Thoughts about Mary

I have been reading The Nativity Story a novelisation of The Nativity Story movie. I have really enjoyed getting into the characters, to take the time to ponder and consider what it would have been like for Mary, Joseph, their families, the wise men.

So far, I am loving the way the author, Angela Hunt, has portrayed all the characters, especially Mary. I have always been so drawn to Mary, and even more so since having children.

A few years ago I read through most of Francine Rivers, Lineage of Grace, but I chose not to read the account of Mary, I didn't want to to be caught up in the all the reality and emotions of what she may have experienced at the cross. But I have enjoyed getting to know the Mary of this story. In an interview with Angela Hunt at the back of the book she responds to this question:

Of all the women in Judea, why do you think God chose Mary to give birth to the Saviour of the World?

Angela Hunt: While I can't presume to know the mind of God, I realised something while I was working on the scenes in which Mary travelled to see Elizabeth. In my first draft, I had Mary thinking the sort of thoughts I'd think if I were her: Am I delusional? Was I hallucinating when I saw the angel? If Elizabeth really is pregnant, I'll know I didn't dream that encounter in the olive grove.

I had to strike all those thoughts when I studied Elizabeth's response to Mary. Luke 1:45 tells us that when she saw her young cousin, Elizabeth said, "You are blessed, because you believed that the Lord would do what he said"(emphasis added).

While I'm sure Galilee was filled with virtuous young virgins who loved and followed ADONAI, I'm not sure there were many who had Mary's pure faith. She went to Elizabeth not to test the angel's word but fully and happily expecting to find her aging cousin six months pregnant.

Mary provides a stark contrast with Zechariah - the priest doubted the angel, but the young girl accepted Gabriel's word with unquestioning faith and obedience.

I still marvel at Mary's trust and faith in God, an unbelievable miracle was about to happen inside of her and she didn't question the angel, she chose to believe and obey. The Nativity Story Movie gave me a glimpse into what it must have been like for her, the questioning, doubting, persecution, rejection. But God chose her and she remained faithful.

I pray that I will have a faith like Mary's, so trusting and confident in her God. He was all she had to trust, no one had ever been through what she was about to experience, she knew full well how impossible it would be for her to be pregnant for she knew she had never known any man. But her faith was in God, not in anything human.

I am daily confronted with so many distractions and temptations, and I put my hope and trust in so many things, but God alone is the one I need to trust and hope in, He alone is the miracle worker, my helper, my Saviour.

I pray that your faith will be simple like Mary's, a quiet, confident trust in an Almighty God.