Matthew 1-3

Yesterday, I read Matthew chapters 1-3. This was the first time I had read then genealogy of David and Jesus without being a bored by it. I’ve recently read (well, book-on-CD’ed) the Chronicles, Kings, and Samuel in the Old Testament, and it was interesting to see all the characters tied together in one place.

Mostly, this section is about Jesus’ early life from the time Mary finds out he is coming until he is baptized by John the Baptist. I thought I had too much motherhood drama in my life, but reading this made me think about how much of an emotional rollercoaster it must have been to be Jesus’ mother. She had the most unplanned pregnancy in all of history (or the most planned, just not by her I guess.) She rode a donkey for days during her ninth month. She spent the day she gave birth wandering around a strange city (probably still on that donkey) with little hope of having a place to rest that night, much less a place to give birth. She had to leave her home and hide for years from a crazy king who wanted to kill her son so badly that he had every firstborn son in the country killed.

Every mother has a special bond with their firstborn, but Mary had a child who always obeyed, always did what was right, and always respected her. How prized he must have been to her! Yet she must have known that she could not hold onto him. Did she ever see herself reflected in him the way we see ourselves in our children? Or was he always “other” to her, the only one who could never doubt the miracle of who his father was and how he came to be hers?