December 7, 2025 - God Callls the Ordinary for the Extraordinary

 God Calls the Ordinary for the Extraordinary

By Terri Tompson

Sunday, December 7, 2025

Scripture Reading: Luke 1:26-38

Key Verse: Luke 1:30-31

Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus. 

Picture it. The year is 1 B.C. – before there even is a “B.C.”! The place is a small, ordinary village of about 400 people, called Nazareth. It is so ordinary that it doesn’t even show up on a map of the region and no one ever talks about it. Living in the small village is Mary, an ordinary 14 or 15-year-old young peasant woman. As is the custom of the time her parents have arranged for her to marry a young man from the village, a carpenter named Joseph.

One day, Mary is busy with the usual chores – fetching water from the town well, weaving, cleaning, cooking and more – when an extraordinary visit from an angel disrupts her from her thoughts. The angel greets her by saying, “You are truly blessed! The Lord is with you.” She feels a little confused, and most likely a little bit fearful, because it isn’t just every day that an angel appears and starts a conversation. I mean, at least not to ordinary young women like herself. She has grown up hearing about how angels appear to great men like Abraham and Jacob, but to her?! No way! 

He continues by telling her, “Don’t be afraid! God is pleased with you, and you will have a son. His name will be Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of God Most High. The Lord God will make him king, as his ancestor David was. He will rule the people of Israel forever and his kingdom will never end.” Imagine the eye roll and head shake of a teenage girl who asks, “How can this happen? I am not married!” Gabriel, for that’s the angel’s name, continues to explain how “Nothing is impossible for God!” 

At this point Mary doesn’t argue or decide it would be easier to just continue with her ordinary life but she accepts the mission set before her with resolve by saying, “I am the Lord’s servant! Let it happen as you have said.” And just like that Gabriel disappears and leaves her to wonder, “Did that really just happen?” “What now?” “What have I gotten myself into?” “How will I ever tell Joseph, not to mention my parents?” “Well, this is not going to be easy!” (Sound familiar?!?)

Fast forward 2000 years. That ordinary city is now the largest Arab city in Israel and is a bustling center of commerce with about 70,000 people, a third of which are Christian Arabs. I was blessed to be able to stay in and visit Nazareth in June of 2023 while participating in a Volunteers in Mission trip to Israel and Palestine. We experienced what it would have been like to live and work in the time of Jesus at “Nazareth Village”, an authentic first-century farm and archaeologically accurate re-creation of the hometown of Jesus. Can I just say how spoiled we are with our modern conveniences?! 

We also toured the Roman Catholic Basilica of the Annunciation built on which many believe to be the site of Gabriel’s visit to Mary. We walked about one half of a mile up a gentle hill to the site of the spring where Mary would have walked daily to fetch water. (It probably took Mary 10 minutes to reach the well; it took us more than that! And I am sure she was glad to carry full water jars back home DOWN the hill.) A Greek Catholic church sits atop the spring and is where others believe Gabriel appeared to Mary. No matter where the site, all of us on our tour agreed that an extraordinary visit had happened amongst very ordinary surroundings – whether in a house or at a well.

I wonder if Mary had any idea that people 2000 years in the future would remember who she and Joseph were. Would she be surprised that we are still talking about that ordinary girl and the extraordinary decision she made? It is clear that Mary has definitely not been forgotten and she is held in highest esteem by all kinds of people of all backgrounds and faiths. In the courtyard of the Basilica of the Annunciation stands a white statue of Mary, its hands blackened by the thousands of pilgrims who have touched her hands.

Surrounding the Basilica as well as inside the walls of the upper church are wonderful mosaics from nations around the world with their interpretations of the Virgin Mary and her son, Jesus.

I imagine Mary was a lot like most of us, going about our daily business, worried about the choices we make – or don’t make – and wondering how we will get it all done.What would happen if we slowed down and listened for God’s voice? What would happen if our “ordinary” life were to be interrupted by heaven? Would we embrace it with faith as Mary did? God calls the ordinary for the extraordinary. Each of us are called to love God and to love others, no matter our position in life. We don’t need title, wealth or influence to be chosen and used by God. And just as Mordecai told Esther in the book of Esther Chapter 4, Verse 14: “Who knows, perhaps you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this.” God will equip each of us, just as He did Mary, according to His purpose. For nothing is impossible with God. 

Father, help us each to pray, saying, 

"I give you my life today with all my weaknesses, shortcomings and failures. 

Use me for your glory. I pray for Jesus' sake."; 

Amen.