Study Questions

Luke 1:26-35, 38

Mary was likely only thirteen years old. She and Joseph were betrothed, which means they were legally married, but still waiting for Mary to mature before engaging in the intimacies of marriage. God trusted a teenaged girl to carry the Christ child into the world. The baby Jesus was a hefty responsibility for a girl too young to vote or drive or even babysit your kids for the weekend. The Law of Moses was pretty strict about sex outside of marriage. When Mary began to show, she and Joseph were in danger of the death penalty.

 “If a man happens to meet in a town a virgin pledged to be married and he sleeps with her, you shall take both of them to the gate of that town and stone them to death—the young woman because she was in a town and did not scream for help, and the man because he violated another man’s wife. You must purge the evil from among you” (Deuteronomy 22:23-24).

If Joseph denied he was the father, Mary would have been subjected to a test. In the days before paternity tests, the priests offered the trial of bitter waters.

“‘The priest shall bring her and have her stand before the Lord. Then he shall take some holy water in a clay jar and put some dust from the tabernacle floor into the water. After the priest has had the woman stand before the Lord, he shall loosen her hair and place in her hands the reminder-offering, the grain offering for jealousy, while he himself holds the bitter water that brings a curse. Then the priest shall put the woman under oath and say to her, “If no other man has had sexual relations with you and you have not gone astray and become impure while married to your husband, may this bitter water that brings a curse not harm you. But if you have gone astray while married to your husband and you have made yourself impure by having sexual relations with a man other than your husband”— here the priest is to put the woman under this curse—“may the Lord cause you to become a curse among your people when he makes your womb miscarry and your abdomen swell. May this water that brings a curse enter your body so that your abdomen swells or your womb miscarries.”

“‘Then the woman is to say, “Amen. So be it.” “‘The priest is to write these curses on a scroll and then wash them off into the bitter water. He shall make the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and this water that brings a curse and causes bitter suffering will enter her. The priest is to take from her hands the grain offering for jealousy, wave it before the Lord and bring it to the altar. The priest is then to take a handful of the grain offering as a memorial offering and burn it on the altar; after that, he is to have the woman drink the water. If she has made herself impure and been unfaithful to her husband, this will be the result: When she is made to drink the water that brings a curse and causes bitter suffering, it will enter her, her abdomen will swell and her womb will miscarry, and she will become a curse. If, however, the woman has not made herself impure, but is clean, she will be cleared of guilt and will be able to have children” (Numbers 5:16-28).

By the First Century, the law of bitter waters was not just about implementing justice, but also extracting revenge. The accused would have her head uncovered like a prostitute, her clothes torn to expose her chest, and all the women in town would be encouraged to parade by and see what happens to women caught in adultery. This is why it is such a big deal that Joseph wanted to divorce Mary privately. He didn’t want to shame Mary, but he wanted to preserve his life and what was left of his honor.

When Joseph agreed to accept pregnant Mary, he was taking on her shame. Mary and Joseph may have kept their lives, but they certainly would have carried the humiliation until they died.

1. How is premarital pregnancy treated in our world today?
2. Do you think Mary felt “blessed” by the angel’s message?

Martin Luther writes, “How many came into contact with her, talked, and ate and drank with her, who perhaps despised her and counted her but a common, poor, and simple village maiden, and who, had they known, would have fled from her in terror.”

Luke 1:26-35, 38
God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

Luke makes a big deal about Joseph’s royal ancestry. This is all we hear about Joseph in the Gospel of Luke except a brief mention in Luke 3:23, “Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph.” Joseph was not the biological father of Jesus, but he did pass on the royal heritage. Jesus was an heir to all the promises given to King David: the title, “Son of the Most High,” “the throne of his father David,” “he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

Mary has every reason to believe that her boy will be a king and a savior, but she has no point of reference to comprehend the idea that Jesus is also, “the Son of God.” The natural impulse is to imagine that her son will be a great, worldly success, not the one who dies like a criminal on a cross to set humanity free.

1. What dreams do you have for your children?
2. How did you differentiate between the worldly definition of success and the Christian definition of success?
3. Do you pray for your children’s success in the world?

Luke tells us three different times that Mary was a virgin. This is important, because God is going to do something new that he hasn’t done since the dawn of creation. God sent his Holy Spirit to create life out of nothing. Elizabeth and other women of the Bible had babies in spite of infertility and old age. There is no other story, no ancient myth, no comparable example in earlier human history of a virgin giving birth to a baby.

1. Why is this story so important to Christianity?
2. What happens if we imagine Jesus as just another baby born from a man and a woman?
3. What happens if we imagine Jesus as a divine being without human flesh?

The virgin birth is essential for the Christian doctrine that Jesus was fully human and fully divine. Luke wants us to know that Jesus’ miraculous birth was a much bigger thing than John the Baptist’s birth or any other child born to an elderly woman. Jesus’ birth story is unique in human history.

I always tell people they know more Greek than they realize. The English language is loaded with repurposed Greek words. Think of the word “charisma.” Charismatic people have natural charm. What we are really saying is that charismatic people have a special gift from God that sets them apart from everyone else. In other words, they are filled with “charis” the Greek word for “grace.”

The angel Gabriel tells Mary, “Greetings, you who are highly favored!” The Greek word for “greetings” is “chaire” which means “rejoice.” “Highly favored” is the Greek word “charitousthai” which literally means, “to be furnished with grace.” The angel essentially is telling Mary, “Rejoice, you who are privileged with God’s grace.” The same root word shows up in verse 30, “you have found favor (“charin”) with God” Mary is full of charisma! She is full of God’s favor and grace.

The grace of God is absolutely free but it does not come cheap. God takes the initiative with Mary, giving her a child even though she is a virgin! But Mary will suffer the slings and arrows of her neighbors because of the amazing grace of God in her life. Did women whisper about Mary behind her backs? Did men make immoral assumptions about Mary? Did children reject the young Jesus? The Bible doesn’t tell us for sure, but we can assume that there were social consequences for this premarital pregnancy.

When Jesus started preaching, his neighbors shouted out, “Isn’t this Mary’s son” (Mark 6:3)? They didn’t call Jesus “Mary’s son” just because Joseph was dead. They almost certainly called Jesus “Mary’s son” to taunt him about the rumors of his birth.

1. Have you experienced the amazing grace of God? Did it come cheap?
2. Have you experienced pain or rejection for your faith in Jesus?
3. How do you think the taunts of neighbors shaped Jesus’ love for the outcasts?

Mary was troubled by the words of the angel. She should be! This child could mean public humiliation or possibly even a death sentence. Mary replied, “I am the Lord’s servant … May your word to me be fulfilled.” While her Uncle Zechariah, the holy and respected priest, doubted God (Luke 1:18), Mary takes a mighty risk of faith.

Spend some time talking about the reckless decisions of your youth. Do you remember taking a risk in your youth that you would find daunting today? For some reason, God concluded that he needed a teenaged girl to participate in the salvation of the world. Jesus is the amazing grace of Christmas, but Mary had to risk everything to bring God’s grace into the world.

What risk of faith is God asking you to take in order to participate in the salvation of others? Is there someone in your life who needs the Word of God or even a simple a gesture of grace? Is there a grandchild that needs a ride to church? Is there a family member that needs reconciliation? Pray for the people in your life that need to experience the free grace of God, even if it comes at a very high cost.