Can you remember what it was like to be fifteen? Fifteen. It’s an awkward time. Your body is somewhere between childhood and adulthood, Hormones are doing all sorts of weird things to your body and to your voice. And there is this great race to grow up.
Still, at fifteen you are not old enough to drive a car, vote, stay out late, or live on your own. At fifteen, there are a lot of things that you are not allowed to do. You are in High School, interested in things fifteen year olds are interested in. You are still a child living in your parent’s home.
Then, one night, there is a disturbance in another room of your house. You get up to investigate and there, In the middle of your living room stands this supernatural, and absolutely terrifying angelic presence that speaks these words to you…“You will bring the son of God into this world!” What would you do? What would be going through your mind? Would you also be wondering how fast you could get out the back door and down the street? Would you say, “sure, no problem, I am ready for that!”
Keep this thought in mind as we examine the text today (Luke 1:26-38)
Scholars tell us that the betrothal age was between 13 and 15. Mary was about this age.
Beginning in verse 26, we have the familiar story of the Annunciation. The angel announces to Mary that she’s going to have a baby.
Look at verse 26, “Now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth.” Stop there. Nazareth was Mary’s hometown, Joseph’s hometown. Some would call it a hick town. Some would call it a dump. It was a nothing town. It was an insignificant town. It was the place where your kids would get bored and say to you, when I grow up, I’m leaving this town! Nazareth is not mentioned in the Old Testament, the writings of Josephus, the Apocrypha, not mentioned in the Talmud, not mentioned in the Midrash. It’s only mentioned in the New Testament. You would have never heard of it were it not for this story.
In fact, when Nazareth is mentioned in the New Testament, it is mentioned with scorn. The classic text is in John chapter 1, when Philip tells Nathaniel, we have found the Messiah, the one that Moses and the prophets wrote about, Jesus of Nazareth. Nathaniel shot back and said, can anything good come out of Nazareth? In other words, look, that’s an unremarkable place. Surely, God’s Messiah couldn’t come from there.
Nazareth was overshadowed by another town close to it, the town of Sepphoris. Sepphoris was the Roman capital of Galilee under Herod Antipas. Sepphoris was larger. It was the business hub for the north. Nazareth was really a bedroom community for Sepphoris. People who lived in Nazareth would travel to Sepphoris for work. Most scholars believe Joseph, the tekton, the carpenter or stonemason principally worked there.
In addition, most down south in Jerusalem looked down their nose at Galilee. It’s where the unsophisticated lived. It’s where the Gentiles lived. It was a mixed population base. And because of that, those down in Jerusalem regarded it as unclean.
Nazareth was an insignificant place that became Jesus’ hometown for 30 years. In fact, the title he is most known by in the New Testament, mentioned 17 times, is he is Jesus of Nazareth.
I’m guessing that some of us here harbor a kind of contempt for our own Nazareth, the place we live in, the job we’re involved in, the circumstances that are going on in our life, all of which make us think that it’s all keeping me from my real potential. What I want to suggest to us is that God might be doing his best work in places like that. What is your Nazareth?
For some of us, our Nazareth is our job. You don’t particularly like your job. You think you’re better than that. You should have a different job. For some of you, your Nazareth is a physical disability that you have struggled with. For others of you, your Nazareth is here, your city, your state. Can anything good come out of Nazareth? For some of you, your Nazareth is your lack of education. For some of you, your Nazareth is your marriage. For others of you, your Nazareth is your singleness. It’s whatever causes you to say, can anything good come out of this? Can anything good come out of Nazareth?
I know something good that came out of Nazareth, a virgin named Mary, her young husband, and a miraculous insemination in her womb all happened in Nazareth. Insignificant town. Holy ground. God may show up in our Nazareth as well!
Luke 1:26 tells us an angel of the Lord appeared to Mary. *(This image is the Church of the Annunciation and a well where people think the angel appeared to Mary)
Mary was not a prophet or a 
priest; she was not in God’s temple performing acts of service. Instead, she was simply a young woman who was living at home and planning her wedding, for she was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph. In ancient Jewish marriages, the word “engaged” (or “betrothed”) had a different meaning than today. First, the two families would agree to the union and negotiate the betrothal, including a price for the bride that would be paid to the bride’s father. Next, a public announcement would be made. At this point, the couple was “pledged.” This is similar to engagement today, except that it was much more binding. At this point, even though the couple was not officially married, their relationship could be broken only through death or divorce. Sexual relations were not yet permitted. This second step lasted for a year. During that time, the couple would live separately, with their parents.
This waiting period would demonstrate the bride’s purity. If she were found to be pregnant during that time, the marriage could be annulled. After this waiting time, the couple would be married and begin living together. What Mary was about to hear from the angel would have significant impact on her engagement.
Here’s Mary, perhaps thinking of marriage, preparing for the big day, already pledged to be married to a man named Joe, dreaming of driving the family SUV, with kids arguing about who gets to sit in front of the camel, and being the perfect patient mom. Then an angel appeared.
6 …God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee,27 to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph
Mary and Joseph were an average young couple planning to get married. During their engagement God showed up and announced they were to have a child together before they have even had sex. Many times things don’t go the way we plan.
Sometimes God providentially, God sovereignty changes circumstances around because He’s got another idea in mind. And that’s obviously what happened at Christmas time about 2000 years ago.
Mary showed how a believer reacts to God’s interruptions of our plans. Life’s unexpected curves do not have to be catastrophic to the Christian. I hope you will use Mary’s approach to faith when life takes an unexpected turn. How do you approach life when it turns out different than what you planned?
We will see how Mary responds in the next post.
Darrell
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