part 3 of “Uncomplicated Christmas”
Over the last 2 weeks, we have looked at two different characters from the very first Christmas season. We have looked at Zechariah and Joseph. In both of those stories, there was a complicated situation that they faced. However, we learned that they were going to make matters worse by trying to do things their own way. Zechariah, if he was not silenced, would have hurt God’s blessing of a son because of his doubt that God could even provide him with a son. We also looked at a similar story, Abraham and Sarah, where they doubted that God could give them a son as He said He would do. Abraham and Sarah even laughed at God. Then we looked at Joseph. In Joseph’s story, we saw Joseph let his mind run away with him. He was looking at the complicated situation of Mary being pregnant and all of the possible trouble this would cause. So Joseph tried to take matters into his own hands to try and make the situation better. But all he was going to do was make the situation more complicated. We learned that Joseph just needed to trust God and that God had everything under control.
In this post, we are going to look at Mary’s story. But we are going to see something a little bit different in Mary’s story. Mary handled her situation differently and it leads to great peace and joy in her life.
We find Mary’s story in Luke 1:26-38. Mary’s story starts as Zechariah’s did. She was visited by Gabriel, an angel of the Lord, and he told her that she was highly favored and that the Lord was with her. Now, just like with an angel visit in the Bible, she was confused at what Gabriel could mean. Gabriel then tells Mary that she would give birth to a son and that she is to call him Jesus, that he would be very great, and his kingdom would never end. Mary asked just one question, “how can this happen?” Gabriel told her that it would be from the Holy Spirit. Then Mary told Gabriel “may your word to me be fulfilled” (Luke 1:26-38).
Looking at this brief story, there is a big lesson that we can learn. Mary was facing the same situation that Joseph was, but she was handling it way differently. She was subject to face all of the same backlash for her being pregnant as Joseph would – maybe even more. She was engaged to Joseph and now she was pregnant. She could have been accused of sleeping with someone else. She could have been accused of sleeping with Joseph before they were married. She could have been viewed differently by her community. All of these things could have happened to her and she could have taken matters into her own hands to try and fix the problem. But that is not what she did. She processed all Gabriel was saying to her, knowing all of the possible trouble that could come to her, and said may it be done as you have said. She only asked one question and then trusted God’s plan.
There are a couple of things that I learn from this short story. First, God is not afraid of our questions. There are times when things come up in life and we just have questions. Mary had this big situation show up in her life and so she had a question. God doesn’t care if ask him questions when we don’t understand. When we ask questions, we get answers. The same goes for when we ask God questions. The trouble is that sometimes we are afraid of the answers that God might give us. Maybe even we feel that God doesn’t have time for our questions. But when don’t understand, we need to ask God some questions and then wait and look for His answer.
Second, she asked Gabriel her one question (maybe more, only one is recorded) and then trusted what God was doing. She didn’t let her mind run away with her and try to solve the problem by making it worse as Joseph did. She did argue or make a comment like Zechariah did (whose heart was in the wrong place when he asked his question). She just simply asked her questions and then trusted God by saying “may your word to me be fulfilled”. God had a plan for Mary, as He does for all of us. But just like Mary, we need to trust God’s plan for us even when we don’t understand. I am sure that Mary didn’t get all of her concerns taken care of. She just knew that it was God’s plan for her and that she needed to trust Him.
God has good things for all of us as well. We may not be able to see all of the pieces or understand everything as to why something is happening. We just need to know that God has a plan for us and that what He has for us is good. There was good to come out of Mary’s situation, the birth of Jesus. There is also good to come out of the situations that we face as well. We can look back at the situations that God has brought us through and we can see how He has been there for us in past and He will be there for us again and again. Because “no word from God will ever fail" (Luke 1:37). We can peace and joy knowing that truth.
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