Luke 1:35-38
The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of
the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be
called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have
a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is
in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.”
“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to
me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.
I love holding and rocking babies.
In 2009, we were thrilled to find out we'd have three grandbabies
born. Max arrived in October, Eli in time for Christmas, and Zeke the following
January. Our hearts overflowed with joy as we met each of these baby boys. As a
grandma, I fell in love with them, just as I had my own babies. The boys have
or will soon turn twelve, and they are lights in our lives. All so different
from one another, yet so precious.
The mamas got to share in the joy and challenges of carrying
a child, at the same time. Sisters, Sara and Maggie, expected Eli and Zeke with
only five weeks separating their birth. What an exciting time for this grandma.
Cousins, Elizabeth and Mary, shared the experience of pregnancy
and childbirth. Wow were their circumstances exceptional. Elizabeth was
considered old, yet God blessed her with a child. Mary was a young virgin, yet
God gave her a baby. Their stories are unusual and perhaps hard to believe. Yet
the writers of the Bible tell the stories with clarity, truth, and hope.
I love Mary's humility as she accepts the angel's
pronouncement. "For no word from God will ever fail." Her response
says it all, "I am the Lord's servant." Mary believed. She trusted
God and put her faith in front of her fear because she knew God never fails.
Can you imagine being in Mary's circumstance? Would people
ridicule her? Would they punish her? She had more at stake than we might today.
The Jewish laws were strict, and she could be severely punished for being unwed
and pregnant. But she put her faith before her fear and trusted God with her
life.
Elizabeth was old and her husband made mute before John the
Baptist was born. Did Elizabeth hide with embarrassment or did she trust? She
believed God blessed her, and she jumped with joy. She too put faith before
fear.
This Christmas as we celebrate Jesus, put faith before fear
and share about the babe who grew to be a man. Not just any man, but Jesus the Savior
of this broken world.
Have the hard conversations and talk about the hope we have
in Jesus.