As much as anything we will be told about Mary, her closing response to the angel Gabriel reveals her character. What kind of person is she? The kind who responds to the call of God simply and comprehensively. “Behold the bondslave of the Lord,” she says. “Be it done to me as to Your word” (Lk 1:38). Her submission to God, her trust in God, is complete. Her surrender to God is absolute. “Do with me what you will,” she says, providing, in J. I. Packer’s words, “a magnificent model of total trustful devotion.”[1]

Mary is distinctively, uniquely a servant of God, in that no one before or since will be called upon to be the theotokos, the bearer of the God-Man. She is also a model of piety that believers have looked to, both male and female, since New Testament times. Mary “personifies what is most attractive in female piety in particular” (1 Pet 3:3-5), says Milne, “and in Christian character generally.” [2]

Yet there was nothing automatic about her response. The role that she was called to play was thrust upon her. She didn’t ask for it. She wasn’t consulted. Gabriel’s announcement represented a sudden and unexpected turn. Whatever plans or dreams or aspirations she might have entertained would have had to be thrown overboard. She never would have anticipated this call of God to her, any more than could the Christian minister, the Christian missionary, the Christian widow, the Christian paraplegic, the Christian daughter carrying for elderly parents, or Christian parents caring for their handicapped child may have anticipated theirs. Her response to God’s call is exemplary, and one from which we are meant to learn. We too are but God’s “bondslaves.” We too are to learn to say, “Be it done to me according to Your word.”

Prepared

Mary’s response to God’s call doesn’t occur in a vacuum. Why does she respond as she does? Because she was prepared. Little is made of Mary’s family connections at the same time that we are informed of Joseph’s (Lk 1:27).[3] We possibly may infer that she was of the Davidic line on the basis of Luke 1:32.[4] We may infer an Aaronic connection on the basis of Luke 1:36. Mary was a “relative” of Elizabeth, a “kinswoman” in the King James Version. Since Elizabeth was the daughter of a priest, one of Mary’s parents might also have been a descendent of Aaron, a priest. If we read the data correctly, Mary had strong spiritual bloodlines, like her devout kinswoman. In her, if we understand correctly, royal and priestly lines were united, as they would be in the person and work of Jesus.  

Be that as it may, Mary is a devout young girl/woman. She is young, to be sure. She is likely to be only in her early teens. Yet she manifests godliness even in her tender years. Her piety is obvious throughout. It is clearly seen in her initial response to Gabriel.

But she was greatly troubled at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this might be. (Lk 1:29)

Had she been proud, with a high opinion of herself, she might have been “pleased” at his saying. Or “touched.” Or “thrilled.” Instead she was “confounded” (KJV). She was as one “not conscious of any thing that either merited or promised such great things,” observes Matthew Henry.[5] She knows that she doesn’t deserve such an honor. She knows that she is unworthy. This is the consciousness of the godly. “Who am I, what is my house?” asks David in response to the promises of God to build his dynasty (2 Sam 7:18). Jesus said “blessed are the meek” (Mt 5:5). He commends poverty of spirit (Mt 5:3). Mary responds as the devout do to the call of God: sensing both unworthiness and inadequacy. Jesus will be born to a humble, devout mother.

She is devout in her concluding response as well: the song of praise we call the Magnificat. Mary doesn’t say, “I really am the most qualified” or “God made a good choice.” She doesn’t say, “All my hard work has finally paid off.” No, she gives all the glory to God. “My soul exalts the Lord,” she says, who “has had regard for the humble state of his bond-slave” (Lk 1:48). Mary must have been reared in a devout home. She must have had devout parents. She, in turn, will provide a similar home for Jesus.

Is it an accident that when God selects the woman who will bear the Messiah, that she is a pure virgin? that she is humble? that she trusts and submits to God? that she will give God the praise and glory (Lk 1:49-56)? No, while her background is downplayed, her piety is not. Like John the Baptist, Jesus will be born into a devout home. His father will be a “righteous man” (Mt 1:19). Mary is a devout young woman. Jesus will “grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom” (Lk 2:40). He will keep “increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man” (Lk 2:52). Crucial to His growth in wisdom will be the influence of his parents. This is why Mary and Joseph are selected. It would not do for Jesus to be born into an irreligious and morally shady family. Jesus will grow in His knowledge of God and His word. He will grow in His application of God’s word in life. Yet, He will attend no schools. He will be the disciple of no man. The Apostle Paul sat at the feet of the great Rabbi Gamaliel. Jesus will sit at the feet of no one. His only school will be His family, His only teachers His parents. They will teach Him to pray, assist Him in memorizing Scripture, conduct family prayers twice daily, and take Him to the synagogue for morning and evening prayer on the Sabbath. They will teach him to observe a holy date of rest, devoted to the things of God.

The selection of Mary was all of God’s grace, as we saw last time. Yet we should not miss that the choice was not unrelated to Mary’s suitability to rear Jesus in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Eph 6:4). He must be reared in a devout home if He was to be ready for His public ministry at the age of about 30.

Let this encourage mothers particularly, and parents in general, in their endeavor to rear godly children. The home is the nursery of faith and it is up to the task. It is the God-appointed school of discipleship. We need not turn over this job to the “professionals.” Our job is not unlike Mary’s job. We are to be the kind of people, and we are to create the kind of family environment, which prepares our children for the spiritual challenges of life. This is the primary task of ordinary parents. The quality of our homes will make or break our children spiritually. We need not and cannot rely on the Sunday School, the church, or the youth group. We need not and cannot rely on the parachurch group, the peer group, the Christian school, or anything else. Teach your children at home to pray. Read Scripture to them. Encourage them to memorize key verses. Take them to church for both services on Sunday. Model a holy Christian Sabbath. God may be gracious and sanctify our children apart from us, but this is exceedingly rare. We shape or misshape our children at home. The home is sufficient to the task, and because it is, our children are worth the energy we pour into their spiritual preparation.

We also wish to encourage our young people to prepare now to serve God. Do you want to be used by God? Do you want to be useful to Him, to do that which makes not a temporary but a lasting, even eternal difference? If so, do not put off the pursuit of God. Begin now to become the sort of person that God might be pleased to use. Study God’s word. Pray. Excel in academic work. Be a spirited leader among youth. Mary is assigned this all important role while only a teenager. Serve God in your youth. 

Willing

We return now to focus on Mary’s matchless response in verse 38:

And Mary said, “Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; be it done to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. (Lk 1:38)

Mary calls herself a “bondslave” (doulē) meaning “slave-girl.” “It expresses complete obedience,” says Morris, who points as well to Mary’s “quiet heroism.”[6] She understands herself to be God’s slave. What He wants she wants. She could not have anticipated Joseph’s response to her pregnancy, and indeed, he contemplated divorcing her (Mt 1:19). The penalty for adultery (inferred from the pregnancy) was death (Deut 22:23ff). We don’t know what sort of personal dreams and aspirations a first century Jewish girl might have had. Whatever they were, they were threatened by the angel’s announcement. Her marriage is threatened. Her reputation is potentially blemished. A “normal” life with a “normal” marriage and a “normal” family  are impossible. She would have had her own vision of the future, however limited it might have been by our standards. Her response, though, is one of complete surrender to the will of God.

Each of us is called to that same response of submissive trust. Each of us must, in some important sense, cross this bridge. “This act of surrender, submission, standing in awe before the presence of the Holy,” says Timothy George, “is the very posture of humility and surrender all of us are called to take before God.”[7] God can be trusted. His will is our safety. Mary does not qualify her submission and neither must we. We must not say, “I surrender to Your will, except . . .” and withhold that one thing or that one person or that one calling or that one act of obedience. Mary does not negotiate a sphere of autonomy. She does not reserve for herself a realm of independence from the will of God. Her submission is entire and so must ours be. To what is He calling us? He can be trusted. We can submit entirely. Is it to the mission field? He can be trusted. Is it to the ministry? He can be trusted. Is it to the inner city? He can be trusted. Is it to a life of hardship? He can be trusted. Is it to the trials of sickness or brokenness? He provides. What He ordains, He supplies. In all our affliction, He is afflicted (Isa 63:9). He is our refuge and strength in all the challenges of life (Ps 46:1). Let Mary’s response, then, be our own. Let us say with her, “Let it be to Your bondservant according to Your will.”