Mary was very young when her life changed forever. According to the customs of that time, she may have been in her middle or later teenage years when she was already promised in marriage to Joseph, the carpenter. For a young Jewish woman, that engagement was serious. It was not like a modern boyfriend-and-girlfriend promise that could be easily broken. Mary was already considered committed to Joseph, and probably her family had begun preparing for the marriage, the household, and the future she expected to have. Maybe she had already imagined what her home would look like, what kind of wife she wanted to be, and one day how many children she hoped to have. She was living a normal young woman’s life in Nazareth, in a small town where everybody probably knew everybody, where news traveled quickly, and where a young woman’s reputation mattered very much.
Then one day, everything changed. The angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” The Bible says Mary was greatly troubled by his words and wondered what kind of greeting this could be. She was not standing there like a woman who already understood everything. She was confused. Perhaps frightened. Perhaps she wondered whether she had done something wrong or whether something terrible was about to happen.
Then the angel told her not to be afraid because she had found favor with God. I can imagine that for a few seconds her mind was probably saying… Favor? Favor for what? What is this about?…
And then came the message that no young woman could have expected. She was going to conceive and give birth to a son. His name would be Jesus. He would be great. He would be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God would give Him the throne of His father David, and His kingdom would never end.
Mary must have been trying to understand every word while her thoughts were probably moving in a hundred directions at once. She knew how babies were made. She knew she was not married yet. So she asked the most natural question in the world: “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
That was not unbelief. That was a young woman asking, How can this physically happen? Does Joseph know about this? Are we supposed to be together as husband and wife now?…
The angel explained that the Holy Spirit would come upon her and that the power of the Most High would overshadow her. The Child to be born would be holy and would be called the Son of God. Imagine being Mary and trying to process that sentence. This was not simply, “You are going to have a baby.” It was, “You are going to carry the Messiah the world had been waiting for since the promise made to Eve.”
Every Jewish girl grew up hearing about the promised Messiah. Mary probably knew the prophecies. She may have heard passages from Isaiah and the stories of David since childhood. Maybe she had prayed for the coming of the Messiah like everyone else. But I doubt she ever prayed: Lord, please let me be the one who carries Him.
And now God had chosen her.
That sounds beautiful when we already know the whole story. But at that moment, it was also terrifying. Mary was engaged to Joseph. How was she going to tell him?…
By the way, Joseph, I’m pregnant, but I have not been with another man.
Even today, that would be a difficult conversation. In a small village in the ancient Jewish world, it could destroy her reputation completely, and even more… her own life.
Would Joseph believe her? Would her parents believe her? Would the neighbors believe her? Would anyone believe her?
Mary knew enough about her society to understand that pregnancy before the completion of her marriage could bring terrible shame and serious consequences. Yet after hearing the angel’s explanation, Mary answered: “I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.”
That sentence is very beautiful, but sometimes we read it so quickly that we miss how much surrender was inside it. Mary was saying yes to God without knowing how Joseph was going to react. Without knowing what her family would say. Without knowing what the women at the well every morning would whisper. Without knowing whether people would ever believe her explanation. Without knowing how the rest of her life would change.
She simply knew that if this was God’s will, she belonged to Him.
That was surrender, even when everything was not making sense.
Soon afterward, Mary went to visit her relative Elizabeth. Maybe that journey was exactly what Mary needed in that moment to clear her thoughts and talk to God, not about her pregnancy as a problem, but rather trusting Him for whatever she would have to face.
Sometimes after something enormous happens in our lives, we need one safe person to talk to.
Elizabeth was older, and she was also experiencing a miraculous pregnancy. When Mary entered the house and greeted her, the baby inside Elizabeth leaped, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. She immediately blessed Mary and called her “the mother of my Lord.”
Can you imagine what that must have done for Mary’s heart?
Before Mary had to explain herself or defend the impossible thing happening inside her body, Elizabeth already knew. God gave Mary confirmation through another woman. Sometimes the Lord does that for us too. He gives us someone who can look at us and say, “Yes. I understand. God is doing something here.”
Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months. I imagine those months were precious. Two pregnant women in one house. One older, carrying the child she thought she would never have. One very young, carrying the Child nobody could ever have imagined.
They probably talked for hours about the miracle they both were living. They probably laughed. They probably cried. I’m sure Elizabeth told Mary what it had felt like to live through years of disappointment and then suddenly become pregnant. I’m sure Mary told Elizabeth everything Gabriel had said to her, again and again, because sometimes when something incredible happens, we need to tell the story more than once just to believe it ourselves.
So, after a wonderful time together, eventually Mary had to go home.
And Joseph still had to know…
Matthew tells us that when Joseph discovered that Mary was pregnant, he knew the child was not his. He was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, so he planned to end the engagement quietly.
That means Joseph did not believe the explanation at first. And honestly, how can we blame him?
Imagine Mary trying to tell the man she loved: “Joseph, I have not betrayed you. But an angel came to me, and now I’m pregnant by the Holy Spirit.”
Joseph probably wanted to believe her, but how could he?
This is the part about obedience we sometimes forget. We can be exactly where God wants us to be and still experience confusion, misunderstanding, and pain.
God did not leave Mary alone to convince Joseph. An angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife because what was conceived in her was from the Holy Spirit.
Mary could not produce evidence for Joseph. She could only tell the truth. But God took responsibility for explaining what Mary could not prove.
Isn’t that beautiful?
Joseph obeyed what God said to him. He took Mary as his wife. I can imagine Mary’s relief when she realized that he believed her now. She was no longer carrying the secret alone.
Joseph knew, and he stayed.
Now, near the end of Mary’s pregnancy, Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken. Joseph had to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem because he belonged to the house and line of David, and Mary, very pregnant, went with him.
Any woman who has ever reached the last weeks of pregnancy knows that even sitting on a big sofa or lying on a soft bed is not always comfortable. Now imagine what it would be like to make a long journey on a donkey, or sometimes walking, when you are only days away from giving birth.
I’m sure Mary’s back hurt and her feet were swollen. I’m sure she had to stop often to rest, and Joseph was probably worried every time she became too quiet.
It was not like they were going on vacation. They had to travel because an emperor far away had made a decision for everybody. So again, Mary’s life was being affected by circumstances she did not control.
But the truth was that God was guiding them toward Bethlehem.
When they arrived, there was no suitable guest room available for them. The Bible does not give us all the details, but it was there that Mary gave birth to her firstborn son, wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger because there was no guest room available.
The angel had told Mary that this Child would be called the Son of the Most High. And now the Son of the Most High was lying in a feeding place for animals.
Maybe Mary looked around and wondered: Lord, is this really how You planned it?
Sometimes God’s promises arrive in packages that look nothing like we expected.
Mary probably imagined giving birth surrounded by familiar women in Nazareth. Maybe her mother or sisters would have been there. Maybe older women from the family would have helped. Instead, she was away from home. Joseph was the closest person beside her.
And even though the baby was placed in a manger, she knew that God was there.
That night, shepherds arrived with an unbelievable story. Angels had appeared to them and announced that the Savior had been born. The shepherds came looking for the baby and found Mary, Joseph, and the Child exactly as they had been told.
And “Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.”
Mary was a thinker. She stored things inside her heart that she did not always understand immediately.
Later, when Jesus was still a child, wise men came bringing gifts. Then Joseph was warned by an angel in a dream that Herod wanted to kill the Child, so they had to leave immediately. Mary took her little boy and fled with Joseph into Egypt.
Centuries earlier, Israel had escaped from Egypt. Now the Messiah of Israel was being carried into Egypt for safety.
Mary once again had to leave what was familiar. She probably packed quickly. For her, motherhood had become much more complicated than she could ever have imagined when Gabriel first appeared to her. Eventually, after Herod died, they returned and settled again in Nazareth.
When Jesus was twelve, Mary and Joseph took Him to Jerusalem for Passover. On their journey home, they realized He was missing. Can you imagine Mary’s panic?
The Messiah had been entrusted to her—and she could not find Him.
For three days they searched. Three days!
When they finally found Jesus in the temple, Mary said, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”
That sounds like a relieved, exhausted, probably slightly irritated mother.
Then Jesus answered that He had to be in His Father’s house. Mary and Joseph did not fully understand what He meant. But again, the Bible says Mary treasured all these things in her heart.
That means she did not understand everything, but she kept trusting.
That is why I think her story is not simply about one great moment of surrender when she said, “I am the Lord’s servant.” She had to keep saying yes for years…
After ordinary years of motherhood, Jesus grew and began His ministry, and life changed again…
And eventually, Mary stood near a cross.
The baby she once wrapped in cloths was now a grown man suffering before her eyes. I cannot imagine the pain of that moment.
When Gabriel told Mary that her Son would be great, do you think she ever imagined this?
Years earlier, Simeon, at the temple, had told her that a sword would pierce her own soul too. For sure, now she understood those words.
The same Mary who had once held Jesus against her chest had to stand and watch Him die.
There are some pains a mother would take from her child if she could.
Mary could not take this one away.
Mary did not receive the whole plan when the angel appeared to her. She only received enough for each next step.
Maybe that is why her story speaks so strongly to us. We often want God to explain everything before we obey. But most likely, God is asking us to trust Him with something that does not make sense just yet.
And sometimes the most powerful prayer a woman can pray is still the simple prayer of a very young Mary:
“I am the Lord’s servant. May Your word to me be fulfilled.”
Thank You, Lord, because when we cannot understand Your entire plan, we can still trust the heart of the One who made it.