“Can
you imagine being Mary?” I asked my roommate that question this morning. “Merry? Like happy?” “No, no…Mary. Like Jesus’s
Mary. Mary and Joseph, Mary.”
This
conversation lasted many more minutes as we thought through the question. The
reason why I asked was because of a song I heard on the radio on my way to
church last Sunday morning. The words of the song broke through my still very
tired and worn-out-post-finals state.
“You're here, I'm holding you so near
I'm staring into the face of my Savior
King and Creator
You could have left us on our own
But you're here”
“My gracious.” I thought as I kept
driving. Like I shared in my first blog, I have heard the story of Jesus’s
birth and I knew about Mary—duh, but I never really took the chance to get to know her or even think about her for
more than a few seconds every Christmas. So, this morning I took the chance and
now I am extending the invitation to you. Care to join me? Empathy is key here
when exploring this and so is our imagination. Try it with me. Also, grab your
Bible if you can.
Let’s
take a few steps back and look at some history on Mary. Isaiah 7:14 prophesied
the birth of Jesus from a virgin (“…The virgin will be with child and will give
birth to a son…”). We don’t officially meet Mary until Luke 1:27. In that
section of scripture, we get a little bit of background info on her:
oShe
lives in Nazareth, a town that was in Galilee.
oShe
is “pledged to be married” to a man named Joseph, who came from the lineage of
King David.
oThough it is never exactly stated how old she
is, according to the culture Mary was a part of, girls were “betrothed” as
early as 12. We can infer that Mary was around the age of 14-16 when Jesus was
born. (When I think of myself at age 14 or 16…..yeah, let’s not dwell on that…)
I
encourage you to look through Luke chapters 1 and 2, to get a complete sense of
the context. You see in Luke 1:26 an angel, Gabriel, appears to Mary. He tells
her not to fear, that she is favored by the Lord and that He is with her.
(Sidenote: check out ‘The Message’ version of this passage; it paraphrases this
as “Good morning! You’re beautiful with God’s beauty, Beautiful inside and out!
God be with you!”—talk about a greeting!) Gabriel shares God’s plan for Mary
and the role she has been chosen for. Her only question was “how?”…she never
asked “if” or “why”. Her obedience was immediate. She says, “I am the servant
of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). The angel
finishes explaining God’s plan and Mary packs up and heads to her relative
Elizabeth’s house, who was carrying a baby of her own, John the Baptist. (Her
and Zachariah’s story is incredible. I encourage you to read that one as well.)
When I
read Luke 1: 46-55, I want to stand up and spin around and rejoice with Mary.
“My soul magnifies the Lord and my
spirit rejoices in God my Savior.”
She goes on and on, praising the Lord. Read it. Are you standing up and
spinning around yet? She spends a portion of her pregnancy with her cousin,
Elizabeth, preparing and rejoicing in God and His plan. Luke describes Jesus’s
birth in chapter 2:1-7. Up to this point, it seems like Mary’s faithfulness and
her obedience is unwavering. She gives birth to this precious baby Jesus in a
barn that is meant for livestock. I can’t help but wonder what that must have
been and felt like, to look down and hold the long awaited King.
The
song captures what my imagination comes up with. “You're here, I'm holding you so near. I'm staring into the face of my
Savior, King and Creator. You could have left us on our own….But you're here.”
Through this exploration of who
Mary was, I wasn’t just captured by her obedience, her faith, or
her humility.
Though I do admire her for those qualities, it made me become enthralled by
Jesus. Jesus, Immanuel, my Creator, my King, the lover of my heart; came in the
form of a precious baby, was swaddled and laid in a manger. He was fully human
and fully God. He humbled Himself and took on flesh. Can you imagine what kind
of birth He would have had if He had gotten the one He deserved? Mary trusted
and praised God from the very beginning. She was given the honor of carrying
and caring for Jesus. She was able to kiss the face of God…the God she loved,
trusted and followed. He gave her the chance to be a main character in the
story of saving the world. Her role in this makes me adore Him all the more.
Her faithfulness reflected God’s faithfulness, her obedience reflects God’s
sovereignty, and her love was a reflection of our Savior’s.
I am so thankful she was able to
hold him so closely and so tenderly. He was her and my King and Creator; Her
and my Savior. He could have left us on our own, but Praise Him that He didn’t.
Oh Immanuel… God with us.
You're here, I'm holding you so near, oh, oh
I'm staring into the face of my Savior
King and Creator
You could have left us on our own
But you're here, you're here
Someday I'm going to look back on this
The night that God became a baby boy
Someday you're going to go home again
But you'll leave your spirit
And flood the world with joy
I
encourage you to look through Luke chapters 1 and 2, to get a complete sense of
the context. You see in Luke 1:26 an angel, Gabriel, appears to Mary. He tells
her not to fear, that she is favored by the Lord and that He is with her.
(Sidenote: check out ‘The Message’ version of this passage; it paraphrases this
as “Good morning! You’re beautiful with God’s beauty, Beautiful inside and out!
God be with you!”—talk about a greeting!) Gabriel shares God’s plan for Mary
and the role she has been chosen for. Her only question was “how?”…she never
asked “if” or “why”. Her obedience was immediate. She says, “I am the servant
of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). The angel
finishes explaining God’s plan and Mary packs up and heads to her relative
Elizabeth’s house, who was carrying a baby of her own, John the Baptist. (Her
and Zachariah’s story is incredible. I encourage you to read that one as well.)