HOW WILL THESE THINGS BE?
“….by keeping our eyes on Jesus, on Whom our faith depends from start to finish”.
“And the Angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call His name JESUS”.
One would wonder, if this Jesus we are talking about is the Son of God, shouldn’t the announcement of His conception have come with celebration? Instead, it was quite an eventful and somewhat controversial experience. Mary, a virgin espoused to be married, was suddenly heard of to be with Child – just imagine the raised eye brow at the time, particularly amongst the Church folks, the Book of the Law readers, and even the ones that did not use to read it. I can only imagine the drama, mix feelings and uncertainty, especial in and around the Temple aka “Church”, I am sure Mary could not even go there anymore because of the different side talks and raised eyebrows. Anyways, I wasn’t there, so I cannot really say. But, based on how we behave these days when we hear that someone got pregnant out of wedlock; and that someone is the pure and holy sister that is always in Church, who we all know. The matter becomes something else. And to top it up, the father of the unborn child is unknown. Based on the general gossip, the Baby is God’s. Just Imagine the mockery, the gossips…. I can only Imagine.
Another cause for wonder for me, is the trauma Mary would have been going through, thank God for Brother Joseph that heeded the instruction of God and still went ahead to make an honest woman of her, I can also guess, that this he did against the advice of his friends and relatives. He must be a very brave man. So, after the bulahbalooh of the conception, now came the trying times.
One would expect that since Sister Mary is carrying the Son of God, everything should go smoothly for her. That was not the case. Jesus the son of God, was Born in a Manger, because there was no room in the Inns for the Son of God to be born in, the couple had to later make do with the Manger, where the animals were. And to top this, there was great trouble in the Land at the time, there was a decree that all babies below 2 years old be murdered. Therefore, immediately Jesus was born, Mary and her husband had to escape to Egypt in order to preserve the life of the Baby. They travelled over 40 miles with Baby Jesus, and God kept them. I can bet the journey was not a luxurious one, even a luxurious journey with a little child can be trying, now imagine a Donkey ride of that distance.
Do not for once think that because God has commissioned you and chosen you for His glory, things would just automatically become easy. Get ready to go through to become. Because trials and temptations will come, even doubts; nevertheless, you must hold on to what God has told you even in the face of difficulty and challenges. Because God has promised to never leave you nor forsake you. And His word is true.
We know how the story goes, despite all the trials and temptations, Jesus was not only born, He grew, He Lived, He Died and He rose again! And He is highly exalted and has been given a name that is far above every other name, that at the mention of the name Jesus! every knee shall bow.
