TGOC: Mary

I love how our “Mary” in the video responds to the crazy Shepherd picking up his dog aka “sheep”. It was as if she was struck with the weight of the comedy of it all, even as she was in awe of the profoundness of the words and timing. Just let the Good Shepherd carry you”.

When talking about the “glory” of Christmas, the word “weight” is an appropriate word. In fact, the Hebrew word for “glory” is the word kavod. ( Pronounced kuh-vode.) Kavod not only means “glory”, but also it means “weight.” With that in mind, the glory of Christmas has an aspect of weightiness.

And there are different kinds of weightiness that we can get hit with at Christmas time. If we are not careful, our Christmas celebration can get tangled up in Christmas expectations, traditions and experiences. We can find ourselves feeling pressed to get everything done from decorating to shopping to baking to figuring out how to see everybody, especially this year, when we haven’t been able to see each other much. .

But suffering under that kind of weight at Christmas, can actually cause us to miss the true glory of it.

Our “Mary” in the video certainly had her life plans altered when she and her husband found out they were pregnant. Whatever her plans for this time in her life, coupling college tuition with diapers and baby formula was not what she had in mind. In that way she was probably not too far off from the Mary character that she was portraying.

God wants to show you His glory of Christmas. Sometimes He chooses to go to supernatural lengths to unveil the plans He has in mind. He did that for a young teenage girl 2000 years ago that was represented in the nativity play.

Remember what was said to her in Luke’s gospel that would lead to the glory of Christmas and the plans God had in mind for this young girl named Mary.

Luke 1:26–38 ESV

26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” 34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” 35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

Mary was given a new set of plans this day, plans that would lead her to the glory of that first Christmas in a Bethlehem stable. She had to make a decision in that moment. She could have given in to the weight of worry of doubt, or she could trust and wait on the Lord over the next nine months to fulfill His plans and carry her into motherhood.

Mary chose to trust and wait. She chose to let God carry her through upcoming days of uncertainty, questions from society about her character, hardships on her husband who also would need some time to process this new change of plans.

As the prophet Jeremiah said, Our God knows the plans He has for all of us. As crazy as those plans may seem at times, they are plans for our welfare and not for evil. They are plans to give us hope and a future. And that future includes a capacity to experience and enjoy the good and weighty glory of Christmas.