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Mary: Seeing God through the Eyes of a Mother
By Eugene H. Peterson Tyndale House Publishers
Copyright © 2017 Eugene H. Peterson
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-63146-785-1
CHAPTER 1
— SESSION ONE —
Mary
You're Beautiful with God's Beauty
LUKE 1:26-56
* * *
MOST OF US, most of the time, feel left out. We don't belong. "Insiders" know the ropes; they're in a club from which we are excluded. But with God there are no outsiders. Jesus includes those who typically were treated as outsiders: women, common laborers, the radically different, the poor. He will not countenance religion as a club.
— EUGENE
1. Reflect on a time when you were left out. How did it feel? Were you angry? Sad? Anxious? Why?
2. The story of Jesus begins in a hard place: a forgotten village in a powerless country under the thumb of a world superpower. Why do you think God might want to start here?
IN THE SIXTH month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to the Galilean village of Nazareth to a virgin engaged to be married to a man descended from David. His name was Joseph, and the virgin's name, Mary. Upon entering, Gabriel greeted her:
Good morning!
You're beautiful with God's beauty,
Beautiful inside and out!
God be with you.
She was thoroughly shaken, wondering what was behind a greeting like that. But the angel assured her, "Mary, you have nothing to fear. God has a surprise for you: You will become pregnant and give birth to a son and call his name Jesus.
He will be great,
be called 'Son of the Highest.'
The Lord God will give him
the throne of his father David;
He will rule Jacob's house forever —
no end, ever, to his kingdom."
LUKE 1:26-33
3. You wake up, and an angel is standing in front of you, saying, "Good morning!" What do you do? How do you feel?
4. Mary was "thoroughly shaken," but the angel reassures Mary, "You have nothing to fear." What is it about an encounter with God (or, in Mary's case, an angel of God) that can be so overwhelming?
If you found yourself in such a situation, what do you think would be the proper response to God?
5. Mary's life prospects are not great, but the angel assures her that this child God is giving her will be a king. Why should she believe him?
* * *
MARY SAID to the angel, "But how? I've never slept with a man."
The angel answered,
The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
the power of the Highest hover over you;
Therefore, the child you bring to birth
will be called Holy, Son of God.
"And did you know that your cousin Elizabeth conceived a son, old as she is? Everyone called her barren, and here she is six months pregnant! Nothing, you see, is impossible with God."
And Mary said,
Yes, I see it all now:
I'm the Lord's maid, ready to serve.
Let it be with me
just as you say.
Then the angel left her.
LUKE 1:34-38
6. There's the promise, and then there's the path. What is unique about this pregnancy God is promising to Mary?
When has God taken you down an unexpected path toward something he's crafted for your life?
7. This pregnancy will clearly be miraculous. How might Mary be reassured by the angel's comments about her cousin Elizabeth?
8 "Nothing, you see, is impossible with God." Do you believe that? What makes it hard to believe?
9. Mary agrees to the angel's proposition. What does that tell you about her?
Do you find it easy or hard to believe God's promises? Why?
10. How would you respond to the angel's offer?
What would make it hard to accept?
What would make you want to accept it?
* * *
MARY DIDN'T WASTE a minute. She got up and traveled to a town in Judah in the hill country, straight to Zachariah's house, and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby in her womb leaped. She was filled with the Holy Spirit, and sang out exuberantly,
You're so blessed among women,
and the babe in your womb, also blessed!
And why am I so blessed that
the mother of my Lord visits me?
The moment the sound of your
greeting entered my ears,
The babe in my womb
skipped like a lamb for sheer joy.
Blessed woman, who believed what God said,
believed every word would come true!
LUKE 1:39-45
11. Why do you think Mary is in such a hurry to visit Elizabeth?
12. What is it about Mary that causes Elizabeth to call her "so blessed among women"?
* * *
AND MARY SAID,
I'm bursting with God-news;
I'm dancing the song of my Savior God.
God took one good look at me, and look what
happened —
I'm the most fortunate woman on earth!
What God has done for me will never be forgotten,
the God whose very name is holy, set apart from
all others.
His mercy flows in wave after wave
on those who are in awe before him.
He bared his arm and showed his strength,
scattered the bluffing braggarts.
He knocked tyrants off their high horses,
pulled victims out of the mud.
The starving poor sat down to a banquet;
the callous rich were left out in the cold.
He embraced his chosen child, Israel;
he remembered and piled on the mercies, piled
them high.
It's exactly what he promised,
beginning with Abraham and right up to now.
Mary stayed with Elizabeth for three months and then went back to her own home.
LUKE 1:46-56
13. A pregnant, unmarried young woman might be considered scandalous in Mary's culture, but here she declares herself "the most fortunate woman on earth." Why does she consider herself so fortunate?
14. Mary's song moves quickly from celebrating her pregnancy to celebrating God. What do you find most compelling among all the things she sings about him?
A NOTE FROM EUGENE
BEFORE MARY PRAYED a half-dozen words, we realize that this girl knew her family story — the Holy Scriptures — which tells the ways that God has been speaking and working among his people. The heart of Mary's prayer involves three great reversals: (1) God establishes his strength and disestablishes the proud; (2) God puts down the people at the top and lifts up the people at the bottom; and (3) God fills the hungry and sends the rich away empty.
15. Mary declares that everything she sings about-including her pregnancy — is "exactly what [God] promised, beginning with Abraham and right up to now." What promises do you think she's talking about?
What promises has God made to you?
Until we meet again
REFLECT on your own life story. When can you recall that God "piled on the mercies, piled them high"?
When can you recall that God "showed his strength"?
This passage of Scripture is a celebration of this special calling given to Mary. But Mary will face challenges as well. How does God's presence in your life make facing such challenges easier for you?
Prayer
God, the world you have made for us is pregnant with potential. It's easy to feel small in such a world.But we are ourselves expanded by your promise. Enlarge our imaginations, God. Make us grateful, joyful participants in what is yet to come. Help us to bear your hope, your confidence, your blessing for the world around us.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Mary: Seeing God through the Eyes of a Mother by Eugene H. Peterson. Copyright © 2017 Eugene H. Peterson. Excerpted by permission of Tyndale House Publishers.
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