This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit.   Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly. As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”  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.’”   When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus. (Mat: 1: 18-25-NLT)

 

As I investigated some of the background from different so-called scholars regarding Mary and Joseph, they really do not know how old either of them were, simply because the Bible does not say.  However, they assume that Mary was somewhere between the ages of 13-15 and Joseph was approximately two to three years older.  Nevertheless, this story will always fascinate me.  WHY? you ask - because as young as they both were - they agreed to be completely obedient to God's will. - I must say His perfect will.  Allow me to digress for just a little while.  Can you imagine your daughter coming to and telling you that she is pregnant with child while almost married to someone else? 

 

Remember in those days for that era of time - a betrothal was considered a marriage although they did not yet live together and the marriage was not yet consummated.  Yet, with Mary being that young not having any idea what would happen to her, she deliberately agreed to accept this pregnancy. Most of us do not accept anything from God that we knowingly would cause embarrassment, humiliation, shame etc. however, Mary and Joseph did.  They both hesitated for a moment, but, without reservations and thought of themselves, they chose to submit. 

 

They were so young, inexperienced, and not truly knowledgeable of God or His intentions.  Yet, they agreed - Why??? I can only imagine how Mary felt when she had to tell her parents that she was pregnant and had to tell Joseph parent's as well.  I for one would have thought they had already consummated the marriage without us knowing - but then, when Joseph spoke up and said the child she is carrying is not mine - what did the parents think?  Who would believe a 13- or 15-year-old young girl that she was pregnant by the Holy Spirit - Really! they probably said - you do not even know him.  What about Mary and Joseph's Friends?  They had to have some Friends somewhere? What did they think - what were the accusations that came from them? Then, what did Joseph's friends think of him - man are you a fool? do you believe that Mary really hasn't had sex with someone Else?  Are you willing to raise another man's baby?  But Joseph took Mary anyway and decided to marry her regardless of what his parents, her parents, the towns people, their friends or anyone else had to say for that matter. 

 

Then, yet other thoughts came to my mind - did they even love each other, did they want to be married, was he willing to wait at least nine months before his marriage could be consummated?  Sleeping with this woman every night, seeing her  perhaps in the nude, yet not allowed to touch her?  Really!! What man do you know who would be willing to constrain himself for nine months or more before touching his wife?  How did Mary handle the fact that the first time her husband saw her nude she would have stretch marks and a big belly - not that fine young curvy body that she once had and hoped for him to admire?  Where they even physically attracted to each other or where they going to do that out of mere obedience as well?  How obedient can two teenagers be to the Father - when we as so-called grown folks won't be obedient enough to clean our home, or cook a healthy meal consistently.  Some scholars say that Mary went to see Elizabeth so that she could escape the implications of her pregnancy for a time - however, I believe that she went out of obedience - another deliberate act and not an easy one - she had to walk, there were no buses, cabs, streetcars, or metro.  So, we do not know how far she had to walk being pregnant and the Bible does not tell us .  I could teach this for a long time and never fully understand the depth of how Joseph and Mary really felt, their trails, circumstances, trust issues, doubts, worries, etc. 

This one thing that I can rest in is that they were the two most obedient people that I have read about in the word of God- I feel the Father is and was so very proud of them for their acts of obedience for I believe that there were many.  It is my prayer that I can acquire just a half of their obedience to do what God desires for me - without questioning His motives.  What about the rest of us – do we desire to give our savior complete obedience without questioning?