Listening to God through the life of Mary

Mary was personally promised the gift of advent. With that promised gift, she also received the gift of waiting.

Waiting was familiar to this young Jewish girl. For many years the Messiah had been promised. For years the people of God waited, and waited, and waited.

Then the message of the angel Gabriel came to Mary …

“Don’t be afraid, Mary … you have found favor with God!
You will conceive and give birth to a son,
and you will name him Jesus.
He will be very great … the Son of the Most High.”
excerpts from Luke 1:30-32, NLT

The waiting moved to the next chapter. Nine months of fear-filled waiting. Gabriel was wise to say, don’t be afraid. How would she tell her mother? Her mother who was busy helping her be ready for the consummation of her marriage to Joseph. How would she tell Joseph? Would he divorce her? And oh the anticipated shame the community would heap on her.

I imagine that Mary’s response to Gabriel, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true” didn’t cancel her fears. Luke 1:38. Even her song of praise recorded a few verses later didn’t negate fear as she waited. Mary was human.

The climax of the waiting, Jesus is born.

The shepherds leave their sheep and run to Bethlehem to meet the promised Messiah.

Eight days later the baby was circumcised and publicly named Jesus. Simeon, a devout older man who had been eagerly waiting for the Messiah  came to the Temple and took Jesus in his arms and proclaimed, “I have seen your salvation,” Luke 2:30.

Anna was there also. “and she began praising God. She talked about the child to everyone who had been waiting expectantly for God to rescue Jerusalem.” Luke 2:38.

Wise men came to pay homage to the newborn king. Matthew 2:1 and 2.

And Mary pondered, wondered about, and treasured all these things in her heart.  And waited.

In the waiting there was confusion and scary hard times. Twelve years later at the Passover festival in Jerusalem, unbeknownst to his parents, Jesus didn’t immediately return to Nazareth with them. He stayed behind in the temple to listen to the rabbis, to ask questions. His parents didn’t know what to think. “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been frantic searching for you everywhere.” Luke 2:48.

The waiting continued. It was a full 30 years before Jesus performed his first miracle.

Mary was familiar with waiting. Did her faith falter in those years? How did she pray? Did she doubt? She knew the holy scriptures. God’s love is everlasting (Jeremiah 31:3); God does not withhold good (Psalm 84:11); God’s presence is promised (Isaiah 41:10); God’s peace is available (Isaiah 26:3). And Mary was human. Waiting is hard!

I too am waiting; praying; wondering; living with confusion and hard things. I too know the promises of the scriptures, not just the old testament, but the new testament as well. Yet still, waiting is hard, very hard.

The words of Peter Salmon, pastor of Trinity Church in Cedar Falls, Iowa put waiting in perspective for me earlier this month. In his sermon, Waiting for Christmas, he said,

“God will make our waiting worth it:
By overshadowing our waiting with His glory.
By using it to bring hope to others.
By accomplishing the impossible in us and through us.”

Also he noted, “What we are waiting for changes our willingness to wait.” Thank you Peter for your hope filled waiting words.

Merry Christmas!

Echoes of Grace will return January 2, 2020.