Mary, What Did You Know? Journey to Christmas
I chuckle every time I think about our son Chuck's
recent Facebook Status, "I wonder if Mary ever gets tired of choirs asking
her if she knows."
I'm hoping his question hasn't ruined how this song
moves me every time I hear it!
But the song begs the question, what did Mary know?
Eye Witness Accounts
The writer of the book of Luke gives us the most insight
into Mary.
Luke declares in Chapter 1 that he based his account of Jesus'
life on eyewitness reports that
he carefully investigated, making
sure every detail is correct. Mary appears to be one of his eye witnesses
because Luke shares such personal information about Mary's encounter
with an Angel, her relationship to Elizabeth, details about the birth
of Jesus. Twice Luke tells us that Mary pondered these things and
treasured them up in her heart. This is such a personal insight into
a very private part of Mary, we need to take notice of the words Luke uses to
describe her story. Some of it reads like a personal journal, but
acts as "salty peanuts" for me. I am not satisfied with just
what Luke tells us - I can't wait to sit at the feet of Mary in heaven and ask
her for more details. Yet, each Mary vignette
is a chest full of treasures, waiting for discovery.
Mary and the Angel
Luke
introduces us to Mary in Chapter 1:26 where we learn she is a virgin,
promised as a bride to a man named Joseph. We can deduce from the culture
at that time that Mary was most likely a young teenage girl. Engagement
was as legally binding as marriage. But wow! Imagine seeing an
angel. Imagine hearing an angel. Imagine hearing an angel speak
your name and declare,
Greetings,
you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you!
Would you be afraid? Terror would grip my
heart!
Mary was greatly troubled - I think terrified might be a good word, too. We
know she was afraid because the angel then declares,
Do
not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor [grace] with God......
The angel continues but let's just take a minute to
think about these words. Remember, this is an eyewitness account. This is
what Mary wants us to know about her life story. Review these two
statements:
Greetings,
you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you!
(Mary,
you are highly favored BECAUSE the Lord is with you!)
Do
not be afraid, Mary (remember, the
Lord is with you), you have found
favor (undeserved mercy) with God.......
These
words were important to Mary.
What is this God-imposed Grace? Mercy undeserved. This is not something Mary created or
earned for herself. By
these words, God calls Mary to relationship with Him. Believing these words
required her to trust the heart of God and what she embraced as His character.
Was He really trustworthy? He
didn’t map out the whole plan for Mary, did He? He just promised through this angel,
that He had plans to prosper her and not to harm her. And that the only way she would
experience those plans was by relationship with Him. How many times in scripture do we read
about God calling a person to a seemingly impossible task and then when they
ask for the Plan, He replies, “Don’t
be afraid. I will go with you.” To surrender to God's Plan when the
only part we know is that He will walk the pathway with us requires a personal
relationship with the one promising to always be present.
Mary's Theology
Mary is about to embark on the most amazing,
unbelievable and extremely difficult pathway, designed by God just for
her. What she believes about the character of God will shape her response
to this pathway. The angel's words challenge her to consider her
worldview. Through what grid would she view this profound upside down
disruption in her life? I bet Mary came back to these words again and
again, every time someone gossiped, or when she knew Joseph thought about
divorcing her or when they travelled to Bethlehem and she was ready to give
birth and there was no place for them, when they ran in the middle of the night
to escape the swords of Herod’s soldiers who were sent to kill all the baby
boys under two years of age, or when Joseph said it was time to move again and
again…..and later in life when her adolescent son was lost for 3 days and when
found, seemed to rebuke her and remind her that he was growing up into a much
bigger purpose than she could understand. I bet she repeatedly took a deep
breath and reviewed these statements, clinging to the promise of God's grace
and His Presence. When she struggled to reflect her faith when she
really wanted to lose her temper or fight with her husband, or weep over her
inability to parent this special child, did she cry out to God, where is that
GRACE you promsied! Did she wonder - Was God reliable? Was He really
Present? When she saw her son
nailed to a cross, did she remember these words again? And choose to believe God's promise of
His presence when Grief would have stopped her heart from beating if it could?
Tomorrow
we'll take a look at Mary's response to the angel's words and her ultimate
surrender to God's plans. But for now, I suggest that Mary's surrender
could only take place because she embraced the angel's promise of God's
Presence. There would be moments in Mary's life where the only way she
could take the next step was to remember the promise of God's Presence. I
resonate with that because of the many times in my own grief journey where the
promise of God's Presence was what enabled me to take the next step. The
Promise of God's Presence drives the Christmas Story. What other reason
would God have for naming His Son, Immanuel, which means God with us?
There are times in life when the only sure thing is God's Presence and that is
the greatest Christmas present of all. Look for that greatest gift today - you might find Him in the strangest places, but exactly where you need Him most.
In
His Grip,
Sharon