Word of Salvation – December  2025

 

An Ordinary Woman

 

Sermon by Rev. Josh Hartog on Luke 1:26-38

Reading: Luke 1:26-38

 

Introduction

 

Hebrews 11 lists the Heroes of the Faith.  We often look at the characters in the Bible and the extraordinary things they did and feel like they are in a class of their own, that they are heroes of the faith and we’re just ordinary Christians.  For example, Noah built the ark with no evidence the world would flood except God’s word.  Abraham left everything he knew based on nothing but God’s promise.  Joseph never lost his faith despite being sold as a slave and thrown into prison.  Moses led God’s people for 40 years through the wilderness.  Joshua conquered the Promised Land.  David killed a Giant.  Elijah called down fire from heaven.  Mary became the mother of the Messiah, and Paul planted churches despite intense persecution.  These were extraordinary people!  Or where they?

This morning we’re going to see how God uses ordinary people in extraordinary ways.  You might feel like an ordinary person with ordinary issues, but I want you to believe that in Jesus you are extraordinary.  This morning we’re looking at Mary, an ordinary woman.

 

1)  The Ordinariness of Mary

So, let’s start with the ordinariness of Mary.  Exactly how ordinary is Mary.  In our text we learn five ordinary things about Mary.

1. a) She comes from an Ordinary town

Firstly, she comes from an ordinary town.  Luke tells us that she comes from Nazareth.  He calls it a city, but the truth is that calling it even a town is overdoing it.  It was really a small village with a population of less than 300.  It’s never mentioned in the Old Testament and rarely mentioned at all.  If it wasn’t for the New Testament only archaeologists would know about it.  It’s like saying you come from Blackman’s Bay.  You probably don’t even know where that is, but that’s where I lived for the first 10 years of my life, it’s a small coastal town south of Hobart in Tasmania.  Mary’s from pretty much nowhere, like me.

1. b) She is young

Secondly, we’re told Mary is young.  Luke calls her a virgin.  While that means what it means today, back then it also just meant a young woman.  She was a virgin because she wasn’t yet married.  She’s just an ordinary young woman.

1. c) She has an ordinary name

Thirdly, she has an ordinary name, she’s called Mary.  Historians suggest that almost 1 in 4 women were called ‘Mary’ in Jesus’ day.  There are at least 6, maybe 7, Mary’s mentioned in the New Testament.  This Mary was just one of many girls called Mary, her name is as ordinary as you can get.

1. d) She has ordinary fears

Next, Mary has ordinary fears.  When confronted by an angel, Luke says, ‘²⁹ …she was greatly troubled.’  In fact, the angel tells her, ‘³⁰ …Do not be afraid… (Lk.1:30b)’  When confronted with the unknown and the unexpected, like the rest of us, she experiences anxiety and fear.  Like Paul she experienced, ‘⁵ …fears within.  (2 Cor. 7:5b NIV)’ Mary wasn’t above fear.

1. e) She has ordinary questions

Finally, she has ordinary questions.  The angel tells her she is going to conceive and give birth to a son, and Mary naturally asks, ‘³⁴ …How will this be, since I am a virgin? (Lk.1:34b)’ It’s okay to ask questions.  Thirteen years after these events Luke tells the story of Jesus as a twelve-year-old, ‘⁴⁶ …in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.  (Lk.2:46b)’ We ask questions because we don’t know the answers, or because we don’t understand.  The Bible is full of questions of God.  Questions like, ‘¹ …Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? (Ps.10:1b)’  And ‘¹ …Will you forget me forever? (Ps.13:1b)’  And ‘¹ …why have you forsaken me? (Ps.22:1a)’ And ‘Why does the way of the wicked prosper? (Jer.12:1d)’  And ‘³ …why do you idly look at wrong? (Hab.1:3b)’ Those questions aren’t asked out of disrespect for God, but to seek understanding.  In the same way Mary isn’t above questioning God.  Mary is just an ordinary woman, she is just an ordinary human being like you and I.

 

2)  The Extraordinariness of Mary

But on the other hand Mary is also extraordinary.  Let’s take a moment to look at the extraordinariness of Mary.

1. a) She was visited by an angel

Firstly, she is visited by an angel.  Last month I did some devotions from the first 2 chapters of Matthew, getting my head and heart ready for Christmas, and I did some research on angels.  I was shocked to discover that over the course of 2000 years in the Bible angels only appear to people like 27 times.  To be visited by an angel is extremely rare.  Angels are generally messengers from God, actually, that’s what the name angel means, messenger.  In fact, Luke says, ‘²⁶ …the angel Gabriel was sent from God… (Lk.1:26a)’  Angels don’t just turn up, you don’t bump into them by accident, they are sent by God for a specific reason.  Mary was one of the few people in the Bible to be visited by an angel.

1. b) She is favoured by God

Secondly, she is favoured by God.  The angel greets Mary with the words, ‘²⁸ …Greetings, O favoured one… (Lk.1:28b)’  And when Mary seems troubled, he adds ‘³⁰ …Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. (Lk.1:30)’  What does it mean that Mary was favoured by God?

On the one hand it means that God has chosen her for a specific mission.  She was special because God had a special plan for her.  But on the other hand Mary was special just because God had chosen her.  The word favoured is the same word we get grace from.  The Good News Bible has: ‘God has been gracious to you.’ (GNB).  God chose Mary, not because she was special, but because he is gracious, and his grace makes people special.  What makes Mary extraordinary is because she was chosen by God to accomplish his purposes.  Mary is extraordinary because she is favoured by God.

1. b) God was with her

Next, Mary is extraordinary because God is with her.  Again, that’s what Gabriel tells her in his greeting, ‘²⁸ …the Lord is with you!’  When Gabriel uses the word Lord, he means Yahweh, the Lord God Almighty, the Maker of the heavens and the earth.  Mary might seem like an ordinary woman, but God, who holds the universe in his hands, is with her.  She doesn’t need to be afraid because God is not only on her side, he is at her side.  In fact, this is what sets apart all those whom we consider heroes of the faith, the fact that God was with them.  God was with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  God was with Moses and Joshua and Samson and Gideon.  God was with David and many of the other kings.  God was with Jeremiah and the other prophets.  God was with his people.  What makes God’s Old Testament people extraordinary was that God was with them.  What makes Mary extraordinary is that God was with her.

1. c) She conceived Jesus

Next, Mary is extraordinary because she conceived Jesus.  And that’s extraordinary for two reasons.

1. i) She was a virgin

Firstly, because Mary was a virgin.  The ordinary way women conceive is by losing their virginity.  Mary asks Gabriel how she could possibly conceive as a virgin.  And Gabriel tells her in verse 35, ‘³⁵ …The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you… (Lk.1:35a)’  Mary conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit.  What made Mary extraordinary was the miraculous conception of Jesus.  Gabriel reminds Mary ‘³⁷ For nothing will be impossible with God.’ (Lk 1:37)  When Gabriel says nothing is impossible with God, he means nothing, even conceiving a baby as a virgin.

1. ii) Jesus was extraordinary

But if that’s not extraordinary enough, what’s most extraordinary about the birth of Jesus is Jesus himself.  Jesus is extraordinary.  Gabriel tells Mary ‘³¹ …you shall call his name Jesus.  ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.  And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, ³³ and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.  (Lk.1:31b-33)’

1. i) Jesus is great

Firstly, Jesus will be great, because he is great.  Jesus may have had humble origins, but he was destined for greatness.  That’s going to be the theme of my sermon on Christmas Day.

1. ii) Jesus is God’s Son

Gabriel says, ‘he will be called the Son of the Most High.’  In verse 35 Gabriel adds, ‘³⁵ …the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.  (Lk.1:35b)’  The Son of God was what the Roman Emperors were calling themselves; they believed that they had been made divine.  But Jesus is God’s Son, he is divine.  As God’s Son, ‘³ …[Jesus is] the exact imprint of [God’s] nature… (Heb.1:3b)’  As God’s Son, ‘¹⁵ [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God… (Col.1:15a)’  As God’s Son Jesus is God with us (Mt.1:23).  Jesus is extraordinary because, unlike anyone else who has ever existed, he is the God-man, he is God in the flesh.  Jesus wasn’t just extraordinary he was uniquely God’s Son.

iii)  Jesus is the Messiah

Next, Jesus is extraordinary because he is the Messiah.  When Gabriel tells Mary ‘the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David,’ he’s basically telling her that her Son, Jesus, is the Messiah, the king in the line of David that God had promised 1,000 years earlier in 2 Samuel 7.  There had been plenty of anointed kings since David, but Jesus was THE Anointed King, he was THE Messiah, THE Christ.  Jesus wasn’t just extraordinary he was uniquely the Messiah.

1. iv) Jesus’s Kingdom is eternal

Finally, Gabriel tells Mary her son would ‘reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’  Unlike every other king who reigned for only a few short years, Jesus will reign forever.  Jesus’ kingdom is an eternal kingdom, because he is the eternal King.

Jesus is extraordinary in every sense of the world.  And what makes Mary so extraordinary is that she is the mother of Jesus.

1. e) She submitted to God’s plan

But I think one of the most extraordinary things about Mary is that she submitted herself to God’s plan.  Despite all the questions and anxiety and uncertainty, she tells Gabriel, ‘³⁸ …Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.’  Mary sees herself as God’s servant, and she submits herself to God’s will.  It’s extraordinary.  Her humility is astounding.  Her obedience is exemplary.  Her willingness to do God’s will is astonishing.  The only example of humble obedience that trumps this, is the obedience of Jesus himself in the Garden of Gethsemane.  He says to God on the night before he was to be crucified, ‘⁴² …Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me.  Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done. (Mt.26:42)’ Basically, he echoes his mother Mary, ‘I am your servant; let it be to me according to your word.’  Mary was just an ordinary woman, and yet in so many ways she was extraordinary.

 

3)  How God’s makes ordinary people extraordinary

So, I want to finish by looking at how God makes ordinary people, like you and me, extraordinary.

1. a) Ways we’re not like Mary

But firstly, I want to be clear, there are ways that you and I aren’t like Mary.  Obviously, we don’t live in the first century; we don’t live in Israel; half of us aren’t women; and most of us aren’t young.  You probably don’t have anyone even called Mary in your church.  And unlike Mary we might never be visited by an angel.  But even more importantly you and I will never be the mother of the Messiah.  In that sense Mary is unique.

1. b) Ways we are ordinary like Mary

But for the most part we are just ordinary people like Mary.  Paul makes a point of that fact to the Christians in Corinth.  He says, ‘²⁶ Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called.  Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. (1Cor.1:26 NIV.11)’  By the world’s standards, we’re not considered the most intelligent, we’re not the most powerful, we’re not those with prestige or influence.  The church is generally just full of normal everyday people.  God uses ordinary people.  In fact, God seems to love ordinary people.  It was ordinary people that seemed most drawn to Jesus, and to whom Jesus was most drawn to.  Jesus came for ordinary people like you and me.  It’s okay to be ordinary.

1. i) We’re troubled by our circumstances

And like Mary we’re often troubled by our circumstances.  I meet with a professional supervisor every month to talk about the stuff in life and ministry that troubles me.  We often have this mistaken belief that now that we are Christians life will be easy, that we won’t be troubled by the things that trouble other mortals.  But Jesus nowhere tells us that life will be easy.  In fact, he warns us, ‘³³ …In the world you will have tribulation. (Jn.16:33b)’  Paul talks about his anxiety for his brothers and sisters in Christ.  Jesus himself was greatly troubled and openly weeps on more than one occasion.  You see those stickers on the back of cars, ‘It’s okay not to be okay!’  If you are feeling troubled by whatever is going on in your life you’re not a spiritual failure, rather you are an ordinary person.  Being troubled is an ordinary human experience.

1. ii) We question God’s purposes

And like Mary we often question God’s purposes.  Like Mary we don’t always understand ‘how this will be,’ or ‘why things are the way they are.’  And again that’s just being honest about our human limitations.  God might see the end from the beginning, but we can’t.  When God says, ‘⁹ …as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways… Isa.55:9a)’ he implies that not only will we not always understand his ways, but that we can’t.  The truth is we are ordinary people and God is God, we are limited and weak, he is unlimited and all-powerful.  Sometimes all we can do is trust that God knows what he is doing.  Like Mary we are ordinary people with ordinary troubles and ordinary questions.

1. c) Ways we are extraordinary like Mary

But I want to look at three ways that you are or can be extraordinary like Mary.

1. i) In Jesus you are favoured by God

Firstly, if you believe in Jesus, like Mary, you are favoured by God.  The first thing to note about God’s favour is that it can’t be earned.  The Bible says, ‘⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith.  And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Eph.2:8-9)’  God looks upon us with favour, not because we are so good and deserving, but because he has graciously saved us through faith in his Son Jesus Christ.  God’s favour is a gift.  If we could earn God’s favour we could boast about it, but God’s favour isn’t the result of our efforts but of God’s grace.  The Good News is that through faith in Jesus you receive the favour of God.  In Jesus you are no longer just an ordinary person, God loves you.  In Jesus God adopts you as his son or daughter.  In Jesus you have been redeemed and forgiven.  In Jesus you have been given the promise of eternal life.  In Jesus you are special, you are favoured by God.  And if you don’t know that I invite you to put your faith in Jesus, and those things will be true for you!

1. ii) In Jesus God is with you

Secondly, in Jesus God is with you.  Like God was with Mary so in Jesus God is with you and me.  Like God was with the heroes of the faith in the Old Testament, so God is with every single person who puts their faith in Jesus.  Jesus’ promise to his disciples is ‘²⁰ …I am with you always, to the end of the age. (Mt.28:20b)’  Like the Holy Spirit came upon Mary, and the power of the Most High overshadowed her, so as people who believe in Jesus the Holy Spirit has been given to us, and God’s power overshadows us.  The Bible says, ‘⁵ …God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (Rom 5:5b)’  In Jesus you are not an ordinary person, you are someone who is indwelt by God the Holy Spirit.  You don’t have to be afraid because God is with you by his Spirit.  The Apostle John writes, ‘⁴ …he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.’  It’s so easy to forget that God is with us.  Paul actually prays ‘¹⁶ that according to the riches of [God’s] glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. (Eph.3:16-17)’  This Christmas may you remember that in Jesus God is with you.  This Christmas may God strengthen you through his Spirit.  This Christmas may Christ dwell in your hearts through faith.  You might feel ordinary, but the extraordinary promise of God is that in Jesus he is with you.  Like Paul says, ‘⁷ …we have this treasure in jars of clay… (2Cor.4:7a)’  On the outside we seem so ordinary, like jars of clay, but within we have the greatest treasure, God himself.

iii)  Because of Jesus we submit to God

We may just be ordinary people, but in Christ we are favoured by God and God is with us.  But this Christmas you are faced with the same choice that faced Mary, will you submit to God?  What made Mary extraordinary was her humble obedience to God’s will.  What will make you extraordinary is your humble obedience to God.  You don’t earn God’s favour by your obedience, but the most extraordinary people are those who instead of putting themselves first, seek God’s kingdom first.  Extraordinary people store up treasures not on earth, but treasures in heaven.  Extraordinary people aren’t those who achieve worldly success but those who reflect the character of Christ.  The greatest people in God’s kingdom aren’t those with power and influence, but those who serve.  Extraordinary people are those who say, ‘I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.’

So, what is God’s word to you today? Well, there’s the whole Bible to start with, but I’ve always loved Micah 6:8, ‘⁸ He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Mic.6:8)’  Maybe as a disciple of Jesus you can start with those three things.  Will you say along with Mary, ‘I am the servant of the Lord, and according to your word: I will do justice, I will do what is right; I will love kindness, I will be gentle with others, and put their needs before my own; and I will walk humbly with You, I will start each day on my knees before You and invite You into every moment throughout my day, that everything I do might be for Your glory and honour!’  What will make you extraordinary is walking humbly with God and submitting to him.

 

Conclusion:

Brothers and sisters, we are so ordinary, and yet in Christ we are also extraordinary.  We are clay jars in which a great treasure is hidden.  We are sinners and yet in Christ we are favoured by God.  We are weak and frail and yet God is with us.  We are normal everyday people and yet we have humbly submitted ourselves to walking with God and doing his will rather than our own.  What makes a woman extraordinary is the favour and presence of God in her life.  What makes a man extraordinary is the grace of Christ and the Holy Spirit resting on him.  Paul says, ‘²⁷ …God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; ²⁸ God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are.  (1Cor.1:27-28)’  God chooses ordinary people like you and me, and he uses us in extraordinary ways.  Brothers and sisters, if you walk humbly with Jesus, you will be extraordinary.

Amen.