I'm Blessed And Highly Favored

When we look at the idea of being “blessed and highly favored” we see that it comes from the Gospel of St. Luke.

Notice the exchange that happens:

Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women.

One of the first things I want you to know, is that this declaration, this proclamation, this decree was not one that Mary spoke over her own life. This was not a self-proclaimed blessing over her life, but instead it was Gabriel who spoke this blessing over her.

Mary was blessed, but not because she said so, it was because God said so.

In other words, we aren’t blessed because we say it. We are blessed because God says it. And it is because of God’s grace.

The word grace used here in the Greek is “Kecharitomene” (pronounced key-car-it-oh-may-nay). If you were to translate it the in English language it literally means “you who have been graced.” And can I tell you that this is the only time this form of the word is used in scripture.

There are other forms of the word grace in scripture, but none of them are used in this exact form. This lets us know that while God has called many people blessed throughout scripture and has even called people favored, only one person has he ever called highly favored.

To further understand this passage and statement we need to keep reading. The first thing to pay attention to is Mary’s response to this greeting. The bible says “But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. – Luke 1:29.

Wait a minute why wasn’t Mary shouting? Why didn’t she go running through the streets of Nazareth declaring I am blessed and highly favored? Why is she no lifting her hands in adoration unto the Lord?

It seems like to me that Her response was much more subdued and guarded. The New Living Translation uses the words ‘confused’ and ‘disturbed.’ Mary was confused and disturb by the statement that the angel delivers. This alone tells us that this greeting was strange and unusual to Mary and Mary was not expecting it. But this still doesn’t answer the question why was Mary highly favored?

The answer is found in the next few verses: The bible says that the angel says to her. Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most-High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!”– Luke 1:30-33.

What we can glean from this I believe is very simple. Mary was highly favored because God chose her to be the one to give birth to Jesus. In other words, God processed her so that he could prepare her. God process Mary’s life just so that she could birth the Savior from her womb.

Some of you don’t know why you have been lied, or why you had to hear the whispering going on behind your back, the disgruntle people on your job back stabbing you, it was all because you were being process.

Notice this was done private, it was personal, she was process so that she could be prepared for what was to come.

This was the favor she had been graced with. It doesn’t mean that Mary was more special or better than anyone else. She too would need to put her trust in Christ for salvation. This favor that she received didn’t mean that she did make any mistakes. But, it meant that God had given her special grace or high favor to carry out this particular assignment. Can I tell somebody this morning that we can all receive favor from God and we often do.

We have every right to claim the blessings and promises of God, on and for our lives, as long as we meet the conditions, because many of the promises and blessings are conditional.

However, this statement of “blessed and highly favored” was neither a promise nor a blessing.

It was a proclamation made by God to a woman named Mary. So, yes, you can experience the blessings of God and be blessed. Yes, you can see and experience the favor of God in your life.