The Dark Side of Christmas - Pt 2

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:18-21 ESV). More than a million babies are born in the U.S. each year to mothers who are not married. That’s nearly 40 percent of all births. Today there is little social stigma attached to these women. In fact, in many cases, their courage and determination to raise their child as a single mother is lauded. Because we live in a culture where abortion is both acceptable and easy to obtain, these mothers are not “shamed” as they would have been in the Middle East of Joseph and Mary’s day. That ancient culture was an “honor-shame” culture, where certain situations, one of which was getting pregnant out of wedlock, caused an entire family deep shame. The father of the family was expected to take some drastic action to restore the family honor. Mary knew that what the angel was announcing to her would cause her deep pain. An unmarried virgin conceiving a child was an impossible situation, even if there might be some who would believe she was indeed still a virgin. After all, who would believe her story that her pregnancy involved no sexual immorality? The nativity passages from Scripture suggest that only two people believed Mary’s pregnancy was divine. Elizabeth and eventually Joseph believed her; however, that would not have been enough to assuage her fear of the proscribed punishment of death by stoning could be avoided. We read nothing in the Bible about Mary’s parents being supportive. In fact, there is nothing that would lead us to believe she had anyone to help her through this dark time. This is why it is so incredible to read of Mary’s submissive statement to the angel Gabriel. When she said, “May it be to me as you have said,” she must have still been terrified. But she vowed to be God’s humble servant, regardless of the cost. There is the message for us today. Whatever circumstance we find ourselves living through today, whether by our choices or circumstances beyond our control, we can be sure that God has not abandoned us to the world. Jesus came to pour His light into that darkness. He came to give us the strength to endure to the end where we will be welcomed into our heavenly home, all secured by His death, burial, and resurrection. As dark as it might have been for Mary, it broke the bright light of God’s glory into the world for us!