“The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.” - Luke 1:30-31
There’s a reason advertisers use babies to sell things. Most everyone loves new babies. They’re so precious—tiny and helpless, cute and small—they fill our hearts with happiness. But their entry into this world is anything but cute. Birth is an incredibly painful and difficult process!
This isn’t by accident. When sin entered into the world in Genesis 3, God cursed the world. Paul tells us in Romans 8:20 that the entire world was subjected to futility. Death entered the world, and everything was broken.
The curse didn’t just stop there, either. God cursed man with death and He cursed Adam and his progeny with labor to provide for their families. He would literally have to sweat and toil in order to bring forth food from the ground.
Eve received a curse for her and her progeny as well—the curse of pain in child birth. Anyone who has ever given birth, or witnessed someone giving birth understands this—it’s incredibly difficult and dangerous.
Hundreds of generations later, one of those daughters of Eve, Mary, received a message from the highest of the angels, Gabriel. The message was that she would miraculously conceive a child, and would bear a Son. She was going to give birth, and that child would come from the Spirit of God.
Now, babies are precious, but bringing them into the world is tough, by design. This young woman, in a little village in Israel with effectively no medical care, must have been fairly nervous about this event. She had certainly been present at other births by her age, and each birth was a dangerous event. So, when the angel told her that she was going to give birth, it must have felt more like a curse than a blessing.
However, when Gabriel makes this announcement to Mary, he uses an interesting word - the word is translated ‘favor’ in the New American Standard. In Greek, the word means ‘grace’.
While the birth was part of the curse, God’s grace was on Mary at this moment. How could that be? How could grace and favor come with the curse?
The answer, of course, is that this wasn’t just any pregnancy, and Jesus wasn’t just any baby.
The grace of God, and His favor had come to Mary in a person, Jesus the Messiah. And that grace wasn’t just for Mary - it was for everyone!
And so, God’s grace had come to reverse the curse—the curse of childbirth would bring the grace of God into the world. And, some years later the curse of death would be overcome by life—once again through Jesus who would take the curse on Himself.
This is the message of Christmas, isn’t it?
That Jesus has come, and has begun the process of pushing back the curse of sin and death, one soul at a time.
God’s grace wasn’t just for Mary that day—it was for me, and for you, if you know Jesus.
