My wife and I looked forward with great anticipation to the births of all five of our children, but I remember most the anticipation surrounding the birth of our first child.
She was the first grandchild on either side of the family, and the first girl on my side of the family in 60 years. It was a time of great excitement.
Things were a little different for Mary and Joseph for the birth of their first child. Mary may have been as young as 14, which was deemed a suitable age for arranged marriages in those days. Before she had come together with her fiancée, Joseph, an angel appeared to her, informing her that she was going to become pregnant solely by God’s work, without the help of a man. This was not only to be her firstborn, but also the firstborn of God. Her baby was destined to be the long-awaited Messiah of the Jews.
There is some anticipation for you. A whole nation was awaiting His birth.
At first, before the pregnancy produced any visible signs, it must have been terribly hard for Mary to believe, and harder to comprehend the destiny of this child. The angel told her she could verify God’s work by visiting her older cousin, Elizabeth.
Elizabeth, the barren, older woman, was six months pregnant, a visible confirmation of the miracles of God. When Mary arrived at Elizabeth’s house, Elizabeth instantly and supernaturally knew that Mary was pregnant, pronouncing Mary to be “the mother of my Lord” (Luke 1:43).
Her own child, who would later become John the Baptist, jumped for joy in her womb when Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting. Mary, inspired by the Holy Spirit, broke out in a Holy Spirit-inspired song we call the Magnificat, which praised God for sending the Messiah who would set people free from their bondage and affirmed her role in the process.
There is no indication in scripture that Joseph knew about the pregnancy before “she was found to be pregnant by the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 1:18). Few around Mary knew she was pregnant before she began to show. My guess is that she stayed with Elizabeth until after the birth of John the Baptist, which would have made her at least three months along, maybe more if she lingered to help Elizabeth in those early days of caring for an infant.
I can imagine Mary returning to Nazareth from her trip to the highlands where Elizabeth was, now visibly pregnant. People discovered she was pregnant by looking at the size of her tummy. The gossip mills must have run full-time in that little town.
The word spread to Joseph, who Matthew 1:19 says was a “righteous man,” meaning that he followed the Jewish law and all the religious practices to the letter. It certainly would have tarnished his righteous reputation if people believed he had jumped the gun with Mary prior to their formal marriage.
As a “righteous man,” he could have had Mary stoned to death for her supposed unfaithfulness to him, but as a kind man he was unwilling to do this. So, he chose to divorce her quietly and send her away from their community, at least until she had the baby.
God intervened, however, and told him in a dream to finalize the marriage with Mary, presumably quietly, and adopt the child as his own. The scripture says he did not have sex with her until after the birth, which highlights Mary’s virginity. The angel told him to name the baby “Jesus” when he was born. When a man named a child it meant he was taking the child as his own.
Was there anticipation for Mary and Joseph? Absolutely, but also there must have been a great deal of anxiety and trepidation surrounding the birth of this child. The community was likely smirking, but Joseph and Mary went forward in faith, knowing that God was at work.
This Christmas may be a time of excited anticipation for you, perhaps combined with a large load of worry over your own troubles and the difficulties that exist in our violent and sinful world. Know, however, that God is working. He is working for your good and for the salvation of the world.
May Jesus be born into your life and into our world this Christmas. The Savior has come.
Dr. Dan Darby is a retired United Methodist pastor.
