THE SON,

part one

            We tend to glamorize the birth of Jesus. To romanticize the betrothal and marriage of Joseph and Mary. To think of the journey to Bethlehem as a walk in the park or should I say wilderness. To whitewash the stable with clean straw and lovely smelling cows. To recreate a beautiful sparkly night with twinkly lights and a balmy breeze and Heavenly music.

Where I think its fun to imagine it this way, it was also reality for Mary and Joseph. It was the real deal, where the rubber meets the road, so to speak, and their lives were turned upside down by one short message from God. A message delivered by the mighty angel Gabriel to a young peasant girl in a small out of the way village in Galilee.

Have you ever wondered what it was really like for Mary? That blessed, glorious experience of giving birth to the Savior of the world. How did a young peasant girl really see it? This is how I imagine it might have been.

The Message

            One day I was washing dishes after breakfast and singing one of my favorite Psalms, when suddenly there was a tingling down my back. You know it’s when you get goose bumps on your arms and you know something great is about to happen. But what? I can’t imagine since I’m just a plain peasant girl from a small village in Galilee, of unimportant birth. Except that it is said my family line has come down from David. Does that mean anything? Not that I know of. My betrothed Joseph is also from the line of David so when we are married our humble house of a simple carpenter will be of Noble blood. Ha! Something to tell our children when we tell them the stories of our ancestors. Of Abraham and Jacob and King David and all the glorious things God did back then.

Oh I think it would be so grand to hear from God or see Him work in a mighty way. Don’t you? I mean we talk about it, we see the memorials, we remember the stories. Like the stones Joshua placed near the Jordan after the Children of Israel crossed over to the promised land on dry ground. But that was so long ago and God has been so silent and they seem like fairy tales that are not real. I would just love to feel God’s presence and know He is real!

Just as I was dreaming about this with my hands in the warm soapy water, suddenly there was a bright light filling our small humble living space. A light like I had never seen, brighter than the brightest sun rays and I covered my face with my arm, as I turned around. Slowly lowering my arm, I saw a bright, glistening being, tall and commanding. Dare I say an angel of God? My heart began to pound, yet for some reason I was not afraid, only filled with such awe I could not move or speak.

“Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!” The angel’s voice filled the room and my mind.

I was confused. Favored woman? God is with me? Me? What could that mean?

“Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel said, and I wasn’t sure if he really spoke or the words were only in my head. My mother who was in the back room at the time, said she never heard a thing. “For you have found favor with God! You will conceive and give birth to a son, you will name him Jesus. He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His ancestor David. And he will reign over Israel forever. His Kingdom will never end!”

I stumbled back against the counter. This was too much to take in! “Wait a minute how can this happen? I have known no man, I am a virgin!” I cried.

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you,” the angel explained, “and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy and He will be called the Son of God.

Then he went on to explain that my cousin, Elisabeth, who was in her old age and had been barren all her life, was also with child, given to her from God for His purpose.

“For nothing is impossible with God.” The angel firmly stated.

My surprise knew no end. I was shocked and could only stammer the first thing that came to my mind. “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” I mean what can you say to an angel? Right? Then the angel left. (from Luke 1:26-38)

My legs felt like the dishrag I had dropped in the dishpan and I had to sit down. I sat on a cushion and putting my elbows on the table I buried my face in my hands.

Was this true? Did this really happen? Was I really going to have a baby? But I had no husband! Just my fiancé Joseph, and we were only engaged! What will happen to me if I become pregnant?

Those tingles I talked about before, spread down my back and across my arms. I felt suddenly warm all over and funny, like I was being pulled from my body. A glow came before my closed eyes, and I was filled with great peace. I breathed slowly and felt a deep assurance that all would be well. God, my God, the God of my ancestors, would take care of everything.

Great joy filled my heart. I, just plain Mary, had heard from the Almighty God of the universe!

I floated for days on this feeling of joy and assurance. Sometimes I felt as if I was floating above the ground. I went to visit my cousin, Elizabeth, in the hill country of Judea and was so excited to find it all true. She was indeed with child!

I hadn’t know for sure, before seeing her, if what the angel said was true. But it is! Elizabeth called me the mother of her Lord! She knew I was carrying a child, even before I told her about the angel’s visit. Wow! I am amazed!

This feeling is nothing like I had ever felt before! I can only call it exhilarating! Like standing on a mountain and seeing a vista of grandeur and majesty spread at my feet.

“Oh how my soul praises the Lord! How my spirit rejoices in my Savior!” I said to Elizabeth. “For He took notice of His lowly servant girl and from now on all generations will call me blessed. For the Mighty One is holy and He has done great things for me.

He shows mercy from generation to generation to all who fear Him. His mighty arm has done tremendous things!” (Luke 1:46-51)

I am just so amazed and blessed to see God working and to actually hear from His angel!  I am so greatly humbled that He would choose lowly me to carry out His great promise to His people.

So I stayed with Elizabeth about three months and by then I knew I was indeed carrying a child. Of course I had been with no man so I knew without a doubt this child was indeed the workings of Almighty God. However what would I face when I returned home?

Soon after getting home I told my parents all that had happened. At first they didn’t believe me. My mother swore up and down that she never saw or heard an angel that day. Surely, she said, she would have since the house is not large. Well I couldn’t explain that but I told them again and again that I had not known a man in an intimate way.

Finally my father traveled to Elizabeth and Zechariah’s village and found out for himself that a miracle had indeed happened to his aged niece, who was about to finally give birth to a child. Also Zechariah could not speak because he had not believed the angel, Gabriel, who had given him the message of the son his wife was carrying. This Zechariah wrote out explaining all, with great excitement, to my father. So having heard this with his own ears, he and my mother were more inclined to believe me.

However it soon came time to tell Joseph my betrothed that I was with child. Oh my! What a time. We took a quiet stroll outside the village and I explained all that had happened. His expression was incredulous.

“What?!” he cried in his calm controlled manner, “Let me get this right. You are with child, but you say this child came from God not a man?”

I nodded, “It’s true, really!” I explained about Elizabeth and her child but I didn’t really expect Joseph to believe me. I mean who would? Joseph is a simple man, a practical man who believes in God and the scriptures, but to swallow such a wild tale from your young fiancé, I mean that would be hard for any man. In these days we don’t expect visions of angels and messages from God. Who would since none have been known in such a long time. How long since anyone has heard from God, we do not know.

Joseph was silent for along time, walking along with his head down and his hands folded in front of him, inside his long sleeves. I walked beside him, my stomach sick and not due to the pregnancy either, and prayed that God would please talk to Joseph’s heart. I wasn’t sure if I loved Joseph. I had known him for a long time, and he was a good man. I would need a man by my side to raise this child. Without a husband the child would grow up in disgrace and how could God’s Son do that?

Before we entered the village again, he stopped and looked at me with sorrow in his eyes. I knew he thought I had betrayed him and my heart broke for him.

“Oh Joseph!” I cried, “Please don’t think I would hurt you in any way! Oh please believe what I say is true!”

He lowered his head but before he did I saw the sheen of tears in his eyes. “I will have to think on this, but believe this, I will not disgrace you publicly. I will probably break our engagement, but will do it quietly. How you will explain a child, I don’t know, but I just don’t think I can accept your story.”

Then he walked away, his head bowed, his steps dragging. My heart broke into a thousand pieces. It was then I knew I loved this man who had been more like a big brother to me than anything. “My God!” I cried, “Please make him see the truth.”

I made my way home and later fell into bed but not into sleep. My soul and mind were troubled indeed. I felt sick to think I had hurt such a gentle, caring soul as my Joseph.

“How can you do this God?” I cried. How could He bring such turmoil into my ordered life? Everything was going so good, just as it should. I am of a good age to be betrothed. The engagement would last a year or two until I am more mature and better able to handle being a wife and have children, so my mother explained. Joseph and I would see each other often, every day usually, and get to know each other as friends. It’s the way it should be. The way it usually is with our people. But now!

“Now God my life is all messed up! Joseph is hurt and feels betrayed and I will be disgraced and the child, God your Son will have such a hard time!”

“It is ok, Child, I will take care of you and Joseph and my Son. Nothing is impossible for Me.” These words came into my head and I felt such peace fill my heart. I knew it would indeed be ok. God was in control and He would handle everything. With that I fell into a deep sleep.

That night Joseph lay in his bed and tossed and turned. Thoughts of what Mary had told him going around and around in his head like a butter churn. He just couldn’t believe an angel had actually spoken to her. Had she gone daft? He knew she was given to fanciful thinking and romantic day dreaming, but this was far beyond anything normal for a young woman. Wasn’t it?

He could hardly pray. His befuddled mind could only find the words, “Help me God to know what to do!” As he was whispering these words over and over he finally fell into a troubled sleep.

He had a dream where a shinning angel stood before him and spoke to him, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus. For he will save his people from their sins.”

And in a half sleep state Joseph remembered the words of the prophet: “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call Him Immanuel, which means God is with us.” (Math. 1:20-23)

When he woke up, Joseph whispered, “The Messiah! Mary is giving birth to the promised Messiah!”

Jumping out of bed, Joseph donned his robe and sandals and rushed over to Mary’s house. He burst upon her family’s breakfast and rushed over to Mary. Her parents were surprised at the behavior of this stoic man but Joseph ignored them and knelt before Mary.

Taking her hands in his he said, “Mary forgive me for not believing you, but I have had a dream and God has confirmed all that you have said. I will marry you, if you will still have me.”

Tears sprang to Mary’s eyes and she threw her arms around his neck nearly knocking him over backwards. “Oh yes! Yes I will marry you! Thank God! Thank God!”

This was not, I’m sure, how Mary had dreamed her marriage would be. A quickly planned affair brought on by an unplanned pregnancy! Her world was turned upside down and inside out with Gabriel’s message. One little message from God.

Yet, God used the miracle of Elizabeth’s pregnancy to confirm for Mary and others that what He was working in Mary was indeed from Him. He usually does this in my life. If He gives me a message, or a direction, it is always confirmed by other means.

Turmoil and trouble came into Mary and Joseph’s world all because of God’s plan. Because of God working His will in their lives they experienced confusion, doubt, stress and pain. But through it all I’m sure they had peace. God was with them and He gave them the strength and all that they needed to go through it.

In the same way, God’s will, His plans don’t always make my life great! In fact, sometimes God’s will brings turmoil and trouble. Often times when God works in my life there is confusion, stress and pain. However, God is working for my good and for the good of others around me. This I know, this I trust. He always gives me His peace, His joy and His strength through it all. I just need to trust and lean on Him in the worst of times. And, like Mary, I will praise my Lord!

“Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy! I look to You for protection. I will hide beneath the shadow of Your wings until the danger passes by.

Be exalted O God, above the highest heavens! May Your glory shine over all the earth!” Ps. 57:1, 5