Christmas Story Contemplation
A teenage girl becomes pregnant right before she is to be married, but her fiancé is not the biological father. She is actually still a virgin!!! Imagine trying to explain this to your fiancé and your family. What a hard place to be in, what a lonely circumstance. Who would understand?
The Christmas “Story” of the birth of Jesus takes on somewhat familiar terms if you put Mary in today’s world. Although having children out of wedlock is common, it is still somewhat socially unacceptable and especially an uncomfortable situation for someone who may have grown up in an environment that does not condone “such behavior.” Would your parents today believe you if you told them that an angel came to you in the night and told you that you were going to have God’s child, but you were not going to have sex, you were going to become pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit? Probably not.
It is amazing how God sent His Son to us in such a way that we may be able to relate to Mary and Joseph and the reality of their circumstances. God did not choose a mature woman, or a miraculous appearance in the sky, but a teenage virgin of poverty to give birth to a baby that was one day to suffer an atrocious death in order to allow people a way to God Himself.
“Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place under these circumstances: When His mother Mary had been promised in marriage to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be pregnant (through the power) of the Holy Spirit. And her (promised) husband Joseph, being a just and upright man and not willing to expose her publicly and to shame and disgrace her, decided to repudiate and dismiss (divorce) her quietly and secretly. But as he was thinking this over, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, descendant of David, do not be afraid to take Mary (as) your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of (from, out of) the Holy Spirit. She will bear a Son and you shall call His name Jesus (the Greek form of the Hebrew Joshua, which means Savior), for He will save His people from their sins (that is, prevent them from failing and missing the scope of life, which is God). Matthew 1: 18-21
Matthew describes the sequence of events such that Joseph received word from the angel AFTER he had known about her condition for a while. There must have been a period of time when he was pretty upset about Mary and her apparent unfaithfulness, but he moves forward, steps out in faith abandoning society’s opinion, to stand by her and to take on the responsibility of raising God’s Son.
And Mary…The man she is to marry is not the biological father of her child. He is ready to call the whole marriage off. He is hurt and angry that she would betray him. Imagine Mary, knowing she has never been with a man, all of a sudden – she’s going to have a baby! Imagine being woken up in the middle of the night by somethign you've never seen before telling you this crazy stuff! Luke 1:29 says she was greatly disturbed and troubled and confused. Here is this glowing being invading her home and sleep, she must have been terrified! Then, he tells her that she is going to have a baby, though she is a virgin, and that this baby is the Son of the Almighty God. Put yourself in her shoes for a moment and think about how unrealistic this would be. What would your best friend say if you told him/her?
Not only is this woman put in a situation that will ruin her reputation and marriage, but add to that – the stress of carrying in her own body, for 9 months, the Son of God. The stress is already unimaginable, and she can’t tell many people – they probably wouldn’t believe her anyway. Can you imagine what went through her mind as she thought of how to tell Joseph? Personally, I would have been a little bit miffed at God for potentially ruining my marriage and having the town talk of my alleged promiscuity. I would also have been absolutely terrified at the thought of carrying Jesus around in my womb. What if something went wrong? Premature labor? Disease or miscarriage?
But Mary put her whole self into God’s hands…In Luke 1:38, Mary says, “Behold, I am the handmaiden of the Lord; let it be done to me according to what you have said.” She trusted Him completely for every possible circumstance, and did not worry about her reputation or marriage, but had faith that this was a very good thing. In Luke 1: 46 she praises and rejoices in God for her situation: “My soul magnifies and extols the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my savior for He has looked upon the low station and humiliation of His handmaiden. For behold, from now on all generations shall call me blessed and declare me happy and to be envied! Fro He who is Almighty has done great things for me – and holy is His name to be venerated in His purity, majesty and glory! And His mercy, His compassion and kindness toward the miserable and afflicted is on those who fear Him with Godly reverence from generation to generation and age to age.” Wow! She is leaning on Him, and rejoicing in her circumstance because she knows that she has been given a great privilege. This kind of faith is almost unbelievable…think about how many, years later, did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah. And, Mary trusted and believed even before He was performing miracles!
As I was studying this story, trying to get a feel for the reality of Mary and Joseph’s circumstances and their journey, it also hit me that not only were they having God’s child, trying to hide from Herod and others who wanted Him dead, but I began to wonder how much they knew about the fate of Jesus, about the way He would die, what it would mean for Him to become human and be the provided sacrifice of His Father. The angel who visited Joseph told him that the baby would be a savior to his people. Angels visited the shepherds and magii to tell them of the savior, but did they know he would save the world from “failing and missing the true end and scope of life, which is God” by being tortured and dying the death of crucifixion?
Luke 2 describes the visit from the angel to the shepherds. The angel told them about the birth of the savior, and the shepherds went immediately to Bethlehem to see for themselves the baby who would one day reunite their people to God. They told Mary and Joseph what the angel said, so Mary must also have known by this revelation (if not before) that her baby was going to be a savior, she knew what He came for, but did she know the depth of it? There is a verse that implies her struggle after the shepherd visited in Luke 2:19: “But Mary was keeping within herself all of these things, weighing and pondering them in her heart.” What was she weighing and pondering? How her son would grow up? How he would save her people? Or did she know the difficult time she would have when she saw Him on the cross?
Reading further on in Luke, there is the time that Jesus was to be circumcised…Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to Jerusalem for His purification and dedication. There was a man named Simeon, who had been told by the Holy Spirit that he would not die until he saw the Lord’s Christ. He came into the temple during the dedication service and took the child in his arms. What he said must have given Mary knowledge of how Jesus would die? That is sort of how I am interpreting this: “For with my own eyes (he is praying to God here) I have seen Your salvation which You have ordained and prepared before (in the presence of) all peoples. A light for revelation to the Gentiles (to disclose what was before unknown) and (to bring) praise and honor and glory to Your people Israel.” And his legal father and His mother were marveling at what was said about Him. And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is appointed and destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against – and a sword will pierce through your own soul also – that the secret thoughts and purposes of many hearts may be brought out and disclosed. Is this sword symbolic of the sword that would pierce Jesus’s side to ensure His death?
There is such depth here in Mary and Joseph’s journey with Jesus. What is revealed is their complete abandonment to God, complete lack of fear when so much lay before them, complete trust, resting in the Father’s arms, letting Him guide their steps. What strength they must have had, as they too set their faces as flint to see to it that their baby would grow up to die, but the depth of it…that their baby would grow up to love and teach and share goodness and then be the ultimate sacrifice of God Himself to be the new covenant, to be the bridge, to allow those who had completely denied God to be able to be with God.
I love the amplified’s interpretation of this story mostly because of the line in Matthew: for He will save His people from their sins (that is, prevent them from failing and missing the true end and scope of life, which is God). I love this because it puts the focus on the journey instead of the end destination. Although the destination is described as being perfect and amazing, we are given this life as well. The salvation that Jesus brings was in His death, but also in His life, His teachings and example…and by failing, maybe this word refers to failing in our lives as not realizing the teaching of Jesus and the example of His love, missing out on the goodness of life, missing the journey of knowing God, not just in order to get to heaven, but to know who He is and who we are to Him. The end scope of life is God, not the rules we follow, or even the death of Christ, but God Himself (through Whom we cannot have access without the death of Christ, Who IS Christ...this is pretty complicated!), Who we either see or miss every day of the life that has been given us – in others, in creation and nature, in love, in opportunity, in happiness and joy, and in the quest for truth.
What could be “living life to the fullest” more than abandoning yourselves to God, living recklessly (by society’s definition) for the Creator such as Mary and Joseph did so long ago?
The Christmas “Story” of the birth of Jesus takes on somewhat familiar terms if you put Mary in today’s world. Although having children out of wedlock is common, it is still somewhat socially unacceptable and especially an uncomfortable situation for someone who may have grown up in an environment that does not condone “such behavior.” Would your parents today believe you if you told them that an angel came to you in the night and told you that you were going to have God’s child, but you were not going to have sex, you were going to become pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit? Probably not.
It is amazing how God sent His Son to us in such a way that we may be able to relate to Mary and Joseph and the reality of their circumstances. God did not choose a mature woman, or a miraculous appearance in the sky, but a teenage virgin of poverty to give birth to a baby that was one day to suffer an atrocious death in order to allow people a way to God Himself.
“Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place under these circumstances: When His mother Mary had been promised in marriage to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be pregnant (through the power) of the Holy Spirit. And her (promised) husband Joseph, being a just and upright man and not willing to expose her publicly and to shame and disgrace her, decided to repudiate and dismiss (divorce) her quietly and secretly. But as he was thinking this over, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, descendant of David, do not be afraid to take Mary (as) your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of (from, out of) the Holy Spirit. She will bear a Son and you shall call His name Jesus (the Greek form of the Hebrew Joshua, which means Savior), for He will save His people from their sins (that is, prevent them from failing and missing the scope of life, which is God). Matthew 1: 18-21
Matthew describes the sequence of events such that Joseph received word from the angel AFTER he had known about her condition for a while. There must have been a period of time when he was pretty upset about Mary and her apparent unfaithfulness, but he moves forward, steps out in faith abandoning society’s opinion, to stand by her and to take on the responsibility of raising God’s Son.
And Mary…The man she is to marry is not the biological father of her child. He is ready to call the whole marriage off. He is hurt and angry that she would betray him. Imagine Mary, knowing she has never been with a man, all of a sudden – she’s going to have a baby! Imagine being woken up in the middle of the night by somethign you've never seen before telling you this crazy stuff! Luke 1:29 says she was greatly disturbed and troubled and confused. Here is this glowing being invading her home and sleep, she must have been terrified! Then, he tells her that she is going to have a baby, though she is a virgin, and that this baby is the Son of the Almighty God. Put yourself in her shoes for a moment and think about how unrealistic this would be. What would your best friend say if you told him/her?
Not only is this woman put in a situation that will ruin her reputation and marriage, but add to that – the stress of carrying in her own body, for 9 months, the Son of God. The stress is already unimaginable, and she can’t tell many people – they probably wouldn’t believe her anyway. Can you imagine what went through her mind as she thought of how to tell Joseph? Personally, I would have been a little bit miffed at God for potentially ruining my marriage and having the town talk of my alleged promiscuity. I would also have been absolutely terrified at the thought of carrying Jesus around in my womb. What if something went wrong? Premature labor? Disease or miscarriage?
But Mary put her whole self into God’s hands…In Luke 1:38, Mary says, “Behold, I am the handmaiden of the Lord; let it be done to me according to what you have said.” She trusted Him completely for every possible circumstance, and did not worry about her reputation or marriage, but had faith that this was a very good thing. In Luke 1: 46 she praises and rejoices in God for her situation: “My soul magnifies and extols the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my savior for He has looked upon the low station and humiliation of His handmaiden. For behold, from now on all generations shall call me blessed and declare me happy and to be envied! Fro He who is Almighty has done great things for me – and holy is His name to be venerated in His purity, majesty and glory! And His mercy, His compassion and kindness toward the miserable and afflicted is on those who fear Him with Godly reverence from generation to generation and age to age.” Wow! She is leaning on Him, and rejoicing in her circumstance because she knows that she has been given a great privilege. This kind of faith is almost unbelievable…think about how many, years later, did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah. And, Mary trusted and believed even before He was performing miracles!
As I was studying this story, trying to get a feel for the reality of Mary and Joseph’s circumstances and their journey, it also hit me that not only were they having God’s child, trying to hide from Herod and others who wanted Him dead, but I began to wonder how much they knew about the fate of Jesus, about the way He would die, what it would mean for Him to become human and be the provided sacrifice of His Father. The angel who visited Joseph told him that the baby would be a savior to his people. Angels visited the shepherds and magii to tell them of the savior, but did they know he would save the world from “failing and missing the true end and scope of life, which is God” by being tortured and dying the death of crucifixion?
Luke 2 describes the visit from the angel to the shepherds. The angel told them about the birth of the savior, and the shepherds went immediately to Bethlehem to see for themselves the baby who would one day reunite their people to God. They told Mary and Joseph what the angel said, so Mary must also have known by this revelation (if not before) that her baby was going to be a savior, she knew what He came for, but did she know the depth of it? There is a verse that implies her struggle after the shepherd visited in Luke 2:19: “But Mary was keeping within herself all of these things, weighing and pondering them in her heart.” What was she weighing and pondering? How her son would grow up? How he would save her people? Or did she know the difficult time she would have when she saw Him on the cross?
Reading further on in Luke, there is the time that Jesus was to be circumcised…Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to Jerusalem for His purification and dedication. There was a man named Simeon, who had been told by the Holy Spirit that he would not die until he saw the Lord’s Christ. He came into the temple during the dedication service and took the child in his arms. What he said must have given Mary knowledge of how Jesus would die? That is sort of how I am interpreting this: “For with my own eyes (he is praying to God here) I have seen Your salvation which You have ordained and prepared before (in the presence of) all peoples. A light for revelation to the Gentiles (to disclose what was before unknown) and (to bring) praise and honor and glory to Your people Israel.” And his legal father and His mother were marveling at what was said about Him. And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is appointed and destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against – and a sword will pierce through your own soul also – that the secret thoughts and purposes of many hearts may be brought out and disclosed. Is this sword symbolic of the sword that would pierce Jesus’s side to ensure His death?
There is such depth here in Mary and Joseph’s journey with Jesus. What is revealed is their complete abandonment to God, complete lack of fear when so much lay before them, complete trust, resting in the Father’s arms, letting Him guide their steps. What strength they must have had, as they too set their faces as flint to see to it that their baby would grow up to die, but the depth of it…that their baby would grow up to love and teach and share goodness and then be the ultimate sacrifice of God Himself to be the new covenant, to be the bridge, to allow those who had completely denied God to be able to be with God.
I love the amplified’s interpretation of this story mostly because of the line in Matthew: for He will save His people from their sins (that is, prevent them from failing and missing the true end and scope of life, which is God). I love this because it puts the focus on the journey instead of the end destination. Although the destination is described as being perfect and amazing, we are given this life as well. The salvation that Jesus brings was in His death, but also in His life, His teachings and example…and by failing, maybe this word refers to failing in our lives as not realizing the teaching of Jesus and the example of His love, missing out on the goodness of life, missing the journey of knowing God, not just in order to get to heaven, but to know who He is and who we are to Him. The end scope of life is God, not the rules we follow, or even the death of Christ, but God Himself (through Whom we cannot have access without the death of Christ, Who IS Christ...this is pretty complicated!), Who we either see or miss every day of the life that has been given us – in others, in creation and nature, in love, in opportunity, in happiness and joy, and in the quest for truth.
What could be “living life to the fullest” more than abandoning yourselves to God, living recklessly (by society’s definition) for the Creator such as Mary and Joseph did so long ago?
posted by KariBryant @ 1:56 PM
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