Mary the Mother, Part 2

While I do not believe in worshipping Mary, the mother of Jesus because she was fully human – like you and me and only God the Father and His Son, our Savior, Jesus, are to be worshipped, I do believe that we all can learn something from this pillar of faith, who accepted a once-in-all-eternity call to be the mother of the Son of God. 

Let’s talk about the circumstances surrounding the actual birth of the promised Son. We again go to Luke for details.

Luke 2:1-7 [NLT] 1 At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. 2 (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census. 4 And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David's ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. 5 He took with him Mary, his fiancée, who was now obviously pregnant. 6 And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. 7 She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.

Picture this: You and your fiancé know that you are carrying the Son of God and yet…

1.      You have to make a long, arduous trip when you are “big pregnant”.

According to my research, Nazareth is/was 65 miles north of Bethlehem. This journey would take four or five days on foot with Mary, I assume, mostly riding on a donkey. But that is just what I have seen in pictures. The Gospel accounts don’t say whether she walked or rode.

I love how the New Living translations puts it “Mary, his fiancée, who was no obviously pregnant.” She didn’t have a “cute baby bump” at this point. At the time of this writing, my own daughter is 8 months+ pregnant. I can’t fathom her driving 65 miles with that big belly, let alone walking or riding on a donkey for four or five days to cover that distance.

I wonder what Mary was thinking during this arduous journey. The scripture does not say that they were told by an angel that Joseph should take Mary with him. Joseph could have left her back at home, maybe in the care of friends who would have helped her, but we don’t think they had any family there.

Is that why he brought her along – so that they’d be close to family? Or did Joseph know the scriptures that foretold that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem?

Micah 5:2 [NLT] But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village among all the people of Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel will come from you, one whose origins are from the distant past.

Picture this: You and your fiancé know that you are carrying the Son of God and yet…

2.      You have to make do with a barn for your living quarters.

Now, God had already done a really great miracle with Mary, in that she became pregnant by the Holy Spirit. She was now “obviously pregnant” with the Son of God as proof that it happened. And yet, here they were with no fancy accommodations, miraculously provided, making do with a very humble place to have the Savior of the world.

It was all in God’s plan and it would seem that Mary did not question or complain – nor did Joseph for that matter. What kind of rearing did she receive to be so steadfast and strong in light of both the mental struggle of being seen (an maybe condemned) as an unmarried pregnant woman and the physical inconvenience of giving birth in a barn?

Maybe once you’ve talked to an angel face-to-face you never doubt again. I wouldn’t know.

Sweet sisters, what does it take to break us down? Can we be reduced to frustration at God when things do not seem to be going the way we think they should or the way we’d hoped they would?

Could I remain calm and steadfast – could I serve without question – if God turn my life upside down, send me on a long walk, then ask me to accept pain and struggle when it already seemed like He was not smoothing my way at all?

Again, we cannot know what Mary was thinking through all this. However, we can think about how we handle the big, stretch trials or service projects God asks us to do. And we can think about whether or not we would be as happy and steadfast in performing that service if God did intervene to make it easier to do.

Micah 5:2 [NLT] But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village among all the people of Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel will come from you, one whose origins are from the distant past.

I’m reminded of when I volunteered on a cleaning crew for church. I dislike cleaning. I like a clean house, just would prefer not to be the one who cleans it.  But they needed help and I felt pressured to volunteer.  One night, I was vacuuming, and the vacuum had a screw or something missing and kept coming apart. I kept putting it back together and trying to vacuum. I gave up after that and quit the cleaning crew. Now, I’m not sure God asked me to serve on the cleaning crew. But you get my point: a little bit struggle and I was out.

We should definitely be as sure as we can that God is calling us to a task or line of service. However, we cannot let a wonky vacuum cause us to doubt that calling. The apostles faced many struggles in fulfilling their destinies, as did the patriarchs of the Old Testament and we will too.

We can learn a lot from the example of steadfast Mary, who continued to follow through with her calling, even though its earliest days she faced both mental and physical trials and struggles. 

Thank you for joining me in this study of Mary. We aren’t finished learning from this young woman who bore and raised the Son of God.

You can write me now in the chat, or any time at Nancy@DymanicChristianMinistries.org.