I spoke in a church in Indiana last Sunday for the first Sunday of Advent on Luke 1:26-38 where the angel Gabriel announces to Mary that she will give birth to Jesus the Messiah. Many revere Mary for her faith, but why? The concluding verse of this passage shares the answer.

Unlike her relative Zechariah, who had doubted Gabriel’s message that he and his wife would have a son in their old age, Mary responded in faith. Likely a teen, small-town girl with little formal education, her attitude to God’s message stands as example to us all. Once she understands the angel’s communication, she simply states, “I am the Lord’s servant.”

This word for servant, “doulos” in Greek, is the idea of a bonded-servant whose role was to fulfill his or her master’s wishes. Her usage of this word, like other New Testament writers, notes that true Christianity is not a consumer spirituality, but an all-consuming lifestyle of committed service to our King.

Her response then is to be our response now. “I am the Lord’s servant.”