A Series on Advent
The candle of love – Mary
(Click on the link below to read the
verses.)
Luke 1:26-38; 2:1-20
[Advent is the period of preparation for the celebration of the birth of Jesus
Christ. Tradition includes lighting four candles: hope, love, joy and peace. To
celebrate Advent, we will be looking at four people plus one who were
intimately involved in the Christmas story, and then relating their part of the
story to one of the Advent candles.]
Her world was her
children - raising and loving us. Even as adults, we were still her children. As
a young woman, she probably had dreams of what being a wife and a mother would
be like. Whether those dreams ever came true, I don’t know.
It’s safe to say that
Mary’s dreams and expectations of marriage and motherhood, weren’t fulfilled. After
all, what woman in Mary’s culture, would dream of getting pregnant out of
wedlock? Or dream of traveling sixty-five miles by donkey over rugged terrain
while being nine months pregnant? Or dream of giving birth in a stable and
laying her baby in a feeding trough?
And yet, following
the appearance of an angel, Mary seemed to not only accept these adverse
circumstances, but to embrace them.
The
angel said, “37 “For the word of God will never fail.” 38 Mary
responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come
true.” And then the angel left her. NLT
The birth of a
baby is a joyous occasion. Friends and family celebrate with you; bring you
presents; provide you with meals. But not Mary. Shepherds came to see her baby.
They were strangers who tended sheep... just about the worst possible job you
could imagine. But they told Mary of an angelic birth announcement.
11 The
Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of
David! 12 And you will recognize him by this sign:
You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.” NLT
Based on this
announcement, the shepherds went to Bethlehem and found the baby Jesus just as
the angel had described. In their excitement, they shared what the angel had
declared to them. Mary responded with a mother’s love.
18 All
who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, 19 but
Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. NLT
What did
Mary “keep in her heart”?
Was
she thinking about the angel who predicted that she would have a virgin birth;
that the Lord God would give her baby the throne of David; that he would reign over
Israel forever; that his Kingdom would never end?
Or was she thinking about the shepherds that told her an unbelievable story of an angel
declaring that the Messiah had been born in Bethlehem; that the Messiah was her
baby Jesus?
As you prepare to
celebrate the birth of Jesus this Christmas, remember to “keep all these things
in your heart and think of them often” just like Mary did.
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