An everyday woman
One of my favorite things about Christmas time is the music, and among my favorite Christmas songs is Mary Did You Know. I think it's because as a mother myself, Mary is the person from the story of Christ's birth I can most identify with, and that song, to me, makes it even easier to understand how she may have felt as the mother of Jesus. She was just an ordinary young woman after all, chosen for an important role in God's plan to save mankind.
When Luke introduces us to Mary in his gospel, she is a young, engaged woman living in Nazareth. Being a woman in that time, she had little to no standing of any importance and anything that she did have wouldn't have even belonged to her but to her father until her marriage, an event I'm sure she was nervously anticipating like many a young bride. I would imagine that to her neighbors in Nazareth there was little that stood out about her as extraordinary, that would lead anyone to guess God had such a great purpose in mind for her, and from Luke's account, Mary herself was startled by being chosen as well.
Gabriel appeared to her and said, "Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!" Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. (Luke 1:28-29)
God didn't see Mary the way others saw her, or even the way she saw herself. God saw the deep down true Mary, a woman with a faith of great strength. I also wonder if all the aspects of her that made her so ordinary to others were taken into account in His plan. After all, it's much easier to empathize with and relate to an everyday woman than it is a great princess or queen, and this everyday woman was about to hear the special task God was handpicking her to fulfill.
"Don't be frightened, Mary," the angel told her, "for God has decided to bless you! You will become pregnant and have a son, and you are to name him Jesus. He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!" Mary asked the angel, "But how can I have a baby? I am a virgin." (Luke 1:30-34)
Mary was an honorable young woman who was remaining true to her betrothed Joseph as well as the expectations God had for her. Within what she knew to be true about herself and her circumstances, it probably seemed a mystery to her as to how God was going to give her a son at this time. Feeling called by God to undertake a certain task or go down a specific path and not being able to see how to arrive at that destination is definitely an experience I've gone through in life as well. I've had those moments too of saying "But how, God?" Not taking a moment to remind myself that the Almighty God who created the heavens and the earth and every tiny cell in my being can certainly help me accomplish whatever He asks of me. At times when I've questioned God with that "but how", He has answered simply "trust me". On other occasions, He has answered "let me show you", which is similar to how He answered Mary through Gabriel.
The angel replied, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby born to you will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God. What's more your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren, but she's already in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God!" (Luke 1:35-37)
God not only answered Mary's "but how" but He also gave her further proof in the news about Elizabeth of His might and power, showing her that His plans are not bound by human ideas or even the laws of science, which He created.
Still, I have to wonder if even after hearing Gabriel's answer she had at least a moment of doubt or worry about the role God was asking her to play. It would have been completely understandable. She was a young, unmarried woman during a time when becoming pregnant out of wedlock would have been social suicide to say the very least. It would have seemed like risking her very future to agree to God's plan because if Joseph broke his engagement with her due to the pregnancy it was incredibly unlikely that any other eligible young man would choose to marry her after being "disgraced" in such a manner. There was also the possibility of being disowned by her family, in which case she would have been truly destitute and very likely forced into a life of begging or even worse prostitution in order to provide for herself. If she decided to share her story that she had become pregnant by the Holy Spirit, she also would probably have been considered mentally ill. All in all, the picture she had most surely created for herself of what her life would be like -- happily married to Joseph for the rest of their lives and raising a family together -- probably seemed like a slim possibility at this moment.
And yet.... despite these risks... despite the fact that it could have seemed like her world was falling apart...she responded in total faith and with complete surrender.
"I am the Lord's servant, and I am willing to accept whatever he wants. May everything you have said come true." (Luke 1:38)
My prayer is to have such faith. Faith that whatever task God might set before me I can say "I am yours, God. I accept whatever Your plan may be." Faith like that we are called to in 1 Thessalonians 5:18 that gives thanks in all circumstances, not just the happy-go-lucky times but during the down-in-the-trenches times as well. Mary's story shows us how God can use an everyday person with such faith to do truly amazing and wondrous things.
* Photo by Trudy Bell. Paintings shown are "The Annunciation" by Henry Ossawa Tanner, 1898, and "L'annonciation" by James Tissot, circa 1886-1896
Gabriel appeared to her and said, "Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!" Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. (Luke 1:28-29)
God didn't see Mary the way others saw her, or even the way she saw herself. God saw the deep down true Mary, a woman with a faith of great strength. I also wonder if all the aspects of her that made her so ordinary to others were taken into account in His plan. After all, it's much easier to empathize with and relate to an everyday woman than it is a great princess or queen, and this everyday woman was about to hear the special task God was handpicking her to fulfill.
"Don't be frightened, Mary," the angel told her, "for God has decided to bless you! You will become pregnant and have a son, and you are to name him Jesus. He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!" Mary asked the angel, "But how can I have a baby? I am a virgin." (Luke 1:30-34)
Mary was an honorable young woman who was remaining true to her betrothed Joseph as well as the expectations God had for her. Within what she knew to be true about herself and her circumstances, it probably seemed a mystery to her as to how God was going to give her a son at this time. Feeling called by God to undertake a certain task or go down a specific path and not being able to see how to arrive at that destination is definitely an experience I've gone through in life as well. I've had those moments too of saying "But how, God?" Not taking a moment to remind myself that the Almighty God who created the heavens and the earth and every tiny cell in my being can certainly help me accomplish whatever He asks of me. At times when I've questioned God with that "but how", He has answered simply "trust me". On other occasions, He has answered "let me show you", which is similar to how He answered Mary through Gabriel.
The angel replied, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby born to you will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God. What's more your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren, but she's already in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God!" (Luke 1:35-37)
God not only answered Mary's "but how" but He also gave her further proof in the news about Elizabeth of His might and power, showing her that His plans are not bound by human ideas or even the laws of science, which He created.
Still, I have to wonder if even after hearing Gabriel's answer she had at least a moment of doubt or worry about the role God was asking her to play. It would have been completely understandable. She was a young, unmarried woman during a time when becoming pregnant out of wedlock would have been social suicide to say the very least. It would have seemed like risking her very future to agree to God's plan because if Joseph broke his engagement with her due to the pregnancy it was incredibly unlikely that any other eligible young man would choose to marry her after being "disgraced" in such a manner. There was also the possibility of being disowned by her family, in which case she would have been truly destitute and very likely forced into a life of begging or even worse prostitution in order to provide for herself. If she decided to share her story that she had become pregnant by the Holy Spirit, she also would probably have been considered mentally ill. All in all, the picture she had most surely created for herself of what her life would be like -- happily married to Joseph for the rest of their lives and raising a family together -- probably seemed like a slim possibility at this moment.
And yet.... despite these risks... despite the fact that it could have seemed like her world was falling apart...she responded in total faith and with complete surrender.
"I am the Lord's servant, and I am willing to accept whatever he wants. May everything you have said come true." (Luke 1:38)
My prayer is to have such faith. Faith that whatever task God might set before me I can say "I am yours, God. I accept whatever Your plan may be." Faith like that we are called to in 1 Thessalonians 5:18 that gives thanks in all circumstances, not just the happy-go-lucky times but during the down-in-the-trenches times as well. Mary's story shows us how God can use an everyday person with such faith to do truly amazing and wondrous things.
* Photo by Trudy Bell. Paintings shown are "The Annunciation" by Henry Ossawa Tanner, 1898, and "L'annonciation" by James Tissot, circa 1886-1896
Comments
Post a Comment