Nativity Stories . . . Mary

Nativity Stories
Week Two

Mary
A Joyful Singer

Hey y’all!
I’m Hanna and
you might as well know
right off the bat—
I’m proud to be from Nazareth.
Some folks think
we’re too simple,
but I always say
it’s best to keep
life simple.
Love God.
Love your neighbor.
Focus  your heart and mind
on that and a whole
lot of complications,
why, they just go away.

Besides, living in Nazareth
under Roman rule—
well, it just makes life hard.
Men and women
and boys and girls
work so hard
they just don’t have time
to make life complicated.

But  that’s enough of that.
I want to tell you a lovely story
about one of our very own
who was called
to become a part
of the greatest
story of all.

Her name is Mary.
Well, I declare,
I never in all my life
knew a happier girl
than Mary.
In fact, I would call
her plumb joyful.

Why, that girl
was singing
every time
I saw her.
In the market
buying vegetables
and fruit for her mother,
she was singing—
and she sang like a bird.

Now, bless her heart,
she was not really
beautiful, but she was cute—
and if you looked into her eyes
when she was singing,
well, they had a shine to them
that would remind you
of the stars.

Anyway, she was always
singing, in the market,
at the well, hurrying
with a message from her mother,
and in the women’s section
of the synagogue.
In fact, I always
tried to sit near Mary’s mother
and her daughters,
just so I could hear her sing.

Now, we are a small town,
and there will always be gossip,
but when things got tough
for Mary, for Joseph and her son;
I never did believe that gossip.
You just don’t sing like Mary.
You just don’t live in joy like Mary.
and do such things.

Yes, it’s true,
her son was a mystery,
But I choose to believe,
not in all that nasty gossip,
but in the tried and true
character of Mary and her Joseph.

So, even when it became
obvious Mary was
expecting a child
before she and Joseph
were married,
and the gossip
became nastier
and nastier,
I held on to
my belief in dear Mary.

Not even when Joseph
and Mary’s own father
looked so worried,
and the gossip
grew nastier
and nastier,
I still heard Mary’s
beautiful singing
and saw her eyes
still shining—
now somehow deep in my heart
I new our little Mary
had done nothing wrong.

Then came the census.
They, I mean Mary and Jospeh—
even with her so great
with child, were forced
to travel all the way
to Bethlehem
to register for their taxes.

Well, the gossips had a field day,
I even heard them saying,
“Good riddance!
They will bring a curse upon our town.
Such a shame for us to bear!”

Poor Mary’s father and Mother,
bless their hearts,
they had to face all that nastiness
constantly—
but to their credit
I never heard them
shaming their daughter
nor their son-in-law.

Well, after the census
all kinds of stories
returned with other travelers
for the census—
and I didn’t know what to believe.
Some claimed Joseph
was so embarrassed
they just took off to Egypt
to raise the boy—
all the stories said it was a boy—
among relatives living there.

Yet there were other stories
told by pilgrims
returning from Jerusalem
who whispered tales
about shepherds, angels,
a star and Wise Men,
and the murderous
attack on infants
by our so-called king.

No one knew anything for sure,
and Mary’s father and mother weren’t talking—
I don’t know if they actually knew
what was true, . . .
until after Herod, “Praise God!” died.

Finally, Joseph, Mary, and her child returned.
From the very beginning
her boy’s joy and his eyes—
and his beautiful voice—
he sang like Mary
won the hearts of man,
including me, of course.
Bless his heart.
He had her same joy
and her same
sense of peace;
well, if a boy
in such a place
as Nazareth
near Galilee
can be called peaceful;
well her sweet boy won people over,
you know what I mean?
Even some of those gossipers,
bless their hearts,
finally shut their mouths.

He laughed and ran and played
with all of the other children.
He attended the Hebrew school
at the synagogue
just like the other boys.
In many ways he seemed typical,
but to those of us
who watched him closely,
he remained, well mysterious.

Oh, some gossipers held to their disdain.
But most of us forgot this delightful
boy’s questionable past.
Joseph and Mary lived clearly devoted lives,
honoring God, her parents, each other;
carrying for their son, Jesus,
and his younger brothers and sisters.
The goodness of their lives
overcame the accusations
of the bitter gossip
still whispered here and there,
but less and less
as years passed by.

Anyway, I continued to admire Mary and her songs.
As it happens, she started coming to my vegetable stand,
and we enjoyed catching up on family news.
She had been friends with my younger daughter,
Abigail, who had married and moved
away to Caesarea while Mary had been away.

Gradually, over the years, even as Jesus grew
from his boyhood toward his maturity,
Mary occasionally told me bits-and-pieces
of their story, until one time when Joseph
had traveled, she seemed eager
to tell me the whole glorious story—
and of course, you will not be
surprised to know—
I believed every word of it.
By then I knew I had been right about
Mary, Joseph and her baby—
now her soon-to-be young man, Jesus.
So, here it is,
the most beautiful story I ever heard:

How beautifully
Mary’s eyes lit up
as she told the story.
First, she explained
she was outside Nazareth on a hill
when the angel
appeared to her.
Of course she was terrified.
I never saw an angel,
but if I did
I bet I would faint
right there, right then.
Anyway, he told her
not to fear.
He explained she had found
favor with God.
Then, he really blew her mind.
He told her
she was going to have a baby.
A baby boy!
The angel even gave him a name—
Jesus!
The angel kept on shocking her.
He told her the baby would be called
Son of the Most High,
The Most High!
For goodness sake!
Then the angel just kept on going.
He told her
the Lord God
would give him
the throne of David, his father.
And if that weren’t
enough the angel added
this child would grow up to reign over
the house of Jacob,
our peoples’ father, Israel,
forever.
Forever with no end!

Bless her heart.
Imagine!
Mary knew herself.
She had never been with a man.
Sure, she was betrothed to Joseph.
But she had never been with a man.
For goodness sake,
they weren’t married.

So, she just out and asked the angel,
”How can that happen?
I know I have not been with a man?”
Then the angel explained
God would work a miracle
so her son would be holy—
the Son of God.

The angel went on to tell her
about her elderly cousin,
Elizabeth who had no children,
bless her heart,
that she was now expecting a son.
Then he challenged Mary to believe.
”For God nothing is impossible.”

What could gentle, joyful, Mary say?
She replied,
”I am the Lord’s servant.
I surrender to His Will.”
Bless her sweet, sweet heart.

Then she told Joseph.
Of course he was troubled.
But, bless his honorable heart.
He knew Mary.
He was worrying over what to do.
Then an angel visited him in a dream.
And the angel explained,
Mary remained faithful to Joseph.
God was working a miracle.
“She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus,
for he will save his people from their sins.”
(Matthew 1:21)
So Joseph and Mary were married.
Then as her time drew near
they had to travel all the way to Bethlehem
to pay Caesar’s tax.

That trip was hard.
They only had a donkey.
They only had blankets
to lie down on a night.
They only had each other
to share the way.
But God led them.
They made it to Bethlehem.
But Bethlehem was crowded.
It was almost her time.
Joseph desperately searched
everywhere in the town,
but there was no place for them.
But God provided.
One inn keeper reluctantly
agreed they could
use a small stable
behind his inn.

It was there that Jesus was born.
It was Mary, alone with Joseph,
who delivered her son.
In a stable.
It seemed they were all alone.
But sweet Mary knew God was there.

And to prove it,
after they were settled for the night,
Mary and her baby Jesus;
shepherds came to worship.
Shepherds!
They were the first
to worship Jesus.
And they had come
because God had sent a crowd of angels
to tell them the Savior was born.
Those angels had told
the shepherds where they would find the baby.
And, lo and behold,
they came, and here he was.

Mary laughed as she told me
how those shepherds
had knelt before the baby,
the first to worship him.

And later, even as she and her son
were getting strong enough
to travel, they had had another
group of visitors.
They were so different from the shepherds.
They were foreigners.
They were known as Wise Men.
They had come on camels.
They were richly dressed.
They brought rich gifts,
gold, myrrh, and frankincense.
But just like the shepherds
they knelt and worshiped Baby Jesus.

Then the angel appeared again
to Jesus in another dream.
The angel warned Joseph
to flee with Mary and her son.
Herod, (I will never say, “Bless his heart.”)
was sending soldiers
to kill not only Jesus,
but as it turns out,
all of the young boys
in that place.

So, with the gifts from the Wise Men,
Joseph and Mary and her son
were able to escape
Herod’s murderous threat.
They fled to Egypt and remained
there among some of our people
until Herod had died.
Then they returned here to Nazareth.
Oh, some still gossiped.
But others like her parents
and others who really
knew Mary and Joseph
and who they actually were,
we rejoiced to have them home.
And we wondered at their stories.
And we grew to wonder more and more
over Mary’s miraculous son.

What a beautiful story!
How wonderfully
God had blessed Mary and Joseph!
Imagine the shepherds
coming to worship!
Imagine the wise men
with their rich gifts
also coming to worship!

What a glorious story!
How blessed I am
by this story!
And how blessed
we all will be
by Jesus,
bless his heart!

Praise be to God!
Hallelujah!
How He has blessed my heart!