Mary: I would never ask you to lie.
Joseph: If I say this child is not mine, they will ask what I'm going to do. If I accuse you...
Mary: There is a will for this child greater than my fear of what they may do.
As soon as Ross and I popped this movie in last night, I was captivated. I've never seen this part of the story told on screen before, not like this. I was touched by it. I laughed at parts, and I cried at parts. But I couldn't help but wonder while I watched. I wondered what it would be like to be Mary, in her little village of Nazareth, so young, barely married and very pregnant, about to participate in the biggest, most amazing event in history. The looks she received. The rejection she must have faced. The loneliness that this huge step of faith must have produced. People didn't get it. They didn't understand. But somehow she did. Of course, she didn't get the full extent of it and she must have been so afraid, but she knew it was huge, important and that she had to do it. There was a purpose in it. Bigger than her, bigger than anything that had ever been.
My favorite scene in the movie was this:
Mary: You've never really told me of your dream.
Joseph: My dream?
[pause, he is teasing her and also contemplating his response]
Joseph: No.
Mary: Please, tell me.
Joseph: An angel came to me. He told me the child within you had been conceived by the Holy Spirit and that I should not be afraid.
Mary: Are you afraid?
Joseph: Yes.
[laughing]
Joseph: Are you?
Mary: Yes. Do you ever wonder when we'll know?
Joseph: Know what?
Mary: When he is more than just a child. Will it be something he says? A look in his eyes? How do we raise such a child?
Joseph: I wonder if I will even be able to teach him anything.
I just love that. Mary and Joseph were just normal people. There was nothing special about them, yet they were about to have and raise the Son of God, God Himself in the flesh. Wow. Talk about overwhelming! And I love what that means for us. That even if the task is scary, and seems impossible, God can and will use us, normal, ordinary people to accomplish His purposes. We just have to be willing to step out in faith and submit it all to Him.
With that being said, I just remembered that I haven't posted my weekly photo yet this week. So, in keeping with the nativity theme, I thought I'd get in a photo of our nativity scene (that I took outside).
Luke 2: 17-20
''When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.''
Love this DinL. I wept at the beauty of your realizations. Very sweet thoughts. I would like to add 2 scripture passages:
ReplyDeleteColossians 1:15-18
15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.
AND Luke 1:78, 79
78 Through the tender mercy of our God,
With which the Dayspring from on high has visited[a] us;
79 To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death,
To guide our feet into the way of peace.”