December 21

In a Protestant upbringing, I think sometimes we try so hard to remove all things Catholic from our doctrine that we can ere too far to the other extreme. In particular, consider Mary, the mother of Christ. She, being a daughter of the first Adam, was a sinner. She was not holy. Yet, the Lord God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, chose her upon whom to bestow His grace.

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And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favor with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
(Luke 1:26-35)
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The all-knowing God chose Mary to be full of grace. He gave her the strength to endure the position He would lay upon her shoulders. Think about it in human terms, she was a young, unwed virgin. What would become of her when word got out that she was pregnant? Her fiancee, Joseph, was ready to leave her until an Angel of the Lord visited him in a dream to tell him that she would give birth to the Messiah! Through it all, Mary remained humble and continued to find favor with God.

And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior. For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name.
(Luke 1:46-49)


I have been hesitant to post the following song because of the anti-"Mary-worship" inside of me. However, I do not think there is anything in this song that worships her. Rather, it does a superb job, in my opinion, of showing the grace of God upon a woman named Mary. Andrew Peterson vividly juxtaposes the human side of Christ's birth with the revelation of the Incarnate Deity, for the sole purpose of saving His people from their sin.

Read the words carefully, try to think on the human side of Mary and Joseph as they anticipated and experienced the birth of their first son, but not any ordinary son. At the same time, read it carefully and try to grasp the magnitude of the truth of the coming of Christ (the gospel), God's only-begotten Son. Christ, the God-man, the son of Mary, was, is and shall forever be "the Maker of the moon, the Author of the faith that can make the mountains move."

(Disclaimer: We do not know the actual events of Christ's birth. Was there pain? According to Genesis, God said that there would always be pain in childbirth because of the sin of Eve. But this Child was different; He was holy. I do not want to error in adding anything to scripture. For me, this song merely depicts God made man, the condescension of an Almighty God to a servant, the Word made flesh.)

I trust this will be a blessing to you today.


Labor of Love
Words and music by Andrew Peterson
vocals by Jill Phillips

It was not a silent night
There was blood on the ground
You could hear a woman cry
In the alleyways that night
On the streets of David's town

And the stable was not clean
And the cobblestones were cold
And little Mary full of grace
With the tears upon her face
Had no mother's hand to hold

It was a labor of pain
It was a cold sky above
But for the girl on the ground in the dark
With every beat of her beautiful heart
It was a labor of love

Noble Joseph at her side
Callused hands and weary eyes
There were no midwives to be found
In the streets of David's town
In the middle of the night

So he held her and he prayed
Shafts of moonlight on his face
But the baby in her womb
He was the maker of the moon
He was the Author of the faith
That could make the mountains move

It was a labor of pain
It was a cold sky above
But for the girl on the ground in the dark
With every beat of her beautiful heart
It was a labor of love
For little Mary full of grace
With the tears upon her face
It was a labor of love


As usual, you can listen to this song here. Click on "Labor of Love."