"And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favored, The Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women...And the angel said unto her, fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favor with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call His name JESUS." [Lk 1:28; 30-31]
The phrase “highly favored” in our passage for today has a unique meaning, which is very encouraging for those of us who are found in Christ Jesus. The single Greek word used for these two words is only found in one other place in the New Testament, and it means “to be an object of grace or to be supplied/endowed/furnished with grace.” Endowed itself means “to be supported with a permanent fund/source.” And so we see that this wonderful word means in context that Mary, to whom the angel speaks, has been supplied with a permanent source of grace from her Father in Heaven.
The true encouragement in this verse comes not totally from what the angel says to Mary, but from the other usage of the Greek word mentioned above. In Ephesians it says regarding all believers, not just Mary, that God has “predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved [Son].” [Eph 1:5b-6] The underlined word, “accepted” is the same Greek word used for “highly favored” in Luke. The same thing spoken of Mary is spoken of all believers.
For us, this is a blessed thing. It may not be so blessed for the institution of Catholicism, who raises Mary to an unholy status, making her nearly a god, but it surely is a blessed revelation for those children of God in Christ Jesus. We also are highly favored of God, with whom “there is no respect of persons;” [Rom 2:11] yes, moreover, we are permanently supplied with grace through Jesus Christ, for “And of his fulness have all we received, and grace upon grace.” [Jn 1:16]
Praise to God that we have received such grace. What a beautiful thing that in a very similar way to Mary, we too shall bear Christ. Not as she did, giving birth, but spiritually, for Christ Jesus dwells in our hearts by faith [Eph 3:17] and through our dying to self, His life “might be made manifest in our [bodies].” [2 Cor 4:10-11] And in another way, similar to how the angel told Mary, “blessed art thou among women,” it is true of us that we are blessed among all nations. In Psalms it says, “blessed is…the people whom He hath chosen for His own inheritance;” and again, “happy is that people, whose God is The LORD.” [Psa 33:12; 144:15]
Blessed be our God, who does not show partiality, but who blesses us and chooses to use us just as He did Mary.
Click here to see other posts in Daily Meditations on The Glory of Jesus, Vol I