Reflections From Last Christmas: Mary's Story
Christmas is usually the time of year when we open our Bibles to the gospels and we read through the accounts of Jesus’ birth. Sometimes we read them quickly, taking in the flow of events that culminated in a baby’s cry. Sometimes we read them slowly, looking for the bits of gold that maybe we have never noticed before. Sometimes we read them purposefully, seeking to be quiet and to be at the feet of the Author of the Story, hoping to hear something.
I was caught up in the flow of reading until I got to the account at the beginning of Luke. This account is the most detailed with the most conversations between people, the most ground covered (Mary makes quite the trek to visit her cousin Elizabeth!) and the most events covered; from Zechariah’s surprise visit from a heavenly messenger right through to Herod’s death and Jesus’ early life as a refugee child.
It was in this retelling of Jesus’ birth, that I was really struck by Mary, I’ve read about her countless times - so many times in fact that I often don’t pay a great deal of attention. Teenage, unwed mother-to-be is chosen by God. Goes to Bethlehem. Has baby in stable. She was never the hero of the story in my eyes (and really, the hero is God anyway), until I had children of my own.
After my daughter was born, and then my son, I could hardly tear myself away from Mary’s incredible story without watery eyes and a humbled soul. Her plight - her attitude and her behaviour and the journey she goes on both literally and figuratively - knocks the wind out of me and I come back to her story all year round.
You see, Mary’s story should never be saved just for the Advent period. We shouldn’t open the book of Luke and nod our heads at God’s favour for her once a year - we should sit in the story of Jesus’ earthly mother time and time again because she teaches us one huge truth that we can apply in any season:
HOPE.
Mary is a carrier of hope. Hope for a people who have been waiting on a silent God for hundreds of years. Hope for a world that has been tarnished over and over by the repercussions of sin. Hope for a future for the people that God promised all those generations ago. Mary is the bringer of this hope in the form of a tiny baby who will cry, need his nappy changed, want to be cuddled and keep her up all hours of the night.
However, Mary not only carries this hope, she teaches us how to live in it. She responds to the Messenger sent from Heaven with complete obedience because she has a hope in her Creator so strong she doesn’t need to question it. She carries on, hoping that Joseph will still take her as his wife. She goes to be counted in the census in Bethlehem hoping that God will continue to provide the things that she needs for birth and beyond in this new chapter of her world.
I don’t know about you, but if I were about to have my first child in a dirty, smelly stable with animals quite literally an arm’s reach away, I think my hope might have been dwindling. But not Mary - she embraces that space, probably grits her teeth as she uses it to the best of her ability and does exactly what her God has asked her to do.
It’s important that we see Mary because God absolutely did. The Creator of EVERYTHING chose her. We need to pay close attention to her faith, commitment, trust, love and honour all year and not just think of her as a young mother dressed in blue in a stable on the 25th of December. She raised this Hope from the time He was a baby, and she continued to live in hope that God would keep fulfilling His promises.
As you read this today, what do you find yourself clinging to in these continuingly unpredictable times? Over the last 12 months as this virus has not only taken precious life, but also opportunity, livelihood and expectation, have you found yourself waning in the area of hope? Perhaps your 2020 looked vastly different to what you wanted it to look like, and so your 2021 stands on shaky ground. Perhaps the political upheaval in the US or the extreme weather events in Australia or the riots on Hong Kong are causing you to feel much less hopeful than you really want to be at the start of a new year.
If any of this, and so many other things unlisted, are grappling for your attention, your heart and your mind, can I encourage you to open to the book of Luke and sit in chapters 1 and 2? Right now. Read it slowly, purposefully and pause when you get to Mary’s song (Luke 1:46-55 ESV).
v. 48 - Mary acknowledges that God has seen His humble servant. Take heart, just like Mary, and truly know that your God sees you.
v. 49 - Mary is well aware of how great God is and how small she is. This can really help us as we understand how much more He is capable of than we are! The responsibility is ours to come to Him in prayer (and song!) - He’ll do the rest, we don’t need to carry that burden further than need be.
v. 52 - Mary is young here, remember? So she hasn’t lived for decades on decades, and yet she knows the history of God’s people and how He always brings the right leaders to nations at the right time. This is incredibly significant as we live in a time where global powers fight to reign supreme. God already knows who will lead which nation and has the power to rectify any false ruler.
v. 53 - God feeds the hungry. And we aren’t simply talking about physical food here either. Mary sings of God’s provision both physically and spiritually, so rest assured that He will provide whatever it is that your body and soul need today.
v. 55 - God continues to speak to us. He spoke to the fathers of before, and to Abraham; to Abraham’s offspring and beyond. Did you catch that? You are in that list! He speaks to you and is accessible to you, and Mary played a significant role in that wonderful opportunity. Unburden yourself in communion with Him and begin to grow that mustard seed of hope.
As you sit here in Mary’s song, feel how hopeful she really was and see her for who she is - “highly favoured” (Luke 1:28 ESV) - a woman of immense courage in a world that had been waiting for Hope’s arrival. She was a marker of something much deeper and greater in a world just as tumultuous as ours and she carried on, one step at a time.
As you connect with the person of Mary, consider this - are there promises that you are waiting on God’s response to, but you’re nervous about how much hope in an unseen God it might take? Meditate on them today in light of God’s faithfulness to Mary...and simply expect Him to show up.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I'm Hannah Juanta- mama to two littles and dipping my toes into my next right thing as I learn to navigate this chapter God has called me to. I generally hover in that space between consciousness and coffee as I try to take each day knowing I need grace to get through it. I'm a lover of good words, strong conversation, a well-worn thrift store and a doughy doughnut.