This letter was read to All Saints Anglican Church on December 23, 2007.
It purports to be written by a Greek believer living in Palestine around the year AD 60 or so...
Dear Mom,
I hope you don’t mind me being so familiar. There are so many now who love you and call you “Mother”, that it only seems natural for me to do the same…
I was talking with Matthew the other day - and we were reminiscing about the Gospel he wrote about Yeshua: how he walked among us, died on the cross and rose from the grave to save us from our sins. It still amazes me to think that he grew up in our midst and we never had a clue that he would go on to become Messiah.
But then I thought that you must surely have known all along and that it must have been terribly difficult for you to keep that knowledge to yourself – especially when people were accusing you of being unfaithful to Joseph, your betrothed. I understand from Matthew that Joseph considered divorcing you early on, but thought better of it when he realized what would happen to you as a single mother. In fact, someone even told me that you came very close to being stoned by your own townspeople one time…It makes me shudder to think about it.
If it hadn’t been for Gabriel coming to tell Joseph that your son had been conceived of the Holy Spirit and that he would become the Savior of his people…who knows where we would be now! I sure would have liked to see Joseph’s face when the angel told him that the child’s name would be Yeshua, the one foretold by the prophet Isaiah!
I also keep going back to what it must have been like for you when Gabriel told you that you would bear this child. They say that you just accepted it. “Be it done to me according to your word”, I think is what you said. Amazing! Weren’t you scared? Didn’t you want to run away? You, just a teen-age girl, and here you were going to have a child that would be the Savior! I think I would have asked the angel to find someone else.
You must have been quite a courageous young woman! In fact, I KNOW you were, because I read the words of the song you sang when you went to visit Elizabeth. I got them from that Gentile physician, Luke, who came to listen to you tell your story that one time. He has written up his Gospel too, including some things that Matthew left out.
Your “Magnificat” reminds me a lot of the song Hannah sang when she gave birth to Samuel. Were you thinking about that when you sang to Elizabeth? I bet you were…
It seems like you thought that Yeshua would be king when he grew up – that he would bring down Herod and Caesar and reign over all. That was pretty subversive stuff! Did you ever talk to anyone else about these thoughts? And if you did, did you look over your shoulder to see if there was a Roman soldier around? You could have gone to prison for treason!
At any rate, I was just writing to tell you how much I love you and appreciate what you did for us all. I know I don’t say it enough, that I take you for granted some times. But we’re coming up on the day we celebrate Yeshua’s birth (isn’t it great that people can remember Him instead of getting wild and crazy at the Saturnalia?!) and I thought I should put down in words what I feel about you – that I should be one of the generations to rise up and call you Blessed, just like you said in your song. For you truly were blessed to carry our Lord in your body and to be the very first Christian – even though I know it was very painful for you to have to watch him suffer at the hands of the Jews and the Romans. (I guess Simeon was right when he said that a sword would pierce your soul.)
I know too that it must have been confusing to have heard such wonderful prophecies about Yeshua being the cause of the fall and rise of many in Israel and that he would be a King like David before him – only to see His ministry taken up with the poor, the outcast, and even the enemies of our people. I don’t blame you and your other children for thinking he was crazy and trying to stop Him from embarrassing the family at Capernaum. “Jesus’ as the Greeks call him was certainly a surprise to us all!
But what a blessing it must have been to be among the firs to see him risen from the Dead – and to be there with the others in the upper room when the Holy Spirit came down! They say it sounded like a mighty rushing wind and that tongues of fire appeared above each one there! Did you speak in another language that day? And if so, did you know what language it was? But I digress…
This letter dear mother, is to honor you and to give you thanks for your faithfulness to our God. Because of you, all of us have begun to live through your son Jesus and we are truly grateful. We want you to know that we’ll be thinking about you during all the festivities coming up in the next few days and that your memory is very precious to us.
Please think about us too - and when you see your Son, could you put in a good word for us? Thanks.
With all my love, I am
Your son,
Andreas
It purports to be written by a Greek believer living in Palestine around the year AD 60 or so...
Dear Mom,
I hope you don’t mind me being so familiar. There are so many now who love you and call you “Mother”, that it only seems natural for me to do the same…
I was talking with Matthew the other day - and we were reminiscing about the Gospel he wrote about Yeshua: how he walked among us, died on the cross and rose from the grave to save us from our sins. It still amazes me to think that he grew up in our midst and we never had a clue that he would go on to become Messiah.
But then I thought that you must surely have known all along and that it must have been terribly difficult for you to keep that knowledge to yourself – especially when people were accusing you of being unfaithful to Joseph, your betrothed. I understand from Matthew that Joseph considered divorcing you early on, but thought better of it when he realized what would happen to you as a single mother. In fact, someone even told me that you came very close to being stoned by your own townspeople one time…It makes me shudder to think about it.
If it hadn’t been for Gabriel coming to tell Joseph that your son had been conceived of the Holy Spirit and that he would become the Savior of his people…who knows where we would be now! I sure would have liked to see Joseph’s face when the angel told him that the child’s name would be Yeshua, the one foretold by the prophet Isaiah!
I also keep going back to what it must have been like for you when Gabriel told you that you would bear this child. They say that you just accepted it. “Be it done to me according to your word”, I think is what you said. Amazing! Weren’t you scared? Didn’t you want to run away? You, just a teen-age girl, and here you were going to have a child that would be the Savior! I think I would have asked the angel to find someone else.
You must have been quite a courageous young woman! In fact, I KNOW you were, because I read the words of the song you sang when you went to visit Elizabeth. I got them from that Gentile physician, Luke, who came to listen to you tell your story that one time. He has written up his Gospel too, including some things that Matthew left out.
Your “Magnificat” reminds me a lot of the song Hannah sang when she gave birth to Samuel. Were you thinking about that when you sang to Elizabeth? I bet you were…
It seems like you thought that Yeshua would be king when he grew up – that he would bring down Herod and Caesar and reign over all. That was pretty subversive stuff! Did you ever talk to anyone else about these thoughts? And if you did, did you look over your shoulder to see if there was a Roman soldier around? You could have gone to prison for treason!
At any rate, I was just writing to tell you how much I love you and appreciate what you did for us all. I know I don’t say it enough, that I take you for granted some times. But we’re coming up on the day we celebrate Yeshua’s birth (isn’t it great that people can remember Him instead of getting wild and crazy at the Saturnalia?!) and I thought I should put down in words what I feel about you – that I should be one of the generations to rise up and call you Blessed, just like you said in your song. For you truly were blessed to carry our Lord in your body and to be the very first Christian – even though I know it was very painful for you to have to watch him suffer at the hands of the Jews and the Romans. (I guess Simeon was right when he said that a sword would pierce your soul.)
I know too that it must have been confusing to have heard such wonderful prophecies about Yeshua being the cause of the fall and rise of many in Israel and that he would be a King like David before him – only to see His ministry taken up with the poor, the outcast, and even the enemies of our people. I don’t blame you and your other children for thinking he was crazy and trying to stop Him from embarrassing the family at Capernaum. “Jesus’ as the Greeks call him was certainly a surprise to us all!
But what a blessing it must have been to be among the firs to see him risen from the Dead – and to be there with the others in the upper room when the Holy Spirit came down! They say it sounded like a mighty rushing wind and that tongues of fire appeared above each one there! Did you speak in another language that day? And if so, did you know what language it was? But I digress…
This letter dear mother, is to honor you and to give you thanks for your faithfulness to our God. Because of you, all of us have begun to live through your son Jesus and we are truly grateful. We want you to know that we’ll be thinking about you during all the festivities coming up in the next few days and that your memory is very precious to us.
Please think about us too - and when you see your Son, could you put in a good word for us? Thanks.
With all my love, I am
Your son,
Andreas
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