God chose a young woman. Someone normal. Someone ordinary. Someone original. She may have been a quiet, shy, and sweet girl, but she may have also been a little bit sassy, strong, and driven too. She probably liked to cook for her friends, make crafts at her house, and grow organic foods in her own garden. I’d imagine that she got tired of doing laundry, rolled her eyes at the marketplace when the people in front of her were taking forever, and occasionally dreamed of something bigger than her current circumstances. Honestly, Mary sounds a lot like me. And you.
But when God enters your world, everything changes. And after a divine encounter, Mary is still Mary. But now, Mary carries Jesus into the world. The tiny baby fingers that will heal the broken, the eyes that will look into faces and see souls, the lips that will calm nature, and the tiny little heart full of a perfect love is living in Mary in a pure and perfect way. And on a silent, holy night a baby was born that changed the course of time, the hearts of the holy, and the way that God relates to His people. The God who created mankind to live in relationship with Him came to His people. He entered our broken world and our wounded lives because He is a God that always meets us right where we are. And when He meets us, nothing is ever the same.
On a silent night in the little town of Bethlehem when the herald angels sang in celebration of the first noel, the God of Abraham and Moses and Esther chose Mary to deliver Jesus into the world in a physical, redemptive way so that He could move from living in our temples to living as a human. Immanuel. "God with us". And through His life and resurrection, the God of Elizabeth and Paul and Timothy moved to living in our hearts. And while we don’t have mangers or messages from angels or three valuable gifts from some very wise men, you and I are just as much a part of the birth story as the original crew. We are all Mary. Jesus has never lived in our swollen abdomens, but He has taken up residence in our hearts. And we are called to do something huge with this holy resident. Something extraordinary. Something divine.
WE ARE CALLED TO DELIVER JESUS TO THIS FALLEN WORLD.
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