I’ve been studying Luke lately and have been struck by the contrasting responses of Mary and Zechariah to the unbelievable message brought to them by Gabriel.
Zechariah is an elderly priest serving in the temple. He and his wife are both righteous and have prayed for a child, but are both too old to have kids. He is chosen by lot to enter into the temple to offer incense — a rare privilege. God chooses this moment to send Gabriel to him, to tell him that his prayers have been heard and he will have a child. Yet Zechariah can’t believe it, saying — in effect — “How can this possibly be? My wife & I are too old — plus, my wife is barren!”
Gabriel’s reprimand is strong — “I am Gabriel and I stand in the presence of God” — and he strikes him mute for not believing.
Mary, on the other hand, is a newly-engaged girl in the back-country of Galilee from a poor family. Yet when Gabriel tells her about the virgin birth and how she would conceive, carry and deliver the Promised One without having “been with a man”, she asks (in faith) for an explanation. Having received one, she says humbly “I am the Lord’s servant; may your word to me be fulfilled” and later is blessed by Zechariah’s wife: “Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill His promises to her.”
Perhaps it is this — her simple and total faith in God — that caused her to be “highly favored”? Perhaps the thing God desires most hasn’t changed much in the thousands of years since His dealings with Abraham: that we trust Him.
A Thousand Photons 