To Mary, on the Day of your Fiat

George Hitchcock, The Annunciation, 1887. The Art Institute of Chicago.

You must have had no idea what you were getting into.

Well, I'm sure you had an idea. I'm sure you knew, in your time, in that place, about repressive regime and religious persecution. You knew the penalties for a woman guilty of what you would appear to be guilty of. But you also knew the promises of God.

And while you were blessedly inexperienced in that pain of working against yourself which is sin—the estrangement of Life and Love itself—you were not ignorant of the costs of sin to the world, and everyone in it. You knew you needed a savior. You knew we all needed a savior, and you were overjoyed to play your part in His entrance into man's world.

But you could not have known what you were getting into.

You probably knew being a mother has its drawbacks. Life was gruelingly hard back then, and people knew, perhaps better than today, that to love means to have your heart hurt. But you could not know, before that day, the feeling of a heart pierced. Nobody could know the pain and anxiety and fear on behalf of your child, until you’ve really known it.

Of course you knew there would be dangers, and that the world would exact its price. But knowing that the world punishes the godly, and going through it as it twists and shoves and shapes your life, are very different.

Whispers. Snide remarks. Hate and pride—at your expense, as well as your son's. Death threats. Blood.

You could not have known that ultimate pain in double measure awaited you down the road. The desecration of your God. The murder of your child.

But you knew God, in a way no one else could. And you knew He had promised to send a king-savior, one born of woman and descended from the house of David. You knew that somehow God would come among His people. You knew He would send someone to restore the tribes of Israel and be light and salvation to the world, in a kingdom that would last forever. You knew He could work these things through you, as the angel said He would, when he told you of God's plan and implicitly asked for your trust. Who that yields trust to someone, a true trust given on faith, knows beforehand what that will entail?

You could not have known what you were getting into. You said yes anyway.