Mary’s Christmas Story
I guess you can say life can be pretty scary sometimes, but I’m not so sure being approached by the angel of the Lord and being told you’ll be giving birth to the messiah is part of a regular schedule. Think about it like this: any female whom becomes pregnant out of wedlock is immediately thought of as trash and is put to death by the process of stoning. I’m not married nor am I single, but I do still hold my virginity… although many would not believe such a farfetched story, because before me a virgin had never given birth to a baby, let alone the savior of all mankind. So it came time for me to tell my fiancée, a descendant of King David this news. I was terrified to tell him for fear he’d break off our engagement. I love Joseph, but I know what’d be best for his reputation would be to cancel our dreams of having a future together. The day I told Joseph of my situation he was completely mortified, but was willing to call off our marriage in secret to save me from further public humiliation. I must admit my first thoughts were ‘Oh great, how in the world am I supposed to handle this alone? I’m only twelve years old, and if anyone were to find out I’m pregnant my baby along with myself would be put to death!’ I remember then thinking ‘Mary, pull yourself together, God loves you and He chose you to birth this child… if you couldn’t handle it, He wouldn’t have done this to you. God has always been there for you, He won’t give up on you now.’ After I changed my perspective of the situation I decided I was going to go through with this, because I was carrying the holy messiah. The next morning I expected Joseph to already be gone by the time I woke, but to my surprise he had come to a realization that night as well. He came up to me with an apology of sorts. He said ‘Mary, you were right. The angel of the Lord appeared to me in a dream last night, he told me we would become the earthly parents of the savoir, and we’re to call him Jesus. I’ll never leave your side for as long as I live, because I’ve been commanded to take you as my wife.’ He was very ecstatic, so ecstatic in fact that his excitement bubbled over on me with a refreshing wave of relief that I wouldn’t after all go through this alone, because my God came through for me. I bowed down on my knees, put my face to the ground, and prayed to God about this situation and as Joseph joined me, we prayed together about our future family. During my pregnancy we had to travel from our home in Nazareth in Galilee to King David’s ancient home in a village named Bethlehem in Judea. I was sure this was all a part of God’s plan for there was no lodging in the inn that night, but the inn’s manager was kind enough to see I was obviously with child, and she offered to let us stay the night in an old barn on the backside of the property. When we arrived at the barn it was time for me to give birth to the King of Kings. The very first time I saw his face I was overcome with thankfulness and dumbfounded at the beauty and radiance of him. Joseph looked at me with the same feeling so obviously printed on his face. He said ‘This is the messiah, Jesus, and He has come to this earth though you to save all of mankind. We did it, Mary! You did it!’ As we marveled at our beautiful baby boy some shepherds appeared and told us they’d come by the guidance of the Star of Bethlehem to witness that the savior had been born. I let the shepherd men hold my little messiah, and they worshiped Him. Soon after wise men from the east came to us bearing gifts for the “Lord of Lords” for they’d been given the same message and they’d come to worship the Christ child as well. That night was so beautiful I cannot even begin to describe the joy and peace that was present in all our hearts. After everyone had left Joseph, our baby and myself lay down to sleep, our first night as a family. During the nightJoseph woke from a dream. He told me we must rush to Egypt until we’re otherwise informed, because a king by the name of Herod is searching for Jesus and if he finds him, he’ll have him killed. So once again we put our faith in the Lord and fled to the land of Egypt. While we were there we got news that King Herod had ordered all the baby boys under the age of two in the town of Bethlehem be put to death in hopes that the messiah was one of them. We stayed in Egypt until Kind Herod died, then we moved back to our home in Galilee. There the prophecy was fulfilled “That he will be called a Nazarene.”
Written By: Jana Parker
(dedicated to Lindsey Carter, my inspiration for this.)
