An Angel, Young Woman, and Startling Announcement

Photo by Alex Gindin on Unsplash

Taking a closer look at the mother of Jesus

A supernatural interruption

God interrupted a young woman’s life in a supernatural way. Her name was Mary and she lived in a small rural town of little importance called Nazareth.

Mary became the mother of Jesus — the promised Messiah of Israel. But her pregnancy and His later birth were shrouded in controversy.

Mary became pregnant as an unmarried teen.

But Mary’s pregnancy was anything but ordinary. It was supernatural. This was hard to accept back then and it still is for many people.

Here’s the biblical account from the gospel of Luke —

Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”

But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was.

Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus.

He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”

Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”

And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.” (Luke 1:26–35 NKJV)

Married but not married

Mary was betrothed or promised in marriage but the marriage had not been consummated. This is made clear in the gospel account of Matthew (Matt 1:18–25). In those days, the betrothal of a couple was the second step in the process of marriage.

First, there would be an engagement, usually a formal agreement between the fathers of the two families. This could take place when both the bride and groom-to-be were quite young.

The betrothal — an actual wedding ceremony — followed the engagement when they were of age to marry. Promises or vows were made to one another as husband and wife and could only be ended with a formal writ of divorce. The betrothal phase was typically a year long.

The betrothal was a wedding ceremony where vows were made as husband and wife.

Finally, the bridegroom would come at an unexpected time to take his bride home to consummate the marriage. This third step had not yet taken place for Mary and her husband Joseph.

Continue reading by clicking this link– An Angel, a Young Woman, and a Startling Prophecy (published on Publishous/Medium)