ChristmasReading2022A - Flipbook - Page 42
Mary
Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of
gree ng this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid,
Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth
to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be
called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne
of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever;
his kingdom will never end.” Luke
1:29-33
Mary was not very old when her life
was interrupted forever. She was
young, perhaps a very young
teenager, when the angel came to tell
her of her favored status with God
and what that speci cally meant. Out
of the chosen people, there is one
that is chosen. Mary. God’s plan
“narrows and narrows, un l at last it
comes down to a li le point, small as
the point of a spear— a Jewish girl at
her prayers” writes C.S. Lewis. It
would seem that the fate of the
world for a moment rested on the
response of a young woman.
“Often a work of
God comes with
two edges, great
joy and great
pain, and in that
matter-of-fact
response Mary
embraced both.
She was the first
person to accept
Jesus on His own
terms, regardless
of the personal
cost.”
fi
ti
fi
tt
tt
fi
ti
ti
Although she has never been with a
man, she will give birth to a Son who
is the Messiah come into the world.
The Holy Spirit will be involved. The
in nite and the nite will merge in a
body that will be formed in her body. -Philip Yancey
God is interrup ng her life. And it will
be terribly hard. A betrothed teenage
woman who is found with child
before the wedding process is
complete is no li le scandal. She
must have wondered what Joseph would do when he found out and
nd out he will. Would he abandon ship? Would he go down with the
ship? The angel before her waits for an answer. Her response is clear: “I
am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be ful lled” (Luke 1:38).
fi
fi
DAY Twenty: December 17 - Saturday