Mary's Faith

Most people think that ministers are paragons of faith. This is often not the case. Ministers, like everyone else, have moments of doubt. There is a skeptic inside of all of us trying to get out.


It is not having doubt that causes trouble, it is acting upon them. Faith is not so much an emotion as an intention. Faith is a choice to follow God, whether or not it always makes sense to our mortal minds to do so.

Nor all faith is the same, however. I classify faith into three categories. The first is belief--intellectual assent to a proposition. We may believe in flying saucers or Bigfoot, capitalism or Christianity without it making one bit of difference. This is a spectator faith, requiring no action or intention. A belief costs us nothing

Then there is tentative faith. This is the faith we must act upon. This faith costs us something

There is a famous story about the tightrope walker the Great Wallenda. He walked across Niagra falls on a tightrope. When e reached the other side, he picked up a chair and said “How many of you believe that I can carry this chair across the falls with me?” Every hand went up. Then Wallenda challenged them. “Very well, who is willing to get into the chair?” No one volunteered.

Faith is being willing to get into the chair. It is the willingness to put or lives, our time, and our money where our mouth is.

. But tentative faith is shaky, since it involves the will without necessarily changing our emotions.

Suppose you go to the amusement park and get on the roller coaster. You have faith that the roller coaster will hold you. But that does not guarantee you will enjoy the experience. Our sense of panic can ruin the ride, even when we are willing to take it.

But there is a faith that beyond doubt, a faith we call certainty. It is a faith that involves the emotions, will, an intellect. There is no complexity in it, but is a simple, childlike trust.

This kind of faith is not natural. It is supernatural. It comes from the Holy Spirit, not from human invention. God places certainty in our hearts, we do not put it there ourselves.

This is the certainty of Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Consider the situation that Mary was in at the beginning of the New Testament. She was a young girl, probably no more than fourteen years old. Yet she already had the certainty of faith.

Let’s look at Luke 1:26-28.

In the sixth month, 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."

Put yourself in Mary’s sandals. How would you react? She was scared, no doubt. The Bible says she was “greatly troubled.”



But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name 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 the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."

How would you respond, if you were given a similar message? My initial response would be skepticism. How do I know this is an angel? How do I know this is not someone’s practical joke? Worse, it might also be a sign that I was losing my mind. That would be worse than being the butt of a joke. Even worse, it was possible that this was not a good angel. Not all angelic visitors are from God. How do I know this is an angel, or a lying demon from hell?

Suppose we could somehow get over our skepticism. Then we are in danger of an even worse trap--pride. Why was she highly favored? What had she done to deserve such an honor?

Catholics and Protestants disagree on the subject of Mary. Catholics think this favor fell on Mary as a reward for what she had done. They commonly teach that Mary was immaculately conceived, that she did not sin. But the Bible does not back his up. There is no hint in the Bible that this fourteen year old girl was more virtuous than others.

The gift of the messiah did not came as a reward, but as a burden. She faced the ridicule of the town. Her parents sent her off to live with relatives. Joseph almost divorced her. She had received a hard, cruel gift from God.

God does not choose the smartest or the holiest to do His will. He chooses whom he wishes. The faith to work miracles does not come by seeking it. It is a gift. Mary had this certainty of faith, because God planted that faith in her heart.

Mary’s second question is understandable. “How can this be, since I knw n man.?”

It was a simple, humble question, but there is no doubt in it. Contrast this with people like Moses and Peter. When Jesus washed Peter’s feet, Peter’s reaction was “Not so, Lord.” When Moses met God at the burning bush, Moses questioned God’s judgment in choosing him. But Mary does not question. She merely asks how it can be. 34-37

"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"

The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon 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. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God."

ary did not question God’s ability. She merely questioned his means. She never doubted that, if God said it, it would happen.

We ask the question “how” of God often. But we do it for other reasons than Mary. We want to know how so we can believe. We want to know how so we can be certain. But knowing how does not necessarily bring certainty. If we understood all the mysteries of creation, would it convince us that God created the heavens and the earth? It think not. We do not understand so we can believe. We believe in order that we might understand. That is what Mary did.

Mary’s response is simple, childlike certainty.

"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said."

Faith like this is not natural. It is supernatural. God gives us certainty when we need it. God gives this kind of faith when it is called for. When we need it, God will provide it.

How do you suppose her friends and relatives would react if they knew that Mary was to be he mother of God? I would imagine they would burst into laughter. They would say “Mary? The priest’s daughter. Are you crazy? She’s no different than we are.”

But God can change an ordinary person into an extraordinary person with a wave of His hand. He can and will bestow extraordinary faith on all of us.

In Corey Ten Boom’s book The Hiding Place, she relates the story of how she once asked her father about faith. The Ten Booms were Christians in the Netherlands under Nazi occupation. They were attempting to smuggle Jews out of the country. As such, they faced death every day. She asked her father if he thought she had the faith to face death, if the time arose. Her father replied “When we take a train trip, when do I give you the ticket?”

“Just before we leave, otherwise I might lose it.”

‘God does the same thing. He gives us the faith we need just before we need it.”

Mary truly needed the faith. She had to explain to her parents and Joseph why she was pregnant. She had to face the suspicious townspeople. But none of this seems to bother Mary once she made up her mind to believe.

Mary was asked to believe an extraordinary thing. But whenever God requires of us extraordinary faith, He also gives us extraordinary proof.. Her cousin Elizabeth was also miraculously pregnant. Her baby leapt in her womb as Mary approached. Joseph also had a dream and an angel visitation. A star appeared at his birth, along with wise men and shepherds. At every step where Mary might have wavered, God provided another extraordinary proof of his mercy and existence.

Mary faced God’s burdensome blessing with faith and certainty.

What about you? Are you certain?

Many people believe in Christmas. That is, they believe that Jesus was born of a virgin and that He was the Son of God. But this belief costs us nothing. It requires no effort on our part to believe in a Jesus that everyone we know also believes.

Some of us have faith, but a struggling faith. We believe and are trying to build our lives upon that belief. We ask ourselves “what would Jesus do?” We confess our sins, and trust He hears us. But if we were called upon to put our lives on the line, we do not know what we would do. Could we face whatever God brings upon us and say “I am God’s servant, be it done with me whatever He wills.”

But do we have certainty? That requires a tougher faith--based not on the mind but the heart. That faith must be given by the Holy Spirit.

You don’t have to figure out Christmas. You only have to trust Jesus. He has the power to give freedom and strength in the middle of the harshest challenges.

Step out on the faith you have, and God will give you the faith you need.