On a December day many years ago, Evan got down on one knee and proposed to me. I knew the moment was imminent as we’d made no secret just where the trajectory of our relationship was headed: marriage. But I didn’t know exactly when I would become betrothed to my beloved.
In a secluded alcove in a restaurant lobby, Evan dropped to one knee, opened a ring box before my widening eyes, and asked me to be his wife. I accepted. What a Christmas gift!
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That Christmas of my engagement changed me from unattached to attached, from single to partnered, from independent to interdependent.
For Mary, the mother of Jesus, the season of engagement turned out to be even more life-defining—because into Mary’s life circumstance, the very first Christmas of all time arrived. As she accepted God’s invitation and said yes to His proposal that she would bear the Messiah, Christmas changed Mary from a betrothed virgin into the mother of our Saviour.
Christmas was born in her being and, through her, into all the world.
Who Exactly Was Mary?
We first meet Mary in Luke 1 and 2, which describe how the angel Gabriel informed her of how she would conceive and give birth to Jesus, the “Son of the Most High” (Luke 1:31–32). In this encounter, we get a glimpse of Mary’s character.
Mary was obedient. As Mary struggled with the specifics of how she would conceive a child since she was a virgin, the angel informed her that God himself would father the child by “overshadowing” her (vv. 34–35). This same word was used of the disciples being covered by a cloud during the Transfiguration in Luke 9:34. Gabriel pointed to the unlikely pregnancy of her relative Elizabeth as proof of God’s ability to accomplish the seemingly impossible. A closing statement crescendoed Gabriel’s explanation: “For no word from God will ever fail” (1:37).
On hearing this, Mary’s obedience burst forth in agreement, “I am the Lord’s servant . . . May your word to me be fulfilled” (v. 38). The literal translation of servant means that Mary was saying, “I am the Lord’s handmaiden, a female slave.”
Mary was a woman who trusted. In the moments between Gabriel’s pronouncement and her agreement, Mary likely considered a huge gap of reality that would need to be bridged. How would her beloved Joseph respond to the news she was pregnant? Would he divorce her? Step away? How would her community and family receive the news and then treat her as a result? Mary had much to lose, and yet she evidenced a soul committed to the God she had come to understand through her training and upbringing: Yahweh.
From the details in her “song” of praise—the Magnificat—in verses 46–49, we can tell that she knew the Scriptures and worshipped the Lord God:
“My soul glorifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is his name.”
— Luke 1:46–49
Mary was, and still is, a woman of influence. Other than Eve, Mary is perhaps the most well-known woman who ever lived throughout the whole world. More is written about her in the Bible than any other woman. She left a powerful legacy through how she lived her life. Quietly. Daily. Mightily. Mary’s influence was ever-expanding—originating in the innermost circles of her first-century life connections and then extending globally over a multigenerational world history.
Mary left a powerful legacy through how she lived her life. Quietly. Daily. Mightily.
How Did Christmas Change Mary?
Mary accepted God’s invitation in her life. She said yes to birthing Christmas and as a result, Christmas changed everything for her. How did Mary respond with such an astoundingly sold-out yes at such a young age?
Twice in the space of just one chapter, Luke underlines the key to Mary’s acceptance: “Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2:19). We see these words again when Jesus is 12 years old and Mary and Joseph take him to Jerusalem: “His mother treasured all these things in her heart” (v. 51).
Mary held all that was happening in a precious bundle, which she unpacked over and over again on the table of her heart.
To treasure means to “store up,” to remember as a mother does when she writes down every detail in a baby book. To ponder, a word we described earlier as coming from the same word as dialogue, can also mean to “place together.” American author Jean Fleming suggests that the Greek means “placing together for comparison,” with the word picture that Mary held all that was happening in a precious bundle, which she unpacked over and over again on the table of her heart.
Ah . . . we begin to understand that Mary’s yeses were not blind submission, and they certainly were not her only response. She likely said yes while also asking, What? And yes while simultaneously asking Why? How? Hers was not an easy journey. She wasn’t gifted
with unconditional trust or instantaneous understanding that none of the rest of us have access to. Rather, we see a layered learning. Mary’s first terror-struck yielding was followed by another and another.
Gradually, her yeses strung together into a lifetime of agreement with the purposes of God.
Mary was a deeply committed young Jewish woman who worked at her understanding and connection to the holy. She said yes to what she understood, and then she leaned into what she didn’t understand, yielding to God’s invitation.
Her yeses weren’t easier for her than they would be for any of us.
Mary’s suffering was unimaginable: enduring the shame of premarital pregnancy; fleeing to Egypt to escape Herod’s abominable scheme to murder all male babies under two; relinquishing her 12-year-old son to the teachers in the temple; observing both acceptance and rejection as Jesus pronounced God’s kingdom and performed miracles; and ultimately yielding her son to death on a cross for the sins of all humankind.
She said yes to what she understood, and then she leaned into what she didn’t understand, yielding to God’s invitation.
Responding to God with one yes at a time, Mary wove each yes into a legacy of influence that today serves as a tapestry template for all people all over the world. She was an unsuspecting servant who agreed with God’s purpose in one season and watched Him provide over her lifetime all that she would need to fulfil it. She lived one yes at a time.
Christmas Changes Us When We Accept, Like Mary
Hidden in the folds of Mary’s story come lessons we can all receive as to how Christmas changes everything. Mary said yes—one yes at a time—to God’s invitations in her life.
Acceptance of God’s direction is like that—layered yeses. When I stop to consider, I see this layering in my life as well. Not every yes has been easy. Sometimes my yeses erupt from my heart, eagerly and enthusiastically. In other moments, I stutter my way to acceptance. I bet you can trace your finger through the yeses in your days as well. To a move? To a season of unemployment? To the needs of your child or grandchild?
Mary lived one yes at a time, stringing together a legacy of cooperation with God, and we can do the same. We won’t always understand what each yes will bring, but we can nod and move and gradually layer our yeses, handing them to God and then watching as He weaves them into a beautiful, surrendered life.
Mary lived one yes at a time, stringing together a legacy of cooperation with God, and we can do the same.
Mary shows us how to respond when God invites us to join Him in what He is doing. When we say yes to God’s call on our lives, we are changed and become part of His world-changing work.
Fellow parent, where today is God inviting you into the acceptance of saying yes? And how could your life and your world be changed as a result?
