Cross Training

     Where does the time go? It seems like just yesterday I was an eight-year-old falling out of a fifty-foot tree (yes, the height has since been confirmed by siblings and parents J). Hitting the ground with such force I looked like a goldfish accidentally dumped on the kitchen floor – eyes bulging, flopping side-to-side and puckered lips gasping for air. Yet the very next day I was tagging along behind my older brothers as they exited the front door in search of new adventures in the woods surrounding our neighborhood.

     That’s when the infamous words came from my mother’s lips – words that make every kid cringe: “Wait until you’re older.”

     “Ahh, Mom! I’ll be fine. When’s older? Who decides when I’m ‘old enough’ to do something? When do I get to…?” The questions continued to roll on as my brothers faded out of sight. Shoulders slumped, I shuffled back into the house.

     Who decides these magical ages when a young person is able to perform a task? At what age is a person responsible enough to help care for the life of a child? At what age can a person take on problems that weigh heavily upon the world? At what age is a person able to selflessly give in order to be a blessing to others?

     In one young person from a tiny town, we find all three of these God-given abilities combined:  

     “In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.” (Luke 1:26-27)

     Most Jewish girls were pledged to be married by the time they were 12-14 years old.  Mary would barely be eligible to work in many church nurseries – much less be a candidate for the mother of the Messiah in our eyes. Who on earth would choose a teenager to fulfill such an enormous task?

     “The angel went to her and said, ‘Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.’ Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.” (Vss. 28-29)

    “Highly favored? Who? Me?”

     How could a lowly, teenage virgin from the town of Nazareth be the recipient of such a greeting? It was inconceivable to Mary. As a young, unmarried female, Mary had virtually no social status. A person’s standing in the community based on age is nothing new to our day and age.

     But that was just the starting point of her perplexity. For the religious elite of Jerusalem, Galilee was viewed as a repugnant, backwoods area. Galileans were considered ignorant, lower class, inferior Jews. “Nazareth!  Can anything good come from there?” (John 1:46) Is it any wonder the teenaged Mary was troubled at the angel’s words? 

     If this greeting alone left Mary disturbed, the rest of the message must have left her feeling like that flopping goldfish gasping for air.

     “But the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God.   You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.   He will be great and called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.’” (Vss. 30-34)

     Jesus is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew Yeshua which means, “Yahweh saves.” “She [Mary] will give birth to a son, and you [Joseph] are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21)

      Perhaps this only hinted at the Messianic potential of the child to be born. After all, Jesus was a common name. But Mary didn’t have but a nanosecond to ponder the possibility before Gabriel made it crystal clear. “He will be great and called the Son of the Most High…[be given] the throne of his father David…reign over the house of Jacob forever.” The child to be born would be the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.

     “‘How will this be,’ Mary asked the angel, ‘since I am a virgin?’”

      “The angel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God.’” (Vss. 34-37)

     And what was Mary’s response to this miraculous message? 

     “‘I am the Lord’s servant,’ Mary answered. ‘May it be to me as you have said.’ Then the angel left her.” (v. 38)

     Nice ending, but do you realize what Mary has just agreed to? Christmas greeting cards and paintings of Mary and the Child fail to tell the courage of this mere teen. According to passages like Deuteronomy 22:23-24, Mary was willing to give up her relationship with Joseph, her reputation in Nazareth, and possibly even her life via death by stoning because of her unwed pregnancy – in order to be the Lord’s servant. Mary did you know?

     Did you ever wonder where the child Jesus learned life lessons that would later help him face the cross? Mary’s surrender, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said,” echoed across the years to the Garden of Gethsemane as Jesus sweat drops of blood. “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” (Matthew 26:39) 

     How about you? Are you ready? “Whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”  (Matthew 10:38-39)