How Did Mary Feel in That Moment?
If you’ve lost a loved one, you may have experienced flashbacks in the days after a death. The memories, like puzzle pieces, now reveal the full picture, the whole life. The fresh perspective gives you new insight, makes sense like never before.
As Mary stands at the foot of Jesus’ cross, you know she doesn’t want to watch her son die, but how can she look away? All the incidents she’s treasured in her heart now offer hindsight.
Let’s remember her journey.
First, An Angel Tells Mary She Will Give Birth.
And not only give birth, but give birth to the Son of God! Mary is young. She’s never been with a man, but she’s betrothed to be married. However, the angel’s word came true before her marriage to Joseph.
There are many single mothers around us these days, but that wouldn’t have been the case back then. Young Jewish women kept chaste until marriage. If they were suspected of premarital sex, their families and communities could stone them.
(Click here to listen to more details about Mary’s predicament starting at minute 9:14.)
Joseph was a kind, righteous man. He loved Mary, and he didn’t want to harm her. I know it’s tempting to think that his plan to divorce her quietly wasn’t a good one because we can’t help but read from an understanding based on our own culture.
Their way of doing things was vastly different.
Mary’s people studied the prophecies in the Old Testament. So, if they were looking for the fulfillment of the prophecies, like,
- “Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14, KJV),
- who will be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2),
- a descendant of King David (Jeremiah 23:5-6),
- and called out of Egypt (Hosea 11:1),
why didn’t they believe Mary and celebrate with a party?
Jesus qualified as a legitimate candidate for Messiah.
It is impossible to know.
But as we try to imagine,
maybe we can understand more.
How did Mary feel?
Next, the Angels Shared the News with the Shepherds.
The Messiah was born!
And these shepherds weren’t just any old shepherds. No, Alfred Edersheim writes in The Nativity of Jesus the Messiah that they were Temple Shepherds who lived in Bethlehem and cared for the sheep destined for sacrifice in the Temple to pay for the people’s sin.
After the angels’ visit, the shepherds rushed to follow their directions and found Mary, Joseph, and Jesus exactly as described, in a manger.
Put yourself in her sandals,
how did Mary feel
when all those shepherds showed up
after she’d just given birth?
When Jesus Was Presented in the Temple,
“An elderly man was there waiting . . . the Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would not see death before he saw the Messiah. . . Keeping his promise, the Holy Spirit led Simeon to be in the temple court at the very moment Jesus’ parents entered to fulfill the requirement of the sacrifice.
Simeon cradled the baby in his arms and praised God and prophesied:
‘Lord and Master,
I am your loving servant,
and now I can die content,
for you have fulfilled your promise to me.
With my own eyes I have seen your Word,
the Savior you sent into the world . . .’
Mary and Joseph stood there, awestruck over what was being said about their baby.
Simeon then blessed them and prophesied over Mary, saying:
‘A painful sword will
one day pierce your inner being,
for your child will be rejected
by many in Israel.
And the destiny of your child is this:
he will be laid down as a miracle sign
for the downfall and resurrection
of many in Israel.
Many will oppose this sign,
but it will expose to all
the innermost thoughts
of their hearts before God’”
(Luke 2:25-35, TPT).
Wait, a painful sword
will one day
pierce your inner being!
How did Mary feel
when she heard that?
Thank God for Joseph’s Life-Saving Dreams.
- In the first one, an angel told him not to be afraid, not to be afraid to marry pregnant Mary. That was part of God’s plan.
- Then, after Jesus was born, Joseph was led by a dream to take his family to Egypt because King Herod was searching for the child to kill him. That night, they made a run for it.
- After Herod died, Joseph had yet another dream letting him know that it was safe to return because “Those who sought to kill the child are dead” (Matthew 2:20, TPT).
How would you like to have dreams like that?
Every Year the Family Celebrated Passover in Jerusalem.
After a day’s journey home, when Jesus was twelve, Mary and Joseph realized he wasn’t with their group. They rushed back to the city to look for him.
Three long days later, they found him sitting in the Temple, conversing with the Jewish leaders. He stunned all who heard him with His deep, spiritual understanding, his intelligent questions, and profound answers (Luke 2:41-47).
How did Mary feel
about raising this boy,
who was also God?
Mary Would Have Known
some of the many prophecies, over 300, about the coming Messiah. Her people looked forward to the blessed event. He would:
| PROPHECY | OLD TESTAMENT REFERENCE | NEW TESTAMENT FULFILLMENT |
|---|
| Teach in parables | Psa 78:1-2 | Matt 13:34-35 |
| Perform miracles | Isaiah 35:5-6 | Matthew 11:4-5 |
| Bring hope for the hopeless | Isa 42:3 | John 4 |
| Have a healing ministry | Isa 53:4a | Matt 8:16-17 |
| Be betrayed by a friend | Psa 41:9 | John 13:18 |
| Ride into Jerusalem riding on a donkey | Zech 9:9f | Matt 21:6-9 |
| Be a suffering servant | Isaiah 53:3-5 | Matthew 27:27-31 |
| Be pierced and crucified | Psalm 22:16 | John 19:34 |
| Be resurrected from the dead | Psalm 16:10 | Acts 2:31 |
So many specific details, but even after all Mary experienced, how could she wrap her mind around the fact that she was the Messiah’s mother?
On an emotional rollercoaster,
how did Mary feel
if she knew what was to come?
The Cross.
“It is something every mother fears – losing a child. That fear has haunted her ever since Simeon’s forboding words. Then there was the terror of Herod’s assassination plot on the baby. And the suffering servant prophecy in Isaiah has always troubled her. It was as if death were standing just a few steps behind Jesus, casting his long shadow as a reminder that one day the boy would be his…
Again, her eyes blurred. Another memory floats by. And another. She remembered his first word and his first step. She remembers how he used to love to help her bake and how he would pull off a portion of fresh bread, dip it in honey, and give it to him. And she remembers how it made her little boy smile, and his eyes sparkle…
She prays to that father, prays that death would come quickly to her son. No, their son. For both would lose a child today. Both would bear the blade in their breasts.
Yet in spite of her grief, and spite of the cold steel sheathed in her heart, she is standing near the cross. She can’t pair to watch. But she can’t bear to turn away either. She is there. Standing by her son. As any mother would.”*
Now, You Know What She’s Hoping.
If she saw those prophecies and lived through them, heard what Simeon said, she knows resurrection is supposed to come.
But will it?
This is Mary, who said to the angel before everything happened, “Yes! I will be a mother for the Lord! As his servant, I accept whatever he has for me. May everything you have told me come to pass” (Luke 1:38, TPT).
But still, the enemy often uses fear to steal even from the most faithful.
But think about this,
how did Mary feel
when she saw the resurrected Christ?
Here’s What Mary Might Not Have Known.
- In the second verse of Genesis, Adam, the first man, did wrong just like all of us. Romans 3:23 says, “all have sinned.”
- No one has ever lived a sinless life, except Jesus. Jesus was the only one able to do what He did, lay down His life for our sins. God, who is Love, is the epitome of fair, of justice. He cannot reside with sin, cannot reside with us like we are …so He made a plan to save us through Jesus’ death on the cross.
- Jesus, Mary’s son, God’s son, came for this reason, came to offer us the gift that no one else could. Only Jesus’ perfection could fulfill the necessary requirements and cover our debt, so we could go to heaven.
“For here is the way God loved the world—
he gave his only, unique Son as a gift.
So now everyone who believes in him
will never perish
but experience everlasting life.”
(John 3:16, TPT)
Can you imagine how Mary feels now
that she knows all that?
Click here if you want to receive this gift.
Related Posts:
Do You Struggle to Trust God?
Don’t You Love When Someone
Brings the Bible to Life?
What If We Could See Jesus?
Why Is Christmas SO Important?
Then He said, “Go now in peace!”
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*Excerpt taken from Moments with the Savior Devotional by Ken Gire.
