Mary’s Ordeal

 

 

Betrothed to one person

And pregnant for another,

Can’t you see the dire implication

And why I was bothered?

 

Joseph was a good man

And didn’t deserve this

And I was virtually out of my mind

When the period I missed.

 

I had been faithful

And a virgin I still was

But just imagine all the chatter-

The incessant buzz.

 

Who would believe me?

Joseph certainly did not

And being the kind of gentleman

He couldn’t let it drop.

 

Even after I told him

What the angel had said,

He still thought of breaking it off

Privately instead.

 

He did not make a fuss

And appeared quite calm

But I knew he felt disappointed;

He was a man.

 

But God told him

To still take me as his wife,

I am sure some of you would say,

Not on your life.

 

Well Joseph did

As history has shown

And in my pregnancy, you’d recall

I had to leave home.

 

 

 

We went to Bethlehem

To be registered

And it was there in that little town

That I delivered.

 

 

 

You view the nativity

And you do so with delight

But you do not have the first clue

Concerning my plight.

 

Innkeeper after innkeeper

Just turned us away

And not one of them would give to us

Even the time of day.

 

 

When at our wit’s end,

One had compassion

And my precious baby was born

In the unlikeliest fashion.

 

Dried hay for a bed

And for a crib, a manger,

Yes, in an animal’s feeding trough

Lay our Saviour.

 

The Saviour of the world

And my Saviour as well

As in the reflective Magnificat

I also did tell.

 

This was not a fanfare

But more so an ordeal,

Even after the father of my son

Was revealed.

 

 

 

I kept it all to myself

And inwardly pondered

While nursing my tiny baby boy

And my Saviour.

 

The ordeal that this was

Could not compare

With the fact that God in the flesh

Was finally here.

 

I was the chosen one

Though without merit

To be the mother of the Messiah,

Holy Spirit’s deposit.

 

Stewart Russell © December 21, 2025

 

Immaculate vs Incarnate

 

 

Two words I shall deal with

That are not even nearly alike

Yet some believers confuse them

And don’t get them right.

 

One of these is immaculate

While the other is incarnate:

They make good rhyming words

But let’s get it straight…

 

They are not synonyms

And I mean, not by a long shot,

For some I might be nitpicking

But I can’t let this drop.

 

Immaculate means perfect

And while this is very true

It is not the same as incarnate

As is some people’s view.

 

I would be the first to agree

That neither is in God’s Word

But please follow me carefully

Before calling me absurd.

 

Some hold the virgin Mary

In very high esteem

And I could not disagree with this

When I review the nativity scene.

 

Jesus’ birth was on this wise

In Bethlehem’s town

As angels announced to shepherds

With glorious sound.

 

Emmanuel was his name

Meaning God is with us:

God reconciling the world to Himself

Through His Son, Jesus.

 

Thus, the incarnation:

Almighty God is come in the flesh!

To which the birth of His Son

Undoubtedly attest.

 

 

In the incarnation

The emphasis is on the Christ

And this looks forward to the time

Regarding his sacrifice.

 

His cradle preceded the cross

On which he would die,

There for the sins of the world

He was crucified.

 

Joseph was by the angel informed

Fear not to take Mary to wife

For it was the Holy Ghost

That in her had placed that life.

 

This was spoken of Jesus

And not of the virgin Mary

Who, by the way, the Bible shows

Could not be a virgin perpetually.

 

 

Mary had sons and daughters

After Jesus was born

So, all who claim perpetual virginity,

Please be warned!

 

Mary was not under sin’s curse

Some denominations hold

But are unable to show in the Bible

Where this unfolds.

 

We know she was a virgin

For she had not known a man

But she too, as the Bible implies,

Needed redemption’s plan.

 

 

She was not perfect

As the word immaculate implies

And even the mother of Christ

For her too he was crucified.

 

Stewart Russell © May 17, 2021