“And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son…” Luke 2:6, 7
I am a birth story junkie. I love hearing all about deliveries. I don’t know if it’s the nurse in me or the mother in me, but I love newborns and birthing and all things related. And every year about this time my thoughts turn to Mary. What a special young woman she must have been to have been chosen to be the vessel to birth the Christ. I cannot even fathom that kind of assignment.
Mary was likely a teenager when she became a mother for the first time. She wasn’t even married to Joseph yet. Can you imagine how scared and anxious she must have been? Fortunately in those times it was common for her to have been around babies and birthing women and breastfeeding so she at least had a clue what to do with the newborn. But there she was, without her own mother or sisters or aunts to guide her and teach her…
I wonder how long her labor was. Did she push for a long time? Did he cry right away? Did he nurse well, or did they struggle in the beginning? Those are the questions I’m dying to ask Mary about the human Jesus. The squishy, good smelling newborn that makes all those precious noises.
But he was also God. When Mary looked into his face, did the weight fall on her that she was staring into the very face of God? As she changed him and nursed him and cared for him, did she understand what would happen 33 years into the future? That he would save her from her very own sins? That he would save us from ours?
What a wonderful time of year to have a baby! And we have so many in our midst. I urge you, as you take a meal or visit with some of our new moms during this season, to take an extra moment to pray with, and for, these new babies….that they would know one day soon that Jesus came as they did --- as a precious newborn babe – to save them from their sins.
Merry Christmas. J
