Me and Mary

Who can tell us what it truly means to be a Christian - what it means to bear the weight of the responsibility of carrying the hope of glory within one’s self - what it means to know the joy of being called out of obscurity and into unparalleled importance - who knows the great cost of being called, the pangs of inadequacy, the never before felt love, and the great reward of it all? 

What about Mary?  Let’s look at the Christmas story through her eyes.  Let’s put her sandals on our blistered feet and walk to Bethlehem in her stead and see what the mother of Jesus can tell us about what it truly means to be a Christian.

It all started with a very ordinary life.  Mary was a teenager who was engaged to the love of her life, and busy planning her wedding.  But then, out of the blue, the Gospel falls on her like a bomb, threatening to mess up all her order.  The angel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman!  The Lord is with you.”

How simple the unchanging gospel!  But how life changing when you actually get it!  God is real!  God is with us!  I am favored by God!

Mary’s reaction?  She was “disturbed and confused”.  A perfectly human response.  If God is with me, what about all my sin and failures?  Surely He is displeased.  But then again, He is calling me favored?  How can this be?  What have I possibly done to earn the favor of Holy Maker of the universe?

“Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her.  And then he reiterated, “for you have found favor with God!”

Fear hinders our walk with the Lord.  But perfect love drives out fear.  The angel was driving fear out of her as we should drive fear out of our brothers and sisters.  God made us to be loved by Him.  God sees us as we can be.  And we have found favor with Him.  If we get this, fear loses its power.  If God is for us, who can be against us?

The angel went on to tell her that she would become pregnant with Jesus, the Son of God.  Similarly, though we are not great, though we are in fact weak and incompetent, we become filled with Jesus when we agree to His call to be blessed.

Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.”

We say, “How can this happen?  I am an utter failure.  I am a sinner.  I am ignorant of the scriptures.”

The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.  For nothing is impossible with God.”

God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.  Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  I have nothing but fragile attempts of obedience and the Holy Spirit.  And I am told that is far more than enough to change the world.

The decision to “believe” as Mary did is a decision to stand against the world – to stand against the norm.  And it’s not always easy.  Immediately it caused complications with her fiancé’.   He backed out of the engagement, saying it was for her benefit.  I am sure she did not see it that way, regardless of the customs of the time.  But God worked it out for them.  Sometimes, getting filled with Jesus will cause complications in relationships with our loved ones.  It may even be a matter of life or death depending on the depravity of the people around us.  Christian persecution exists all over this world, and it has since the day Herod started killing all the babies in town in an attempt to do away with Jesus.  Mary and Joseph had to escape to Egypt for a while.  

But overall, the decision to “believe” is a decision to be blessed.  “You are blessed, because you believed that the Lord would do what he said.”  That’s what her aunt told her.  The religious would say we are not upright enough to be overshadowed by the power of the Most High – or holy enough to be called to bring Jesus in all His healing and reconciling power to the world – or righteous enough to enjoy the endless blessings of having Love Himself dwell within us.   The religious are right.  But that doesn’t matter to God.  God says He can fill me with Jesus.  I say, “I believe You, Lord.  Bring it on!”

Mary’s aunt went so far as to say that she was blessed above all women because the Lord was in her.  But now Jesus has made a way for all men and women who believe to be filled with the Lord.  Now we can be as blessed as Mary. 

The following set of lyrics was inspired by the Song of Mary which starts in Luke 1:46.

Blessed above all women

Was Mary she believed the Lord

Blessed was she for the Lord was in her

And she was bringing Him into the world

Now I am just as blessed as Mary

For I am believing the Lord

I am so blessed for the Lord is in me

And I am bringing Him into the world

Oh how my soul praises the Lord

How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior

For He took notice of me His lowly servant

From now on, call me blessed

From now on call me blessed

From generation to generation

His mercy He loves to show

He exalts the humble

While the princes He brings down low

There’s testimony after testimony

Of the wonderful things He’s done

The hungry are filled, His people delivered

Now He’s given me His Holy One

My testimony has just begun

Oh how my soul praises the Lord

How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior

For He took notice of me His lowly servant

From now on, call me blessed

From now on call me blessed

For the Mighty One is holy

He has done great things for me

He has showed His mercy

He has showed His mercy

It is a labor – a blessed labor to bring Jesus into this world.  For Mary it was a three days walk in the ninth month of pregnancy, her sciatic nerve likely killing her.  It was rejection at the local inn.  No friendly faces or helping hands, just Joseph who stayed by her side.  It was giving birth in a dirty stable.  Labor.  Blessed labor.  But it was the beginning of the saving of the world!  It was the beginning of “God with us” – Immanuel.  It was the coming of “God our saving cry” – Yeshua.

It could be all sorts of ingloriousness, bringing Jesus into the world – but it’s still bringing Jesus into the world!  It’s a prayer for healing – a gentle word – love for the loveless – truth – the ministry of reconciliation - the Power of the Most High God!  And for whomever you bring the Lord to, it is the beginning of the saving of their world!  Even when there is no glory or recognition.  Even if it is in a time of loneliness or rejection.  When no one else notices, God does.  He favors you.

You are blessed.