If Advent is about anticipation, it makes sense to consider Mary as a significant part of the narrative. Believers tend to anticipate both the Nativity and the Second Coming through a prophetic lens. Time becomes compressed in these lenses. The 700 years between Isaiah 11 and Luke 2 are a passing phrase in the modern mind. The 2000 years since the Resurrection can be covered in a matter of days—even hours—in a historical survey. We become impatient with the reading of it, much less the living experience of it. Humans are trapped in time as we live out our daily lives, but our focus is on our momentary experiences. When we see family members after an extended absence, we are quick to say, “How much the children have grown!” The children who lived through the growing are uncomfortable by the comments; they don’t see it because they lived through each day of it.
Being caught in time means we need to slow down as we read the prophecies and fulfillments of the Incarnation at the Nativity. We can easily recite Luke 2 with Linus in A Charlie Brown Christmas, but that moment passes quickly as we move on to the next thing. Mary, however, lived each moment of her pregnancy, one day at a time. She had to have relived the visit of Gabriel in her mind and in her dreams for weeks.
Then the angel told her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Now listen: You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end” Luke 1:30-33 (CSB).
Forget for a moment that Mary is a teenager (somewhere between 13 and 16). Forget that she is going about her daily routine when an angel appears from nowhere. Forget, even, that she is a virgin, promised to Joseph, but not yet married.
Mary hears that she will conceive a baby boy who will reign over her world.
Women who suspect pregnancy have to wait weeks to have conception confirmed. Every morning they awaken, is there a baby developing within? Symptoms of early pregnancy (nausea and fatigue, mostly), may offer clues, but they could represent other things. Not until a test detects levels of hormones (specifically, human chorionic gonadotropin) can the expectant mother be certain. Mary knew immediately. Each day she awoke to the knowledge that within her womb was something new and miraculous.
Whom could she tell? How did she process the ways in which her body changed, even before people could see? What a heavy burden to carry! She had to think about how her daily life would change. She had to consider the repercussions on her family. What of Joseph and his reputation as a man of honor? Her response to the angel, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be done to me according to your word,” indicates the state of her heart and her faith, but her mind must have reeled with every thought of motherhood. Her cousin, Elizabeth, proved to be the safest haven for Mary as she adapted her mind to a future she couldn’t imagine.
Elizabeth confirmed the miracle of Mary’s pregnancy. Mary couldn’t wonder whether the events were a dream once Elizabeth’s own miracle child leapt for joy in her womb. It isn’t clear how early in her pregnancy Mary made the trip to the hill country of Judah, but it was before she experienced most signs of her prenatal position. It was a week-long trek, so Mary had ample time to ponder her situation. She probably traveled with a group also going that direction, so she likely helped with the logistics of feeding and caring for other travelers as needed, but she was out of her old routine and away from the people who knew her. She had time to think and speculate—and wait.
The waiting had to be brutal. How often do we take a step forward that we know is God’s direction for us yet we question ourselves? Mary was human. Even though she knew the angelic visitation was real, she likely wondered whether she understood the full implications of his words. She was barely more than a child with limited education from a working family. Each day, each step, as Mary traveled closer to the town in Judah where her cousin lived, Mary had in the back of her mind, “Is there really a baby within me that will reign over the house of Jacob?”
Then confirmation at last. Elizabeth cried out her blessing, and Mary responded, “My soul praises the greatness of the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior” (Luke 1;46-47). Mary’s Magnificat is one of the most beautiful declarations of God’s sovereignty and mercy in the Bible. Her mind was at ease; yes, the angel was real and he spoke Truth. Mary, as young and poor as she was, was chosen for the most important human role of the promised coming of Emmanuel, God with us. Mary still had months of daily waiting ahead of her. Her life was irrevocably altered. She did not know what her family or her betrothed would say or do, but she could live out each new day with the knowledge that she was indeed chosen and blessed by God’s great mercy.
Awe and wonder. Every morning, Mary had to awaken with renewed awe and wonder that history and prophecy converged within her—even in the waiting.