Adam writes a section called “Did Mary Want to Be Mary?” And this section resonated with me. Mary knew the consequences for conception out of wedlock, she knew what would happen if word got out that she was pregnant. She would have to tell Joseph, and what would he think? All of this confusion and chaos, yet “Here am I, the servant of the Lord.”

Mary offered herself to the Lord.

I don’t know about you – but offering myself to the Lord is more difficult than I wish it was. I wish I could declare like Mary “Here am I, the servant of the Lord.” 

But I get anxious and let myself get in my head. I become afraid to go outside my comfort zone or to reach out to people and speak out about my faith. And more often then not when God calls me to do something I don’t want to do or to do something difficult, I hesitate. I step backwards. I know I shouldn’t. And I don’t want to hesitate or step back. 

I have to remind myself that God is always with me. And He always will be. I cannot let my fears drive that out of my mind. 

I’ve put post it notes on my bathroom mirror to remind me each morning as I get ready for the day. I cannot let my fears be the reason that I don’t say “Here am I, the servant of the Lord.” I refuse to let the things that scare me keep someone else from seeing God’s love through me.

What keeps you from surrendering yourself to God like Mary did? What keeps you from saying “Here am I, the servant of the Lord”?

Here we are Lord, Your servants. Still our minds and our hearts to hear Your calling. Ease our fears and help us to show Your love. Thank You for loving us, despite our unwillingness sometimes to be Your servants. Guide us each day as we strive to serve You. Amen.

Well y’all we’ve finally made it to Israel! Tomorrow we’ll continue through the Christmas story. If you’re wondering, I’m not following my trip from start to finish, as not everything was in chronological order. I really want to share Jesus’ life with you as chronologically as possible as I think it will be more fluid and meaningful that way.

Thanks for journeying with me! If you’d like you can subscribe at the footer of this page to receive an emailed version of my blog posts each day right to your inbox! 

See you tomorrow!

Abbey Jo