As we get closer to Christ’s birthday, which is Christmas day, let’s take a detailed look at Jesus’s mother – a woman named Mary. We will use some ideas and thoughts from Adam Hamilton’s book, “The Journey,” as well as our own.

We begin by looking at Mary, when she was a little girl perhaps around 13 years old or so, God chose her to be the mother of the Messiah.

Every Jewish girl from the beginning of the history of their people had dreamed of being the one who bore the Christ child. Mary may have well been raised in a family of poor servants who worked in the houses and shops of the nearby city of Sepphoris.

In that culture, the young girls were married at an early age after a yearlong engagement. Mary had begun this engagement process when the angel, Gabriel, appeared to her to make the announcement that she would be the mother of the Christ child. Gabriel also describes Mary in Luke 1:28 as “the favored one” or, in other translations, “full of grace.”

So what is this grace? Hamilton explains grace as “goodness that we don’t deserve, kindness, salvation, forgiveness, blessing, undeserved — all these things when they are pure gift. Further, the giving of grace — of love and blessing and kindness when we don’t deserve them has the power to change our lives.”

Christmas is all about grace, divine grace, given not only to Mary, but embodied in the child, Jesus, whose life on earth would become a message of grace. If we read the Gospel stories, we will see how grace was given freely to sinners, prostitutes and dishonest tax collectors.

Jesus reflected grace to those who had been told there was no place for them in the church, and no hope for them to live a life different from the one of hopelessness that they now lived. But grace has power to break the cycle of sin and spiritual death, power to change hearts and heal broken relationships, and power to bring peace to individuals and nations. “Grace changes the one who receives it, but also changes the one who gives it.”

I wonder what Mary thought when Gabriel told her that her son Jesus would be great; in fact, he would be a king. However, he would not be the typical warrior king; his kingdom would be defined “by the power of his cross, his resurrection, and the message he taught.” Jesus’ kingdom would have no boundaries, no armies, and no palaces, only a potential throne in the heart of anyone who is willing to follow.

Certainly, Mary pondered these things very often in the quietness of her heart and in the sleepless nights that followed as Jesus grew and ministered.

Deep in her soul, I believe that Mary, even before Jesus was born, had some idea about this different kind of kingdom. We remember her singing a song at Elizabeth’s house about how Jesus would “lift up the lowly, fill the hungry with good things, and remove the powerful from their thrones.” (Luke 1:52,53) This became Jesus’ mission statement as he taught and healed.

So the same grace that God gave Mary, the grace that is the very essence of Jesus, can be the grace that sustains the follower of Jesus in today’s world. “Christians believe that in knowing, loving, and serving Jesus as their king they find life, salvation and hope.”

Do you think Mary really wanted to be Mary? She must have realized the possible scandal and punishment of being pregnant out of wedlock, harsh reaction from her family, and the obvious rejection by Joseph. Yet, Mary responded with, “Yes, here I am, the servant of the Lord.” Mary’s decision “reminds us that God’s call on us may mean setting aside our plans and dreams. It may mean taking a risk, a risk that frightens us.”

“…as surely as Gabriel brought Mary an invitation,” God brings us one. “Part of the invitation is to offer ourselves wholly to God as Mary did. Christmas is all about our willingness to say with Mary, ‘Here am I, Lord. Use me according to your will.’”

Shared with you by Rev. Tim McConnell & “The WIN International Ministries Team”