Pastor Andrew Russell preaches on Luke 1:26-80. Nazareth was a small town, a few miles from the south of the Lake of Galilee. It was very serious when a man and woman agreed to marry. Such an agreement could only end in an act of divorce. If the man died before the marriage, the woman considered herself as a widow.  Mary wondered how she could have a son before she and Joseph had married. God’s power, through the Holy Spirit, would make it possible for Mary to have the son. When Mary accepted what God wanted, she was taking a great risk. Perhaps Joseph would be angry. She would probably have public shame. People in the village would certainly gossip about her. A girl who promised to marry should be loyal to her future husband. If she was not loyal, she broke God’s law. Yet Mary did not doubt the angel’s message. Luke, with his sympathy for women, may have received this story from Mary herself.

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