One clarification to begin with: I am not Catholic, and those of us who aren't don't venerate Mary in the way Catholics do. That doesn't subtract from the fact that to the coming of the Messiah, Mary was absolutely crucial.
I wrote some weeks ago here about how Esther laid her life down to save it. But the other day it struck me all over again, and deeper, how Mary did the same.
Mary was a young Jewish woman, I don't know how old, but both young enough and old enough that she was betrothed to Joseph while still being in the preparation period before the actual wedding. As such, Mary was a virgin, because even though the betrothal was legally binding for her and Joseph, unlike our engagements today, the true marriage would not exist until Joseph had taken her to the wedding chamber (which he would have been in the process of preparing for her) and they consummated the union. Sexual relations defined marriage in a very real way (unconsummated marriages are not considered real marriages by many even now, and can at times be annulled, nor does the Bible present them as a viable option), so to have indulged in relations beforehand, with one's betrothed or anyone else, would have "cut the covenant" before its time, made the parties "one flesh" with someone other than their spouse, ruined the celebration of the entire betrothal/preparation/wedding period, possibly created a "mini-marriage" with someone never intended (an explanation for why a man who seduced an unattached virgin had to pay the bride price and marry her, per Exodus 22:16-19 and Deuteronomy 22:28-29), and spoiled the woman's chances of ever marrying anyone else. In plain terms, sex prior to the time the groom arrived to claim his bride and sweep her off to the bridal chamber stood to knock their lives clean off the rails. Mary would have known all this.
And when Gabriel visited Mary and told her she would become pregnant by the Holy Spirit, she couldn't have failed to understand the ramifications. Some would believe Joseph had gotten her pregnant; others would believe she'd betrayed him with another man--certainly Joseph himself would believe that. She would face the anger, confusion, shame, and disappointment of her parents. She would lose not only Joseph, but any other possible suitor. Her good name. Her reputation. Her chance to have children. Possibly all economic support, for life. Not that these losses would necessarily matter, because she would be subject to stoning under Deuteronomy 22:23 unless the authorities happened to believe she'd been ravaged in an open field (22:25-27).
Did Mary protest to Gabriel about any of this? She did not. She only asked him to explain how a virgin could become pregnant. Like Esther, Mary laid down her entire life as a Jewish woman when she replied, "Behold, I am the servant of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word" (Luke 1:38). Think for a moment how utterly she had to trust God for everything from that moment on. She could never have guessed that Joseph wasn't lost to her, that home wasn't lost to her, that she wouldn't be destitute with a child, that she wouldn't be killed and perhaps the child with her, that God would speak directly to her betrothed and tell him to proceed with the marriage. Only God!
What a kindness Gabriel did to Mary when he told her that Elizabeth, her relative, was currently six months along. Because with Elizabeth, who for different reasons was also miraculously pregnant, Mary could have refuge and, frankly, get herself together. How much Elizabeth's affirmation of her as the "mother of my Lord" (Luke 1:43) must have encouraged and strengthened her! So much so that she remained with Elizabeth for the rest of the latter's pregnancy and sang the beautiful hymn of praise to God that we now call The Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55).
Mary lost her entire life for God and found it, just as Jesus would later teach. Not only through all of the foregoing, but when Simeon said to her in the temple, at the presentation of Jesus, "And a sword will pierce your own soul, too."
Is there a mother who would not immediately have understood those words and frozen in horror? The account in Luke doesn't reveal Mary's outward reaction to this, if any, but the loss of Jesus was another price she paid.
Many, many of us are not called to risk our lives, or our children's, literally, but because people like Esther and Mary were, and trusted God, and were delivered in marvelous ways, we can take courage that when we forsake a particular path in life in order to walk the one God calls us to, He will be there to meet us. And as for life, we will indeed find it.
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