I will be taking time off from my usual weekly posts to share my "Christmas Musings." Two years ago, I was inspired by a small book by Penelope J. Stokes entitled, "The Miracle of the Christmas Child." What follows is a fleshing out of the characters in this beloved account of the birth of Christ. Each day for a week, I will breathe life into a small portion of the story on which we can meditate.
God has chosen the weak things to confound the strong. 1 Corinthians 1:27
Mary was so young, so inexperienced. Who could have guessed that God the Almighty would send His messenger, the angel Gabriel, down to Nazareth and announce to Mary that she would bear God's Son?
What good has ever come from that town? Every female child born since Sarah, and indeed, since Eve, was hoped to be the one to carry the seed of the One who would crush the head of Satan. Why would the young girls of Nazareth hope for less? The very meaning of it's name meant "branch" or "preservation". Of what? The seed of the Savior, of course!
And now, Mary struggled to tell her mother of last night's encounter. Would she believe her daughter? Or, would she assume, as most would, that she had broken her betrothal vow, to follow her passions? And what about Joseph? Would he put her away, or stone her, as was allowed by law? Mary hoped that he would remember that the Messiah was to be born someday to a woman of Jewish blood...why couldn't it be Mary? Would he trust in her proven good character?
If Joseph questioned Mary's story, any hesitancy to take her as his bride was put to rest. The angel Gabriel's appearance to him in a dream confirmed Mary's report. She was truly carrying the Son of God!
You should write more about this.
ReplyDeleteThere is more to come, Tony!
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