Mary, His Mother

Do you ever find yourself checking out of a situation? You’re sitting there, not really paying attention– and then realizing that you’ve missed something?

Personally, I don’t do well watching movies more than once. I love movies, but the second time around for me just isn’t the same. I find myself zoning out. I think the reason that I really love movies is because I don’t know what’s going to happen – one of my favorite things to do is walk into a movie without ever watching the trailer. I love not knowing anything and just going along for the ride. But it’s different when I know the ending.

Sometimes we can feel this way about Christmas. Sure, we don’t read the passages of Scripture all the time, but there’s a familiarity to it – we know the ending. Instead of jumping to the ending you know, try and think about what this passage from Luke 1:26-33 must have been like:

“In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

Think about that scenario. A young woman, preparing for a marriage that was probably arranged by your parents. This id the beginning of the rest of her life. And then, an angel shows up.

I think this is the first detail that we can skip over. Because we know how all of this turns out, we read it like it’s normal. It is not normal for an angel to turn up. This is a crazy thing!

The angel tells Mary what is about to happen in her life. She is going to conceive a son and give birth. What do you think about when you read that? It can feel like we’re watching a movie for the second time. We know how this story ends. We know the angel is telling the truth, we know that in the end Joseph will stay, Jesus will be born.

Do we even see that word in the opening verse? Virgin? Mary is a virgin!

This idea that she is going to be pregnant is no small thing. She’s never been with a man before. But now Mary is has to face Joseph as a pregnant fiancée. It’s going to appear like she has been unfaithful. Immediately, everything is on shaky ground. What’s going to happen to her? And wait a second, but did that angel just say that this is going to be the Son of God? How is this going to work?

This is exactly Mary’s question. Look at verse 34:

“And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”

Maybe we forget that little detail, but Mary sure doesn’t. This is all hard to believe. None of this really makes sense, and it’s about to ruin her life.

I think when we read this, we see it as a small part in this big story of what God is going to do at Christmas. We know the ending. But Mary can’t catch her breath.

The angel starts his message with this: “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” Out of all the things the angel says, this may be the most surprising. It’s definitely significant for Mary. The Lord would be with her. Gabriel drops a lot on Mary in this moment, but will not be alone. At this point, she doesn’t know if Joseph is going to stay. She might be the only one, but God is with her.

Living where we do in history, it is easy for us to see the grand significance of what God is doing for humanity at Christmas, but miss that God is also ministering to individual hearts. God is not using Mary to just accomplish His ends, but He is inviting her into the story of what He is doing. Mary is not a chess piece moved around on the board, she is someone that God cares about.

Now, I’m sure none of us has experienced any ‘immaculate conceptions,’ but we how Mary is feeling. We know how it feels to stare down the barrel of a journey we don’t want to take. We’ve experienced the confusion of not quite understanding what God is doing. We probably haven’t experienced what Mary is in this passage, but we know how she feels.

What are you walking through that feels too big to handle? What if you heard the same words for an angel? Would that be enough? Most of the time, we look past the presence of God, searching for a solution. That’s what we really want.

All throughout Scripture, the presence of God is lifted much higher than the solution to any problem (Josh. 1:9; Ps. 23:4; Matt. 28:19-20). Scripture doesn’t point to God solving everyone’s problems, but it does point us to God Himself.

God’s presence offers comfort. At Christmas, the idea that God Himself is coming to earth to forgive the sins of His people is true comfort. The angel doesn’t give Mary a full explanation of everything that is going to happen with Jesus, but he assures her of the one thing that could make any difference in this moment: the presence of God. It is the presence of God that will carry her through the confusion and reveal His plan for redemption.

It is this angel that gives us the familiar phrase, “For nothing is impossible with God” (Luke 1:37).

What are the last two words of that phrase? “With God.” Nothing is impossible. Mary’s crazy situation that is about to take place is going to happen with God. Mary is going to talk to Joseph with God. She’s going to conceive as a virgin through the Holy Spirit. She’s going to carry the Messiah, Savior of the world, for nine months with God. She is going to raise Him and watch Him walk to the cross to sacrifice Himself for our sins with God. These impossible things are going to keep happening. The challenges aren’t going away, but God is going to be there.

It’s not just Mary who gets to experience this connection and care from God – if we trust Jesus, we do too. This is what we’re experiencing when we feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit, receive wisdom from God’s Word, or are comforted by His Church. We’re experiencing God with us.

This Christmas, may we rest from our quest for a solution to whatever we’re experiencing, and we would realize that God is with us. There is no greater comfort than that.