Key verses: "You
will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give Him the name
Jesus. He will be great and will be
called the son of the most high. The Lord
God will give Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the
house of Jacob forever; His kingdom will never end."
Luke 1:31-33
A lowly, small town, peasant girl, is the next step in God's
plan to redeem the world. Most scholars
believe that Mary would have only been around the age of fourteen at the time
of her miraculous pregnancy. We could
hardly consider her an experienced mother with impeccable credentials for the
task of raising Messiah!
As a sign post in our journey with Jesus this is one of the most
important signs, the virgin shall be with child! This is a miraculous birth to mark out the divine
nature of the Messiah as the Son of God. An additional point to the miracle is that it is also the fulfillment of a prophetic note in Genesis 3:15, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring [or seed] and hers." Note the care with which God mentions "her" and not a him. The sperm, the male seed, will play no part in this conception, just Mary's seed, the ovum, "her seed."
God did not choose to place his son in the care of wealthy
parents who could provide well and meet every whim of His son's heart. Those parents might have had their own plans
for the boy and, while they may have felt honor, would have also been proud of
having been chosen to guide and care for the Messiah. It was more important, for God's plan, to
choose someone that He could trust to be obedient.
Her task would not be easy.
Parenting is a challenge in the best of circumstances. Mary's life would be more challenging than
most.
She would first have to appear guilty of sin and risk losing
the protection of her soon to be husband.
While other new mothers to be would have been scurrying around their
new little home, getting things ready for the new arrival, aided by mother,
mother-in law, and who knows how many siblings and Aunts, Mary would have to
leave her home and comfort, and support, as her father Abraham had before, to
learn how to lean on God completely.
Mary would face adventures never even dreamed of and meet
people that she would have considered herself unworthy of in her early life. Mary would know pains unspeakable and joys
that she couldn't have imagined.
It was no small thing to be considered "Highly
favored," by the Lord. Yet, Mary
pondered every experience, every encounter in her heart and stayed steadfast in
her call. Her attitude remained, "I
am the Lord's servant. May it be to me
as you have said." (Luke 1:38)
If only we could all remain that resolute through the ups
and downs of our call.
Hymn: "Low, How A Rose E'er Blooming"
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