Advent Day 11

"'He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy, 

as he spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his offspring forever.'

And Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home."

    ~Luke 1:54-56

At times Israel had a high position in relation to the nations around them, but for most of her history, she was brought low, yet in both positions, the Israelites fell time and again into the pattern of doing what was right in their own eyes. And yet they always received God's help. Why? Because of His remembrance and His mercy. 

God made a covenant with Israel, and He kept it even when the nation fell far from Him. His mercy sustained them and protected them from the consequences of their actions for year after year as He called them to repentance, but even His judgement was an act of mercy to draw them back to Himself. Mary recognizes that covenant from the time of Abraham, before the foundation of their nation, their tribes, or even the naming of Israel, and forever onward. God's covenants don't end. And they cannot be broken because He bears the cost of sustaining them. He is Hosea, constantly forgiving and pursuing His adulterous bride. And that's good news for us as Christians because we are a part of a new covenant. A covenant that is just as strong and just as timeless. A covenant between multiple persons but only secured by One. 

We should be the ones walking through the two halves of the animals (as was the ritual signifying the covenant between God and Abram), declaring that if we break it, we should be like those animals. But Abram never walked through the halves; only God. Because God knew that we would break our covenant, and so He took it off our shoulders. He alone bears the cost of keeping it, and He will never forget it. 

So when we sin, when we fall away, when God feels distant or punitive, we can look to the cross and the covenant created there, knowing that God is the keeper of our covenant. Knowing that our present and future are secure and that our salvation rests in Him alone. 

And when that's hard to remember, we have the added benefit, like the people of Israel, of being able to look back over past generations and see God's faithfulness in each one.

This is a God who will never ask us to draw away in shame but only to draw deeper into Him in our shame, where He will release us from its grasp. 

This is who Mary knows God to be, and I think that her actions in this part of the story put that on display. She takes the truth she's declared into her lived experiences.

After hearing the promise, Mary withdrew from her broader community into more intimate community. Into someone she trusted and someone she knew would uplift the promise God had given her. And she stays in that place for three months.

Every pregnancy is different; some women begin to show at 12 weeks and others at 22, but most first time moms aren't going to show before the three month mark.

To her community, Mary's belly will be a mark of shame, but her mind wasn't on damage control. She didn't hide from the shame that others would try to inflict on her; she steadied her heart before enduring it. She went to a place where she would be able to see God more clearly, outside of the ridicule of others, and rested with Him, preparing her heart in the promise and all that would come with it. She didn't seek the justification of others, she didn't let the fears (which I'm sure she had) lead her, she sought more of God's presence. She withdrew, but she also drew into trusted community. She praised and worshiped and let God have her heart. We don't get a lot of information on how the pregnancy went for Mary, but we know the Law gave allowance to stone her, and we can have pretty good confidence that there was a lot of unpleasantness, fear, and cause for doubt. But she had taken the time to work the promise of God into her heart. She had taken the time to worship. She had taken the time to recognize God's favor over her life and magnify His name. 

We can be sure that whatever God calls us to will have a cost, and that's why it's essential that before we jump in, we sit with the Father, we work His character and provision and presence into our hearts, we remember His unbreakable covenant through the generations. We steady ourselves on His Word and the testimony He has given us that all generations may know His heart and be made sufficient in His love.