God Speaks Through the Holy Family

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We’ve already met Elizabeth and Zechariah, the parents of John the Baptist, Jesus’ cousin. Now we meet Mary through a visit from Gabriel.

Mary’s a young woman betrothed to Joseph, meaning they are legally a unit, but do not yet live together.

Both Mary and Joseph are descendants of David. But most would have deemed them nobody. First of all, they are from Nazareth.

What kind of town is Nazareth?

Well, a verse from John 1 gives us a hint. In the last part of John 1, Jesus is calling his disciples. He’s already brought Andrew and Peter on board. He then recruits Philip. Philip wants his friend Nathaniel to join, too. He tells Nathaniel about this Jesus from Nazareth. Verse 46: Nathaniel quips, what good comes out of Nazareth?

In other words, Nazareth is a nothing town.

Gabriel has come to Nazareth to tell Mary universe changing news. His first words to Mary (v. 28): “Favored one! The Lord is with you.”

It’s nice to feel favored, isn’t it? Or to know the Lord is with you. But context matters. Mary seems frightened by the odd intro. Luke 1:29 states, she was “greatly troubled.” What kind of greeting was that!?, she seems to say.

Gabriel answers with the most often used refrain in all the bible. It’s used four times in the Christmas narrative. “Do not be afraid.”

Does Christmas for you say, do not be afraid? Do you hear the Christmas story as a call to let go of fear?

Do not be afraid. The Lord is with you!

Put it on every Christmas card and it’d be spiritually sufficient!

So, Gabriel gives Mary the plan. You’re the chosen one! You will birth the Messiah, the one everyone’s been waiting for! The one who will change it all. The one who will restore Israel to greatness.

Mary’s rather young, but old enough to know that babies don’t come out of the sky! What is necessary for conceiving a baby hasn’t happened yet! She certainly knows this. She expresses this contradiction to Gabriel. Verse 34 – how will this be?

Gabriel tells her how. “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; for that reason also the holy Child will be called the Son of God.”

Many faithful Jewish women wanted to be the one to bear the Messiah. Think about the fame and fortune of being the mother of a new king.

But the job of being this new messiah’s mom, it won’t be all it’s cracked up to be for Mary. The circumstances surrounding Mary’s pregnancy will make it too hard to be proud.

Who’d believe Mary of Nazareth? She got pregnant before she was supposed to. The world around them will look down upon and judge her and the whole family, including Jesus.

We see this in John 8. Jesus is in an argument as he often is with the Jewish authorities. The argument gets a bit heated, and the Jewish authorities bring out the rhetorical sledgehammer. Verse 41: At least “we were not born as a result of sexual immorality.”

I wonder how and when Mary first realized how hard it would be. Was it after Gabriel left and she had time to think it over? Was it when she talked with Joseph about it? Was it when she told a neighbor friend of hers and saw her doubting eyes– a pregnant virgin, really!? Was it when she saw the dirty looks of folks in the neighborhood who saw her showing only a couple months after moving in with Joseph?

I wonder if Mary ever thought to herself, yes, everyone wants to be me, but they don’t know how hard it is, how heavy this load I carry is. And it’ll only get harder. How Jesus will save the world, that hasn’t been shared yet. It will pierce her heart.


Then there’s Joseph. What about Joseph? His name is mentioned exactly once in Luke 1. That’s it. In the story, he’s not just a nobody. He’s invisible. After Jesus’ birth narratives, he’ll be mentioned in passing  couple more times. As important as he’ll be to Jesus, the world’s savior, he’s invisible here.

Have you ever felt invisible? Do you sometimes feel like you belong in name only?

That’s Joseph. But he will help raise Jesus. He along with Mary will be his only rabbis. He’ll instill in him radical humility, the radical humility that will save the world.

The last shall be first! From small things, big things, from small things, big, bold, world-changing things, come. That’s what Jesus embodies from the get-go. Just as his parents did before he was even born.


In verse 39, Mary travels to the city of Judah. She visits her cousin Elizabeth. In Elizabeth’s interaction with Mary upon her arrival, in an otherwise simple welcome to her cousin Mary, we see the first convert to the Jesus way in Elizabeth. You’re never too old to be transformed by something new!

And she cried out with a loud voice and said, Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And how has it happened to me that the mother of my Lord would come to me?

My Lord! Jesus is my Lord. Those words amount to the earliest Christian creed. Elizabeth is the first to recite that creed. Elizabeth, an aged pregnant Jewish woman, wife of a priest, is the first Christian!

Then, mother to mother, Elizabeth offers these wonderful words, “When the sound of your greeting reached my ears, my baby leaped in my womb for joy.”

That’s the joy of Advent, folks. John leaps for joy in his mother’s womb!

The earth is our womb, it’s been said. Does the Christmas story make your spirit leap for joy? Does Jesus move you to joy?

I remember an acronym from my youth that seems to apply.

Jesus

Others

Yourself

Joy begins with Jesus.

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