Mary was not just randomly chosen to be the mother of Jesus. As we wait for the coming of Christ we are invited to welcome Mary into our hearts. Of all of the young women in the middle east at that time, or to challenge us even more broadly, of all the women in human history, how is it that this Palestinian teenager was chosen for such an important role? Mary is the first person to say “yes” to Jesus and we’ve got a thing or two to learn from this radical disciple.
Mary was living an ordinary life in a Galilean village. Like any other girl anticipating marriage, she was a girl who lived with the same dreams, fears and longings of any young woman of her age and time. But Mary was more sensitive to God than other young women in general. God works with all kinds of people, but God does the best work with those who have a disposition towards heaven’s goals.
When the angel said “Greetings favored one! The Lord is with you! [Luke 1:28}, Mary didn’t respond with the fear that we read of so many others. Mary did not try to argue with God. Unlike Moses and Gideon, she did not try to convince God to look elsewhere. Zechariah had also received a visit from an angel when he was told that Elizabeth would have a child in their old age, but Mary responded with greater confidence in God’s plans. Zechariah had to be chided by God for not believing, and he was a priest, from a long priestly history! Luke simply tells us that “she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.” [Luke 1:29]
Mary simply worked to process why God had chosen her. She fully intended to cooperate with God’s purposes once she was clear about them.
When Mary asks the question “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” she seems satisfied with the explanation by the angel and says “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” If we don’t recognize God’s call or if we don’t respond appropriately, God still takes our flawed contributions and still manages to get things done through us, sometimes in spite of us, but God didn’t have to worry about that with Mary.
As soon as the angel left, Mary did a very human thing, also a very wise thing. She went to visit her spiritual director. Ok, so maybe Elizabeth wasn’t officially a spiritual director, but she was someone who Mary trusted as a wise person who was strong in her faith, and she knew that Elizabeth could help her to process how God was working in her life. She also knew that Elizabeth would be able to relate to what she was going through since Elizabeth was also pregnant through a miracle of God. This witness of Mary going to a wise spiritual person to help her process how God was working in her life is a great example for us
In Mary’s song that we refer to as the Magnificat, she gives praise to God for bringing mercy to the lowly. She is consistent with the prophets whose cry represents God’s rejection of the oppressive use of power against the lowly and defenseless. Mary’s song is a prayer to align ourselves with God’s desire that the lowly be lifted up. She reveals the complete reversal of fortunes that will accompany God’s final triumph.
Mary’s situation was not an easy one to live into. She had to face her fiancé and tell him the unbelievable, that she was pregnant with God’s son. Initially Joseph decided to divorce her quietly. The Jewish custom allowed that they be considered husband and wife, through the marriage had not yet been consummated. Thankfully Joseph received his own visit from an angel so he was able to believe her. There is no telling what the rumor mill must have been like in Galilee!
The fact that Mary and Joseph had to travel for several difficult days from Nazareth to Bethlehem for the purpose of the census had to be challenging for them, as Mary was nearing the end of her pregnancy.
They arrived in time for the census but not in time to find suitable lodging, but Mary came from what has been referred to as “hearty stock” and in a culture where she likely faced many difficulties so she could handle it.
When Jesus was still an infant, the family left by night to escape King Herod’s wrath. They became refugees. But Mary had grown up in a faithful home and she came from a long line of survivors. God had preserved her people through the slavery of Egypt, the failures of Judges and Kings, the invasions of enemy nations and persecutors that would have wiped out any ordinary nation. Yet here they were, still expecting the purposes of God to be fulfilled through them.
In an ideal world, parents should be children’s “first teachers of the faith.” Mary and Joseph were those kinds of parents for Jesus. Jesus was brought up in a faithful Jewish home, where his beliefs and practices likely came from what he learned from Mary and Joseph. They meticulously followed Jewish law. We see examples of this when they had Jesus circumcised on the 8th day, also receiving his name on that day. (Receiving Joseph’s name fulfilled what was foretold by the prophet Isaiah, that the child would be born in David’s lineage). We also see their faithfulness to the law when they brought their offering to the redemption of the first-born son. Their offering was considered “the offering of the poor”, a reminder that Jesus was born into poverty.
Nazareth of the first century has been described by biblical scholars as a village of poor farmers and artisans, all living a hand-to-mouth existence without economic security. It was in constant threat and was a dangerous place to go about proclaiming the final triumph of the Kingdom of God.
Mary took care of Jesus’ physical, mental, and spiritual needs. She nursed him, she taught him the ways of the Lord. She taught him to memorize the psalms and to pray.
We don’t know much about what went on with Mary and Joseph until Jesus was 12 and their family travelled to Jerusalem for the Passover festival. In that world of extended families, it was not unusual that Jesus was separated from his parents and that they assumed that he was among the other travelers when they realized that he was not. As any other mother, when she realized that Jesus was not with them, fear set in. We learn that Jesus was found in the temple among the teachers. Mary was mother first and theologian second, asking “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.” 49 He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”[m] 50 But they did not understand what he said to them. 51 Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart.
Mary watched her boy become a man under what seem to be pretty ordinary circumstances. Jesus travelled and taught outside his hometown and that his fellow villagers were mystified by his success. We assume that Joseph died at some point and that Jesus took up responsibility for the household.
The next we hear of Mary is when Jesus and Mary and the disciples attended a wedding and the family ran out of wine. Mary asked Jesus what he was going to do about it and Jesus’ reply was that his hour had not yet come, but Mary thought differently. Mary seemed to sense that it was time when Jesus was still cautious. Mary had a sense of discernment, a quality that God surely knew that she had.
Mary has been described as traveling with Jesus and his disciples throughout Jesus’ public ministry. (There were other women who travelled with them as well, and women financed much of Jesus’ ministry.)
Later we find Mary at the foot of the cross. As a mother, I can’t imagine witnessing one of my children being violated, humiliated and brutalized the way that Jesus was. But Mary was at peace. She knew what was ahead. Mary finished the work that she was given to do.
The end of Mary’s life is never mentioned in scripture but in a number of apocryphal texts, her death is described in detail and they depict Jesus raising Mary’s body to heaven before it had a chance to decay in the tomb. Many of the stories that were never adopted into the canon have made their way into the Christian imagination and the theology found in these texts are widely found in art depictions of Mary.
Some scholars think that Mary did not experience pain in childbirth when delivering Jesus, but we do not know that for sure.
Mary was not a passive incubator, but fully participated in giving birth to Christ. Mary helped give birth to salvation for all of us. She was not only Jesus’ mother, she was also a disciple and a prophet.
God tends to choose persons who may seem unlikely to carry out God’s plans. When we think of Sarah, Moses, Hannah, Ruth, David, Ester and now Mary, all of them seemed like unlikely candidates, but all of these people became instruments of very significant events. Sometimes God comes to us in unexpected ways.
Earlier we talked about the likelihood that Mary had a disposition towards heaven’s goals. So what does that mean?
- Mary was pious, as we described as someone who saw God’s hand in the ordinary.
- Mary practiced spiritual disciplines, sustaining a private devotion.
- She had a deep prayer life and had a deep spiritual presence.
- Mary welcomed everything that God was accomplishing in and through her life.
- Mary was able to provide companionship in the endurance of deep suffering. She did not freak out during difficult situations.
- Mary was completely obedient to God’s call and will.
- Some view Mary as having ideal female virtues.
- Mary clearly believes the word of God, but she faces much to be pondered. She doesn’t only believe, she ponders things in her heart.
- Mary believed when there was no evidence to do so.
Mary’s story reminds us that if we as individuals or members of a congregation have lost sight of human sin, darkness, oppression and poverty, then we will certainly miss the full impact of Jesus’ birth.
Mary’s song is a message of freedom and hope for the homeless, the hungry, the refugee, the abused and misused, the powerless and the despairing. These words express a vision for a better future.
Mary’s words of liberation and freedom set the stage for the beginning of a new sense of deliverance and hope for a dark and fearful world.
In Mary’s song we see her as an extraordinary reader of scripture, capable of weaving passages into a new song of deliverance and hope, a song that has become one of the most frequently sung hymns in church history.
This song is relevant for us today as our communities, country and world seem to be in chaos and the lowly can use some good news right now. Hopefully there will be voices who will rise up out of this chaos, and sing Mary’s song, bringing the story of good news that Mary offered and was spoken in many different ways since by Jesus through the gospels. When will we have enough of the oppression? When will the powerful be brought from their thrones? When will we fill the hungry with good things?
During times of chaos, let us be open to hear the voice that brings good news to the lowly. Who will fill the hungry with good things? Thank God that Advent is here as we await the coming of Christ once again. Let us all become bearers of the good news of Jesus.
If we remember nothing else about Mary, let us remember her response to the angel…”Here I am, the servant of the Lord; let is be with me according to your word.” This is the type of obedience that we are all called towards. This type of obedient response set the stage for God’s plan to bring salvation to everyone. Let it be so through us.
You are invited to read Luke 1:26-55 now with these reminders about Mary.
Mary Christmas, y’all!
