Mary

Zechariah and Thomas were doubters in the gospel stories. Mary was not. She is a hero not so much because of what she achieved, but because she believed. Her faith in God’s clear Word enabled her to serve God’s agenda in the way he designed for her.

When Gabriel appeared to her with the extraordinary message that she was going to bear a child as a virgin, she didn’t argue, “Sir, what you just described is biologically impossible, you know. Do I have to explain human biology to you?” When she heard the importance of her child, she didn’t shirk the burden, as if to say, “I don’t want that for my life.”

Here’s what she did say: “I am the Lord’s servant. . . . May your word to me be fulfilled” (Luke 1:38). Her faith enabled her to walk a hard road. She and Joseph were poor; now they would be poor with a needy baby. In her ninth month she had to make the hard journey from her home in Nazareth all the way to the town of Bethlehem. And one day Mary would have to witness the torture and execution of her precious Son. The prophet Simeon had told her what being the mother of the Savior would cost her: “A sword will pierce your own soul.” Not literally, of course. But she was going to hurt as though it had.

Mary believed the unbelievable. This Christmas God invites you to do it too.