38 TIME-LIFE MIRACLES OF FAITH
THE VIRGIN MARY
MARY’S
VISITOR
A stunning birth announcement
changes the life of a young woman—
and the entire world—foreverT
he story of Jesus Christ begins with Mary.
Before she is chosen as the Mother
of God, Mary is simply a young woman
in Nazareth, a small mountain village in
what is now northern Israel. She is utterly
unaware of the part she will play in a prophecy to which
her people have clung for generations—the coming of the
Messiah. She is just a typical bride-to-be preparing for her
wedding to a local carpenter named Joseph, a descendant
of King David of Israel.
Then, according to the Gospel of Luke, an angel ap-
pears before her. “Greetings, favored one!” the angel Ga-
briel thunders. Mary is understandably frightened. “The
Lord is with you,” he reassures her. “Do not be afraid, for
you have found favor with God. And now, you will con-
ceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name
him Jesus.”
Gabriel goes on to quote the old prophecies: “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 ancestor
David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and
of his kingdom there will be no end.”
Mary can hardly believe her ears. The first question she
asks is an entirely prosaic one: “How can this be, since I am
a virgin?”
Gabriel explains that Mary’s baby will not be conceived
in the ordinary way. Instead, he says, the child will be con-
ceived through the Holy Spirit and will be the Son of God.
As further testament to the miracle he describes, Ga-
briel tells Mary that her older cousin, Elizabeth, who has
up until now been infertile, is six months pregnant. Eliza-
HE WOULD BE NAMED JESUS
The Annunciationby Teodor
Kolbay (c. 1863). The angel
visited Mary to deliver a
message that would change
her life and the world in
which she lived.NEW TESTAMENT