Mary - Blessed For Ridicule

When we talk about Mary we pay homage to the woman who gave birth to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the one who came as the Messiah to extend to us access to salvation.  

What we often take for granted is who Mary was as a believer and the evidence of who Mary was as a woman of God before becoming pregnant. 

Mary was committed and faithful to God and it showed apparent as the angel declared that God had blessed her. 

But the scripture said Mary was startled, even a little afraid by the presence of the angel.

I imagine Mary to be a woman who knew scripture so she knew the story of an angel coming to Lot to forewarn him to leave the city before God annihilated it. She likely also knew the story of the angel coming to Daniel with an answer from God concerning his prayers.

But the angel took the time to reiterate that God had shown her grace, assuring her that his presence was nothing for her to be afraid of.

As the angel told her about the will and plans of God. Mary was inquisitive when she was told how she would be used to bring forth the son of God, she had no doubt this was a God thing and she was fully engaged and onboard.

Despite, the rough road she knew she would have to bear, despite the oncoming discomfort, inconveniences, and ridicule she would face, Mary still chose to proclaim that she was up for the challenge of God using Her for His glory

Let’s also be mindful that pregnancy in those days was not the easiest thing to bear. Women just imagine the painstaking chores women endured which required incredible physical demands, in high temperatures.  

Remember there was no air conditioning, no comfortable mattress to give a woman’s back relief, not even gel insoles to soothe their feet.

Then to add insult to injury, imagine a time when having a child outside of marriage was not popular, as a matter of fact, it was considered disgraceful and immoral, a woman who found herself in such a state was referred to as a lot of non-Sunday school words if you know what I mean.  

Notice in the opening passage of the story the angel says, “Greetings! The Lord has blessed you and is with you.”  The angel proclamation indicated that at the time he came to her God had already blessed her, because God knew Mary’s heart.

And although Mary had the free will to deny to be used by God.  God knew her character and her level of commitment, just like he knew Job’s heart.  

And because of what He had already observed concerning her, He blessed her.  In all honesty, she could have just dwelled in that blessed state and not taken on all the ridicule, gossip, and ugliness that would come with walking out the will of God.  

But imagine Mary knowing all of this was ahead of her, not to mention the first point of ridicule would come from the man she loved and was engaged to marry. Mary committed herself to the will and plans of God despite what folks would say, despite what they would think, even if it meant Joseph would walk away. Mary's faithfulness to God became real when she spoke the words “I am the servant of the Lord. Let this happen to me as you say!” 

Mary like each and every one of us today had access to free will, and the ability to guide her life according to her own will, her own desires, and her own plans, but despite the turbulent path ahead she chose to put the  Kingdom of God first.  

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