Today’s Hope

Today’s Hope
Written by Guest Writer, Joy Mathis Chadwick

“And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her. And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Juda; And entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elisabeth. And Mary abode with her about three months, and returned to her own house.” Luke 1:38-40; 56 KJV
Even though we didn’t have our first child until I was 35, the minute I found out I was pregnant, the first person I wanted was my mom. I wanted to share the whole experience with her and let her teach me how to be the mother I needed to be. Of course I wanted all my other friends and family to know and to share our experience, but I needed my mom more so then than ever before. My mom would know all the right things to tell me; she would fervently pray for me and for the baby; she was Momma Bear, and she would pass that torch to me.

But for some reason that the scriptures don’t spell out for us, as soon as Mary had the encounter with the angel, she went “with haste” to visit her cousin Elizabeth, who was also pregnant. Mary didn’t just merely pay her a visit, she stayed there for three months. This was not a quick trip; Judea was about 90 miles from Nazareth; there was no quick or easy way to get there. Mary must have had some very strong convictions about making this long trip. The scriptures just don’t tell us if she had even told Joseph and her family about her visit from the angel before making the trip to visit her cousin.
I’m sure Mary was aware of the implications of an unmarried pregnant girl; I’m sure she was probably quite terrified even to tell Joseph. Would her parents have taken her in if Joseph had called off the marriage? Did Joseph and her parents worry about where she was? Maybe she needed three months away to sort things out. But the scriptures clearly pointed out that Mary had found favor with God; there was none better, not even her momma, who could give her peace and comfort and calm her fears about the birth of the Son of God.
But God had a plan. Would there have been another time in history that the coming of our Savior would have been more “convenient” or better accepted? Would it have made a bigger impact if Christ’s birth had happened during the very early years of Moses or Abraham? After all, just consider all the struggles of the Children of Israel who spent 40 years in the desert; would they have grasped the miraculousness of a Savior? I think not; they had almost direct access to God through Moses and followed God’s cloud by day and the fire by night; those and other huge miracles fell on blind eyes. What if Jesus’ birth had not happened until our present day? No doubt there would have probably been much media attention, but most would have chalked this up as fake news – much the same as they did long ago in Bethlehem.

Yet God’s plan was perfect; perfected to the smallest of details. It was not by chance that He chose Mary. It was not by chance that He chose that particular place and time for His Son to be born of a virgin. As a grandmother, I’ve wondered a lot about how Mary and Joseph’s mothers reacted to this child; surely he was adored like no other child before Him, but we just don’t know this for sure. Did the grandmothers still hold on to the stigma of Mary being pregnant before the marriage?

Even when the shepherds came from the fields to “see this thing which is come to pass” and probably rushed in, clamoring in, to see this baby, instead of trying to explain or boast about being the mother of the Son of God . . . she “kept all these things and pondered them in her heart”. She granted them permission to come in and see, yet she remained quiet. The greatest story in the history of the world was now unfolding and would clearly speak for itself; there was no explanation needed.

We will never know this side of Heaven about all the details and specifics of the “coincidences” that led up to our Savior’s birth, but when I get to Heaven, you can be sure that Mary will be someone I will want to have a long chat with. I have two sons of my own; we can share mom stories.

“And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.” Luke 2:15-19 KJV