Another plain Mary

The angel said to her, “don’t be afraid, Mary; God has shown you his grace. Listen you will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus..” – Luke 1:30-31 (NCV)

 

Mary was a young woman (probably in her early mid teens as Jewish girls married between 12- 16 years of age at that time, Very young I know in today’s standards) Nothing out of the ordinary, she was betrothed to Mary Joseph a carpenter, another average trade. Yet... GOD PICKED HER!!! I think this is such an amazing thing to think about for young women (and guys) as a bit of an extra awesome fact that comes along with Christmas. God didn’t pick a royal princess or the sports captain or even the girl that has 10 million friends on facebook. He picked a girl that most people would have considered to be “plain Jane” or in this case plain Mary, because she was the one that found favour with the Lord. I, like most girls, sometimes get caught up in the world, trying to keep up with the latest trends, the brand names, the shoes, the make-up, the everything, which is fine if you are doing it for you. These earthly things weren’t around in the time of Jesus their rank in society could have been based on a number of things, the amount of money they had to spend on perfume, the decoration on their pots, how awesome their unleavened bread tasted.  But these still wouldn’t have pleased God if girls (or guys) were competing for this ‘status’. God picked Mary because of her devotion and faith in him. It would have been a really scary time for both Mary and Joseph, people could have been gossiping behind their backs for having ‘relations’ outside of marriage, being teenagers (Mary at least) and raising a baby, and not just any baby, but THE baby. In my 20’s I couldn’t imagine raising a baby the right way 100% of the time let alone being 5 years younger when I was in high school and caring for a baby let alone cooking and cleaning and caring for a family. But God knew what he was doing. He always does, Mary had a relationship with the Lord that could get her through everything, remember Jesus is still Human so I imagine he would of had all the issues babies have, really pooey nappies, teething pain, bumps and bruises learning to walk, and don’t forget his little Journey to the temple without telling his earthly parents where he was going. It would have taken a very special relationship with God for Mary to bring up Jesus in just the right way.  And I am so thankful that she did. I think this Christmas as well as being happy and excited for the birth of the Lord Jesus, we should also be thankful for his Mother, for saying yes, and let her be our inspiration to dig deeper into the word and our relationship with Christ so that when our time comes, we can say YES, in Jesus name to whatever our callings may be.

Prayer

Father God,

thankyou for sending your son to earth so many years ago that all mankind may have the chance to be saved. I thank you for choosing a plain Jane to be Jesus’ earthly mother that we might learn from her dedication and faith in you so that when it is time for our callings to be revealed that in your strength we can say YES as Mary did and go forth to carryout our calling in your name. You are an almighty God and I love you.
AMEN