In the days of Jesus there was a traditional path taken when it came to getting married.
Your father chose your future husband. After the details were worked out, you became betrothed which meant that you were his wife. You may not live together under one roof, in fact you weren't even left alone with one another, but you were still his wife. Only a divorce could dissolve the arrangement.
The actual wedding ceremony didn't take place right away; you had to wait sometimes up to a year later. The groom would come to your house, pick you up, and either escort you by hand or have his friends carry you on a pallet to his house to start the party, which could last more than one day. Now, that's celebrating.
This had to be Mary's dream...her dream wedding so to speak.
But it all changed when the angel showed up. When she agreed to God's plan for her, she gave up her dream wedding plans. She didn't know if Joseph would send her away with a divorce paper, or worse, try to have her stoned for being pregnant. One thing she had to know...her wedding ceremony, if she had one, would not be the way she had always dreamed.
Her "what-did-I-agree-to" thoughts had to be filled with how to tell Joseph? What will he think? Will he still have me as his wife? Will he divorce me? Is this really happening to me?
Of course, we know how it all ended. But for a young girl named Mary, in the first days after she found out she would be the mother to the Messiah, she had no idea the blessings that would follow. All she knew was that her marriage to Joseph would be starting off on a different foot than one she had desired.
She was not only breaking dreams but tradition as well...that had to be a hard pill to swallow.
No comments:
Post a Comment