Christmas, Mary's Point Of View
Scripture: Luke 1:5-25, Mathew 1:18-25, Luke 2:1-21, Isaiah 7:14
We each have heard the story of Christmas many times: the angel Gabriel visits Mary and then visits Joseph, the shepherds, the Host Angels phrasing God, and the Wise Men. Today, I want to concentrate on Mary’s part, the human part, her story.
Luke 1:5-25 records how Zechariah and Elizabeth had never had children. Indeed, they had grown old praying for God to send them a child. Then the angel of the LORD, Gabriel, appeared to Zechariah and told him that Elizabeth would bear a child. This child would grow and bring many Israelites back to God. Zechariah did not see how two people so old could have a child but they did. He was John the Baptist, the one who would prepare the way for our Lord Jesus. That was a miracle. Now we read of an even greater miracle to befall the Virgin Mary.
Luke 1:26-38, “26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.’ 29 But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. 30 The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 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 ancestor David. 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom, there will be no end.’ 34 Mary said, ‘How can this be since I am a virgin?’ 35 The angel said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. 36 And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.’ 38 Then Mary said, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.’ Then the angel departed from her.”
Mary came face to face with the angel Gabriel: I cannot imagine what it was like for Mary, a girl aged twelve or thirteen face to face with the angel Gabriel. Gabriel, the archangel communicates God’s will to humans, and speaks to Mary, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” God Almighty favors this young girl. She was perplexed and confused, puzzled. She must have asked herself, what is happening to me? Gabriel senses Mary’s puzzlement and says, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.” She is humble and must have asked herself, God favor me a young girl? Then Gabriel told Mary what God was going to do, “You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus.” Mary, I am going to have a baby? Then Gabriel said, “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David.” How can this be? Further, Gabriel told her, “He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” Mary finally gathered herself and spoke to Gabriel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” Gabriel says, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God.” Gabriel then shared with Mary that she was not the only one shocked, “Your relative, Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren.” Mary had to wonder what this was about. Gabriel reminded Mary, “Nothing will be impossible with God.”
From Jonah to Moses, God asked many of the people in the Bible to do something; most argued against their assignment. Not Mary. She responds to Gabriel, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.”
Mary’s Task: Matthew 1:18-25, the Book of Mathew tells us that Mary had a problem, with Joseph. She was engaged to him, he lived in the same town as Mary, Nazareth. In Bible times, you married into a family. Jewish marriage customs regarding a couple’s engagement were far different and much more stringent than today. The parents made marriage arrangements for the bride and groom often without even consulting the couple to be married. The groom’s parents prepared a contract and paid the bride price. Such a contract was immediately deemed binding, with the couple considered married even though the actual ceremony and consummation of the marriage would not occur for as long as a year afterward. The time between was a sort of testing of fidelity with each other. Somehow, the Bible does not say, Joseph found out that Mary was with child. The law called for a divorce. However, Matthew tells us that Joseph was a righteous man unwilling to expose her to public disgrace. He did not want to hurt her so he planned to divorce her quietly. However, just when he had resolved to divorce her, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Emmanuel, for he will save his people from their sins.”
Jewish law required that a pregnant woman have a period of isolation: Therefore, Mary set out to the hill country to the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. Immediately upon hearing Mary’s voice, the Holy Spirit filled Elizabeth. Then Elizabeth spoke with force, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.” Mary remained with her for about three months, the time of John the Baptist's birth, and then returned to her home.
Next, Luke 2:1-21, for tax purposes, Rome required a census: This obligated Joseph and Mary to their ancestral home, Bethlehem. Ladies, imagine, you are nine months and ready to delivery and you have to ride a donkey from Nazareth to Bethlehem, a walk of about 90 miles. Shortly after their arrival, the time came for Mary to deliver her child. There was no place in the inn. Her accommodations were sparse. In a stable, she gave birth to her firstborn son wrapped him in bands of cloth and laid him in a manger.
The Shepherds and the Angels: Now in that same region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them. They were terrified. The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” Suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!” When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” They went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child. All who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told them.
Mary named Jesus: When the eighth day came, it was time to circumcise the child, and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
What can we learn from Mary: God works in mysterious ways with His wonders to perform. God through the Prophet Isaiah foretold of Mary, “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” (7:14) If men wanted to change the world, we would send a king with a mighty army to try to do it. God chose a poor humble innocent young woman who answered God’s call with these words, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” What could be more beautiful?
Mary had no power, no army or high position and yet she said yes to God’s call. What courage. God has likely asked you to do something that you did not understand. Learn from Mary saying yes. “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Doing what God asked does not take wealth, acclaim, knowledge, or experience. It takes faith in God, and with that faith, you can change the world.
Herod’s wrath: Matthew 2:13-18 tells of an angel warning Joseph in a dream to take Jesus and Mary to Egypt to escape the King. They escaped at night just before Herod’s orders to murder all of the baby boys in and around Bethlehem. The Jewish historian Josephus verifies the massacre of the innocent baby boys. We have the route that Mary, Joseph, and Jesus traveled for members of the Coptic Church marked every place that the family lodged. The Coptic Church also tells us that Herod had some bounty hunters trying to catch Mary and Joseph to kill the baby Jesus.
Another dream: When Joseph had a second dream telling him that it was safe to go back to Nazareth, they did.
Mary was soon pregnant again: She delivered at least four boys (James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon) and a number of sisters for Jesus to play with. So, Mary was the mother of a large family. Jesus, as the eldest son, told over as head of the family when Joseph passed away.
The Bible tells us almost nothing about Mary raising her child, Jesus. However, we can assume that Mary’s work was just like what any mother’s work is. As the mother of children, she tended to some of the same work that many of you sitting in the congregation have done and are doing, feeding and caring for children as well as being a partner to her husband. The entire family helped with the farming. Maybe that is where Jesus came from in The Parable of the Sower. “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where was not much soil. It sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow, but when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no roots. Other seeds fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still, other seed fell on good soil, where they produced a crop—a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
In another Parable, the Wheat and Tares, “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But, when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So, the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, ‘First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them but gather the wheat into my barn.’”
With no modern connivances, to make bread, they had to help harvest the wheat, separate the wheat from the chaff, dry the grain, grind the wheat into flour, make a fire in the oven, and bake the bread. One had to shear wool, then wash it, dry it, spin it, weave it into cloth, cut, and sew it into clothing for Joseph and all of those children. Then there was teaching all of those children the Law of Moses for that was an important part of being a Jew. Jesus and his brothers and sisters had to learn the Law, all the Jewish rituals, holy days, and obligations like tithing and helping others. Mary had to be a scholar.
Mary must have done a good job. Jesus formed and led a new religious movement. Two of Mary’s sons took over after Jesus left this world. One of her sons was James. He was the first Bishop of Jerusalem. He is the man whom Peter and Paul came to settle the rules for the early Christian Church. He was martyred in 62 AD. Then Joseph's brother Simon succeeded James, and the descendants of Mary and Joseph were Bishops in Jerusalem until 135 AD. The Jerusalem Church existed until 324 AD. Another of Jesus' brothers, Jude, was active in the early Church and both James and Jude wrote one book each that is in your Bible.
Also, remember that just before Jesus died, He asked John to take care of her. He and Mary moved to Ephesus around 43 AD under the persecution of Agrippa the First. What I am telling, Mary and Joseph were people with duties just as you have. Life was often hard. Jesus understands the problems and joys you have for He had them too. When you pray, you are praying to someone that understands. Therefore, you can lay it all out to Him.
A poem: “If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator; If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us an engineer; If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us a banker; If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer; But our greatest need was forgiveness, so God sent us a Savior.”
