I'm just speculating here about how Jesus may have fared if He had waited until this Information Age and these high-tech, modern times to make His First Coming to oour Earth. If this Jesus, as portrayed in the Christian Bible, God in Christ and God the Son, had made His First Coming today as a sinless, ordinary-looking human being who claimed oneness with God and spoke as God, how would we have reacted to such a man?
According to the Bible, when Jesus did come to Earth, He had come as a Jew, having been born to a devoutly Jewish family. For God had, for centuries before the time of Christ, promised to that in Christ, He would come as Messiah to save the Jewish people and to empower them to bring His salvation and love to the rest of the world. So if Jesus had waited to visit Earth today, where would He had chosen to live? Based on what we know of God's plan for the coming of the Messiah, I don't think He would have come to the USA, to Western Europe, to Australia or anywhere else where we'd expect God would make His arrival. No, He most likely would have made His arrival to modern Israel or to a community that where Judaism is the major stronghold. And who would have been the highly-favored, blessed set of parents whom He would have picked to bring Him into the world and raise Him? Based on the Gospel records of Mary and his foster dad Joseph it would not be anyone from wealth, fame, social connections or influence. God would no doubt have picked a couple of young teens from from poor but devout Jewish families who were expecting the Messiah, teens who, though typical teens with dreams and plans for their own lives, were willing to surrender to God's plan for their lives whatever the cost as Mary and Joseph were.
In our age where abortion has become not only legal but socially acceptable, would Jesus have even have made it to birth? According to the Bible, Jesus was born under circumstances that would have been grounds for an abortion today. He was born to a teen age girl who, according to tradition, was no older than 13 or 14. That teen had received a vision of an angel telling her that she would be pregnant by the Holy Spirit so her Son would be holy and sinless, God the Son. Such a teen pregnancy, with no known human father and a teen mom who claimed to have seen a vision where she was told how she had conceived, would have been, without a doubt, been pressured to get an abortion. "Terminate this pregnancy now! This is the most crazy thing we have ever heard! You will ruin your life forever! Get rid of it!" would have been the kind of counsel Mary would have gotten. But with the record of the faith she and Joseph had under a very different, but equal pressures to not see this through, they would not have listened to this advice.
And even if Jesus would have made it to birth in this abortion-minded culture, how would He have fared as a child? Probably okay. The Bible tells us little about his childhood or teen years. We are told that as a child He was "blessed by God" and "wise beyond his years." Then, the Bible tells us that as a teen and young adult, He "grew in mind and body" and in "favor with God and man" and was "obedient to them" meaning Mary and Joseph. We have the one scene from his youth, when He was 12 and His parents had lost Him, finding Him in the Jewish Temple after a three day search. These things tell us that Jesus childhood, teens and young adulthood were ordinary and uneventful, though stellar and virtuous. How would He have fared in our schools? No doubt, as a child, He was quite ordinary and the only thing that set Him apart was His moral perfection. He was studious, faithful, responsible, likable, kind, giving, strong and respectful. So He would have been well-liked. But He may have been misunderstood because of His deep interest in and obsession with God and religious matters and His wisdom beyond His years; He may have been called a "nerd" and "boring"
Certain groups of kids may have taunted Him and excluded Him because of His refusal to cave in to peer pressure to abuse substances or to curse and to stand up to bullies (nicely of course). Teachers and other adults would have favored this most well-behaved and mature boy and He likely would have been known as the "teacher's pet."
We are told that He spent most of His late teens and young adulthood working hard as a carpenter in His foster dad's business. Today, had He picked an occupation in which to do His work it would probably had been in a mundane, even menial job or small business where He would have been valued because of His excellent work, faithfulness and goodness. Most of His problems began when He started His official, public ministry. And where would He have picked to do His work if He had waited until now for His First Coming? In keeping with the the Bible's portrayal of the people He liked to reveal Himself to, God in Christ would probably not have done His work among nice, respectable, religious people in affluent settings. This means that He wouldn't have picked any area of wealth, resources or influence for His work. He may have picked some inner city or large metropolitan area of diversity or some poor rural area with a strong Jewish stronghold, for His work. Religious leaders would have seen Him as a dire threat to THEIR empire and would have hounded Him throughout His ministry, just as the Pharisees and other Jewish leaders are recorded to have done in Bible days. Toward His last days on Earth, they would have brought Him to the attention of the media to incite hate. "This imposter needs to be stopped. He wants to overthrow us and set up His own empire! This blasphemer and traitor is claiming to be God, identifying Himself with the Father. Our people are going after Him, hanging onto His every word! This kind of MONSTER must be stopped!"
But what if we could actually be there and hear the material in Matthew Chapters 5 to 7, commonly known as the Sermon on the Mount? If we could REALLY hear these teachings for the first time, how would we react to them? For example, "He who even looks at a woman lustfully has committed adultery with her." How about this one, "If you eye causes you to sin, gauge it out and throw it away!"? Really read His words, "If you are even angry without a good reason and call your brother a fool, you are in danger of going to hell." And what about his strong words about divorce? "If you divorce your wives except for marital unfaithfulness, you make her an adulteress if she remarries and he who marries her commits adultery." "Be perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect." Wouldn't these words have confused us or made us furious? Would we have grasped it that He said these things to drive it home to us that we can't live up to these instructions and so need a Savior?
According to the Bible, Jesus was homeless during His public ministry. We can read about His encounter with a rich young ruler who wanted to know the way to Heaven; Jesus told Him to sell all he had, give the proceeds from his sale to the poor, and then to follow Him. If Jesus walked into our workplaces, our schools, our social functions or our churches, with the odor of a homeless person, how would He have been received? What if He would have told us, "To please Me, you need to give up all you have and follow Me?" would He have gotten very far?
How would we have reacted to the company He kept? The Bible records that He hung out with the most despised or stigmatized people of His day. This means that if He had come today, He would have befriended and eaten with users of substances like drugs and alcohol, HIV-positive people, sex offenders, prostitutes, other criminals, epileptics, those with mental illnesses and other hated or stigmatized people. Many of us law-abiding, affluent, proper citizens and activists/advocates may have been offended or livid at his choice of companions. "This Rabbi is welcoming and eating with these MONSTERS who hurt our children," we child abuse advocates may have grumbled. "If He was really a holy man, why does He hang out with these scumbags?" many of us church people may have complained.
How would His politics have struck us? According to the Bible, He showed little political interest and the only time this apolitical Jesus encountered politicians was when He was dragged before them prior to His death on a cross. As for political views, conservatives would have been elated at His stern declarations of God's demands for His people and His words of assurance of God's ultimate judgment on evil people. However, conservatives would have been unsettled, offended, even angry at His spending so much time befriending, helping and meeting the needs of all of the poor, sick,, homeless, disabled, and stigmatized people who sought Him out. Those with more liberal or progressive views would have treasured the priceless way that He favored and championed women and did so much to care for and reach out to the poor and the vulnerable and His teachings about our responsibilities to them. However, those with such views would have redefined or ignored Jesus' refusal to water down His Father's stern moral demands and have not realized that we can't really appreciate God's love until we consider His holiness.
If an ordinary-looking, unpretentious man, who claimed equality with and oneness with God the Father and declared that He alone is the only way to be accepted by God and be fit for Heaven, was sentenced to die by crucifixion in according to the Bible, what would make us think it wouldn't be any different today? It doesn't, I think, make any difference whether we are encountering Him for the first time in-person or reading about Him in Scripture, for human nature does not change and the need to have faith also does not change.
Showing posts with label Mary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mary. Show all posts
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Saturday, December 17, 2011
A Crisis Pregnancy
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
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
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