Advent Trail December 9th - Luke 1:28

The angel went to Mary and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you.” (Luke 1:28)

“Angel” is a Greek word meaning messenger and it’s the message which Gabriel is about to give to Mary that is of particular significance. But first comes a greeting, which itself conveys two important truths to Mary about God’s blessing, not only for her in particular but also for all God’s people.

The familiar phrase, “Hail, Mary, full of grace”, comes from this verse. The Greek word for grace, “charis”, means God’s undeserved favour. The grace conferred on Mary in being chosen to be the Messiah’s mother was truly amazing, but no less grace is given by God to all who believe in Jesus. The apostle Paul speaks of being chosen in Christ and declares that this is “to the praise of the glory of his grace with which he has highly favoured us”. (Eph.1:6).

“From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another“, literally, “grace upon grace” (John 1:14,16). One of those great blessings is the assurance also given here to Mary but not exclusively to her: “The Lord is with you”. The name “Emmanuel” (Matt.1:23; Isaiah 7:14) means that God has come into the world not only in the general sense but that he is now with us personally. To all believers the same promise is given, “Surely I will be with you always” (Matt.28:20).