I would like to share my appreciation of Jesus' mother, Mary.
I greatly admire this lady, Mary. She was a virgin, engaged to be married to a godly man, Joseph. I would guess she was excited about her upcoming wedding as most brides are. She dreamed of having a husband and loving him as brides dream of doing; making a home for her beloved; and having children being blessed to this union - this is what godly virgin brides dream of.
But her dreams took a radical turn one day when she had an angelic visitor. This man greeted her with a compliment! How many ladies ever had a stranger - and a male at that! - greet them with a compliment? Not many, I suspect. He says, "Hail thou favored one, the LORD is with you!" (Luke 1:28). WOW! can't get any better then that! Scriptures says she was greatly troubled and pondered what kind of salutation this was. I would guess that kind of greeting would be perplexing to anyone.
Anyhow, this angel proceeds with a message: "Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.”
Whoa - looks like her road to motherhood is on a fast track.
Mary asks, "how can this be, since I am a virgin?” She knew where babies came from, she was not ignorant. Then the angel explains: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God." As she ponders this a moment, he goes on to inform her of her relative who conceived in her old age...suggesting she may find some comfort in this older woman's ability to conceive.
As Mary pondered this information, she agreed to allow God to use her body to birth this child, "Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word."
An unusual message like this calls for a sharing with someone who can and will understand. In this the angel was very considerate of Mary's emotion, mental needs - telling her about Elizabeth planted a seed in her mind that she needs to go see her - this is the way women think and he knew it and provided her with human comfort during this time. God was so gracious, was he not?
Mary comes home after her visit with Elizabeth, pregnant. After Joseph hears it he becomes troubled, so troubled he decides to divorce her. Once again, God was looking out for Mary, he tells Joseph to get up and take Mary as his wife.
We do not know what kind of wedding there was. I suspect it was NOT what was planned. For one thing Joseph kept her a virgin until after the child's birth...
As I consider Mary, the prevailing culture, a girl's dream of being a bride and the festivities associated with it, my admiration for Mary soars. She was willing to lay down her personal reputation for the sake of the world. Wow! How many of us are that willing to surrender our reputation for the sake of Christ? (Remember - Jesus was accused of being born of fornication...)
Mary was a lady who allowed to happen to her what has never before happened to any woman. The story of being conceived by the Holy Spirit sounds like a fanciful excuse for an illegitimate pregnancy. But she gave permission...Was she shunned by her friends? What about her family, did they believe her? Scripture is silent on these issues, likely because God considers it irrelevant to the story, but we do know human nature, do we not?
Yes, I consider Mary a heroine who has not received the honor she deserves.
We count her blessed, do we not? (Luke 1:48)
ginnyrose
