Finally, we will look at the life of the fifth woman in the genealogy of Christ, Mary.
Mary was engaged to Joseph to get married. It was before they got married that the Angel Gabriel came to her with the message that God has chosen her to be the mother of Christ, i.e. to bear Christ in her womb. What would this have meant to Mary? Imagine, she was not yet married but engaged; her fiancée and all other people expected her to be a virgin. Angel’s message meant that she was to get pregnant and not from Joseph after marriage but by the Holy Spirit when she said yes to God. People would have taken her for prostitution and stoned her to death. Still, Mary says ‘Yes’.
The only reason that theologians attribute to Mary’s saying ‘Yes’ is that she was a God-fearing woman who knew the scriptures and was waiting for the Messiah to come. Once she knew that this was God’s plan she cast all her fears and burdens upon the God and walked according to His will. She would have realised that it would be extremely difficult for her fiancée and the people to believe her yet she had faith upon God that He would help her under all circumstances. After receiving the message from Gabriel, she did not get puffed up that she was chosen from amongst thousands and thousands of other women but she is humble and is happy at the news that her cousin Elizabeth, who was barren, was pregnant. She goes to Elizabeth’s house to take care of her. This strengthens her faith in God and she realizes that nothing is impossible for God. And she is obedient as well. She follows all that she had been told. She did not have intercourse with Joseph till Jesus was born and she named the child, Jesus as she was told.
Through all this, she is not alone. God helps her. Elizabeth is told of Mary’s conception that Mary’s family members would believe her; an angel tells Joseph about Mary’s conception through the Holy Spirit so that he marries Mary; God provides a shelter to Mary and Joseph in the Cattle-shed during the census in Bethlehem...
Mary’s life is worth emulating. The faith, humility and obedience she displays as she tells “I am the Lord’s servant” is noteworthy and rare. Her God-fearing life and dedication to the Word of God is an inspiration to all of us to lead a life worthy of the calling that God has given us.
With this, we come to the end of the first chapter of Matthew that shows the importance of the 5 women in the Christian history today and at the same time inspires us and calls us to lead righteous lives filled with faith, humility, love, obedience, perseverance...
Let us pray:
Heavenly Father, we believe in the amazing ways in which you worked in the lives of these women and used them for the purpose of giving salvation to all those who believe in your son Jesus Christ. We know that you have plans for us and we pray to you to reveal the plans you have for us and through us and help us to be of use to you and the whole world. We want to emulate the lives of these women in our lives as well that we may be able to lead righteous lives, pleasing to you. In the precious name of Jesus Christ we pray, AMEN.
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