All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet: “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’” Matthew 1:22-23
The First Week of Advent:
It had been four hundred years since the Jews had heard from God. For generations he had led their judges and kings, had spoken through the prophets. Then, silence. Now, Rome occupied Israel. It seemed as if God had forgotten them. Had forgotten his promises.
And then God spoke. Not to a king or a prophet, but to a young woman. Through the angel Gabriel God renewed his promise to provide a Savior. Mary had found favor with God. Faithful as ever, she was quick to embrace the message the angel delivered. It sounded crazy. She was just a young woman, engaged to be married. But, like every other young woman, she had grown up hearing the prophecies, she knew what Isaiah had spoken. God’s Son would be born to a virgin. He wouldn’t leave his people in darkness.
Mary embraced the words of the angel. She would carry hope for nine months and then deliver him for the world. For every broken heart, for every hungry soul, God would show mercy.
God wrapped himself in flesh and became a baby. Mary believed in the impossible and became an accomplice to salvation. Her Son would be our path to peace.
Will you, like Mary, believe God’s promise? He has not forgotten you. Even now, in the midst of your hardest circumstances, Mary’s child wants to be your peace.