“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.” (Luke 1:38)
“When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but he did not consummate the marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he named him Jesus.” (Matthew 1:24-25)
The birth of Jesus comes about by divine intent, through human consent. God sends an angel to Mary to tell her of his plan for her conceive a child and she says, “Here I am.” God sends an angel to Joseph to tell him to adopt this child and raise him as his own and he does. In the birth of Jesus, God takes a leap of faith and counts on our faithfulness.
God intentionally chose to enter the world through the birth of a child. In doing so, God gives human beings the choice to protect or reject life. What if Mary had said no to the conception and ended her child’s life before birth? What if Joseph had allowed Mary to be stoned? Both the mother’s life and the life of her child had to be preserved in order for the Savior to be born. There was no other choice.
Why would God, through this child, place his own life in our hands? He does this because he loves us. It’s that simple. God loves us so much that he is willing to set aside all heavenly powers and become a helpless child, depending on us for survival.
This is what God’s angels tell Mary and Joseph - receive new life in the birth of a child, Jesus. Don’t be afraid of how this will affect your life, about what people will think, about how you will make ends meet. Bring the child into the world, make him your own, and I’ll take care of the rest.
You don’t have to escape from this world, from this life, in order to be with God. In the birth of Jesus, God becomes one of us so that we can become one with God. As we celebrate the birth of Christ this coming season, listen to the voice of angels that tell us to protect and preserve life, especially the life of children yet to be born, no matter what the circumstances.
AMEN! It is not a choice–it is a human being–God Bless every woman that “chooses” life over convenience or any other option.