By Joshua Cooley
Today, in a day and age so different from first-century Judea, it’s hard to comprehend what it must have been like to be Mary. But let’s try—even for a few moments, however imperfectly—to put ourselves in the shoes of this incredible young lady.
Imagine being an unmarried girl—almost certainly a teenager—in Nazareth, a small, seemingly unimportant town in ancient Israel. In a patriarchal society, your future options were limited. Your best bet for a good life was to find a God-fearing husband with good financial prospects and have kids to perpetuate the family line and rear them in the ways of Judaism.
You’ve never known a man sexually, per God’s laws. To do otherwise before marriage would bring terrible shame on yourself and your family and likely forever alter the course of your life. Even worse, it could be fatal. The current religious authorities have no qualms about enforcing the Old Testament death penalty for such a sin (Deuteronomy 22:23–24, John 8:1–11).
Months earlier, you heard that your cousin, Elizabeth, an older woman, is mysteriously (perhaps even miraculously!) with child. Interesting news, to be sure, but it quickly fades into the background amid the responsibilities and risks of everyday life as a commoner living under Roman rule.
Suddenly, you receive a visit from an otherworldly visitor who says that you—yes, you!—are going to miraculously bear the Son of God. God’s inscrutable power will bring this to bear. What are you supposed to say to your parents, your family, your friends…and the man you are betrothed to?
“No, seriously, everybody, you’ve got to believe me. My pregnancy is a divine miracle! I’ve been chaste. I can’t explain it other than to say, an angel visited me, God’s Spirit overshadowed me…and here we are. I’m telling the truth!”
Uh huh.
I imagine that’s the reality Mary faced. It must have been overwhelming. Yet look at her response to the angelic announcement: “I am the Lord’s servant. May it happen to me as you have said” (Luke 1:38).
That’s incredible faith. So, too, was the remarkable response of Joseph, her betrothed, who obeyed his own angelic vision to keep Mary for his wife and didn’t consummate the marriage with her until after the baby was born. The young couple willingly absorbed all the shame, scorn, spiteful glances, and nasty gossip that almost certainly came their way for years.
Two people—thrust into an inexplicably difficult situation for the good of all humanity—believed and hoped in God’s promise against all odds. God’s Savior came as promised—praise God! And now He also asks us to believe and hope in Him against all odds.
Will we?
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