Every Christmas (or Kwanzaa or Hannukah) season, various venues and outlets flood us with the re-telling of the Scriptural original Christmas story about the birth of Christ as God made man on Earth. And we have no doubt heard many accounts from Mary's point of view, but I think they too often leave out the human element, mainly focusing on the spiritual aspects. But just as in any setting and at any time, unplanned and especially, untimely and unwanted pregnancies are very stressful for families, so Mary's pregnancy also was for her, for her fiance, Joseph, for her family and for his family.
In those ancient times, an out-of-wedlock pregnancy, as Mary's had been, was a tremendous disgrace and a great stigma. It was punishable by execution or ostracism, as such a pregnancy signaled the direct result of illicit sex and,as would be presumed in her case, premarital sex. Tradition also tells us that Mary was a young, teenaged girl, no doubt around thirteen or fourteen when she conceived. Before she conceived and became pregnant, we read in Scripture that an angel appeared to her, sharing the news with her. How incredible was that? Because the angel encouraged her not to be afraid, as any of us no doubt would have been if a supernatural being suddenly appeared to us, she no doubt was dismayed, wondering, What is this all about! Then she heard that she was the most blessed by God of all women. Now she really must have been bewildered. Me? The most blessed of all women of all time? Then she learned that it was she, yes, she, who was going to receive the supreme honor of bearing God's Messiah, Christ the Lord.
No wonder Mary, most puzzled, asked the angel about how all this would work! How in the world was she going to pull this one off without a man? Yes, Christ was God's Son and would have no human father but would be supernaturally conceived, by the Third Person of the Triune God, The Holy Spirit. Pregnant by God! Who in the world would ever believe THAT?
Add to all this the fact that Mary and her culture were solidly Jewish and orthodix in every sense of the word, themselves looking forward to the promised Messiah. Every faithful Jew and non-Jew, before Christ, based his or her faith on the promised Messiah Who would one day come to save the world. In that time, the fondest hopes of the faithful rested in the promised Christ Who they believed would save them by coming to reign as an Earthy King and free them from their oppression. They did not realize that what He would come to free us from was the power and penalty of sin. But let's get back to the topic of Mary's pregnancy.
What had to be going through this young teenage girl's mind when she learned that she was about to conceive and bear within her the promised One of all the centuries? Through a pregnancy unlike any other in all of history?
Fear of how her fiance, Joseph, would react at learning that his beloved was to conceive and that the child would not only NOT be his but would be a supernatural child, God the Son Himself? Conceived by the unseen God? An uneartly child? Would he even believe that the Messiah was going to come at last and that she was the chosen instrument to bring Him into the world? Would her fiance think that she had betrayed him or lied? Would he hate her and have her ostracized or executed?
Fear of what her family, especially her family, would think and at how they would react? Would they believe that she was lying? Would they see her as a disgrace and a traiter to them and her community? And her friends? How in the world would she ever explain her angelic visitation to her family or friends? Would they believe that the Messiah was about to come and through one they knew and rubbed shouldres with regularly? Mary had two options: She could could keep her unbelievable secret to herself and live a life of nondisclosure and hence, as a disgraced, shamed, unwed, pregnant girl. Or she could disclose her secret and be perceived as delusional, mentally ill and a freak! For her, this was a no-win situation!
A holy child? The Son of God and the Messiah? She, even she, was carrying this Promised One? Many teach that Mary's conception and pregnancy as well as Mary herself, were sinless and immaculate, untouched by humanity. But this teaching is not supported by Scripture. It's true that Mary was a virgin when she supernatually conceived and remained a virgin, via a command of God to Joseph, for at least six months up till Christ's birth. As for Mary herself, we can glean from Scripture that she was devout, faithful, sensible, gracious, mature and lots of other good things. But perfect she was not, as the Scripture teaches that only Christ has ever lived a sinless life. Therefore, when Mary learned of her peerless honor as the chosen instrument to carry the Messiah, she no doubt was not only grateful for this but felt aware of her own imperfections as any of us would when honors are bestowed upon us. In any case, she was from a poor family with probably little "standing" in their community and even if her sense of self was intact, they were no doubt looked down on by some of the more affluent in their community. And when it sank in with Mary the enormity of her calling and honor, we are told that she accepted her assignment with faith, grace and obedience to her God.
No doubt because of all this, Mary felt the urge to get away from it all and to seek support and guidance from someone who would understand. Therefore she left to visit her older cousin, who, though past menopause, was pregnant with a child who, later, would prepare people to receive the Messiah. Here Mary could unburden herself to Elizabeth, her cousin and figure out how to deal with all this as well as deal with her fiance, family and friends. For here was someone dealing with an untimely pregnancy.
As for Joseph, this must have been the most stressful, confusing time of his entire life! Tradition has it that he was a young, responsible carpenter and he loved Mary very much and wanted nothing more than to make a home for her and her future family. Scipture reveals that when he found out about his beloved's conception, he was laying plans to sever ties with her but to do so discreetly. What must have been going though his mind? Shock and disbelief, feeling that Mary had lied to him? Anger at what, on the face of it, was a crass betrayal of him as well as her family and their God? Fear at how he would deal with this in the only way he felt he had to deal with it? So imagine his relief when the angel who visted his beloved visited him, revealing to him the truth of her impending conception and pregnancy. And no doubt he felt some fear and much challenged at learning that he was to marry Mary, but abstain from sexual relations until her holy child was born, and then to raise this child as his own! However, Joseph apparently accepted his assignment with total faith and grace and willingly complied with his marching orders the same way Mary did, in obedience to God. He is the very model for any male who is faced with an unwanted pregnancy, just as Mary is a role model for pregnant women in crisis.
We see here that the Christmas story is about a crisis pregnancy and about how a couple dealt with it in such a way that has brought redemption to the world and the promise of ultimate peace and hope. Yes, back in Mary's and Joseph's day, abortion was illegal and unthinkable. Children were seen as God's blessing and a sign of His favor, and infertility was a curse and a terrible stigma. So how would Jesus have fared if He were conceived in our culture of abortion-on-demand? We don't know and don't need to know. All we need to know is that her story, this story of the first Christmas, underscores that, in God's eyes, we are babies and children from conception on. I'm not going to argue in this blog article about the controversies of right-to-life vs. abortion-on-demand (or a woman's right to choose, as many call it). I will provide you with verses in Scripture for your ease in reference in reading about the events as they unfolded to show you what I'm talking about here.
What about Mary's family or Joseph's family? The Scripture says little about them so we don't know how they ultimately came to feel toward all this. But are there not lessons here for any parents or guardians of those who face crisis preganancies? Sure there are. But we can guess that what Mary and Joseph needed from their familes during this time was what anyone in their situation would need: understanding, support, time, patience and love.
This Christmas story, ultimately, is about the pricelessness of every human life, no matter what the circumstances of conception have been as well as about God Who identifies with all of us.
Scriptures in the Gospels that contain teachings about Mary, Joseph and the birth of the Messiah:
Matthew 1:16-23
Luke 1: 26-56
Luke 2: 1-52
John 19: 25-27
Acts 1:14
No comments:
Post a Comment