This story is based on the story of Mary in the bible.
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Mary’s whole life had been right on track, going perfectly as planned. She and Joseph were engaged; planning on being married in the next few months, and soon after would start their life together as a family. It was all going perfectly, until Gabriel visited her last night and informed her that she would become pregnant with the Son of God. Mary didn’t know what to do. She needed to tell Joseph, of course, but how was she even supposed to begin that conversation? “Hey, I know we’re supposed to get married and all, but I’m actually pregnant with Jesus, the Son of God, you know, the guy who created everything”. She couldn’t even begin to imagine what people would say, since being pregnant out of wedlock wasn’t really the thing to do in her town. What was she supposed to say when people asked questions? Mary decided that she better tell Joseph right away and just get it over with.
She anxiously waited for Joseph to arrive at her house, trying to figure out the right words to say. When Joseph arrived, Mary immediately felt sick to her stomach, and, before Joseph could even say hi, she blurted out “Gabriel visited me last night and I’m to bear God’s child”. Joseph stood there with a blank look on his face and said “Could you repeat that?”. Mary gulped, and repeated the shocking news. Joseph looked at her for a second in disbelief, turned around, and left.
Mary wasn’t sure what to do, but knew that she needed to leave. Joseph would probably never speak to her again, considering it’s hard to believe that she’s pregnant with God’s son, and the whole town would be judging her for the next nine months. There’s no way that she was sticking around. Mary packed her valuable belongings and set out to find a new home. She knew she’d most likely be judged in any place she went to, but thought it’d be better than facing people who she had grown up with. She also didn’t want to face Joseph again. She walked out of town, silently saying goodbye to all the people in Nazareth who she loved. Mary walked for what felt like hours and arrived in Sychor. She found an inn and settled in for the night. In Sychor, Mary found a small inn and rented a room for the night. She couldn’t decide if she was going to stay in Sychor or continue her journey, getting farther from Nazareth.
God watched Mary as she left Nazareth, and summoned Gabriel to visit her yet again. He was tasked with getting her to go back home and back to Joseph.
Mary was exhausted from walking and was ready to have a good night's sleep. She was sleeping soundly until, suddenly, Gabriel appeared. “Why have you left Joseph and Nazaret?” he wondered. Mary explained to him how upset Joseph was at the news and how afraid she was to have Jesus. Gabriel listened and responded with “Don’t you think God carefully picked the mother of his child out?” “He knows you can handle this” and instructed her to return to Nazareth. Mary, who up until this point hadn’t even thought about the fact that God had hand chosen her to be Jesus’ mother, agreed to journey back to Nazareth in the morning. She was ready to face any judgments that people may have of her.
After another long day of walking, Mary finally arrived back home. She was greeted by an extremely worried Joseph. Once she explained her reason for leaving, she realized how silly she sounded and was just so happy to be back home. She went on to have Jesus and had an extremely different life than the one she had planned.
Mary was exhausted from walking and was ready to have a good night's sleep. She was sleeping soundly until, suddenly, Gabriel appeared. “Why have you left Joseph and Nazaret?” he wondered. Mary explained to him how upset Joseph was at the news and how afraid she was to have Jesus. Gabriel listened and responded with “Don’t you think God carefully picked the mother of his child out?” “He knows you can handle this” and instructed her to return to Nazareth. Mary, who up until this point hadn’t even thought about the fact that God had hand chosen her to be Jesus’ mother, agreed to journey back to Nazareth in the morning. She was ready to face any judgments that people may have of her.
After another long day of walking, Mary finally arrived back home. She was greeted by an extremely worried Joseph. Once she explained her reason for leaving, she realized how silly she sounded and was just so happy to be back home. She went on to have Jesus and had an extremely different life than the one she had planned.
Author's Note: Mary is arguably the most famous woman in the bible, because we know her as Jesus' mother. She was visited by the angel Gabriel and informed that she was going to carry the son of God. I read about Mary in the "Biblical Women" unit, but it she didn't have an individual section, and it really didn't cover in detail how she felt about being pregnant with God's son. So I thought it'd be interesting to write about Mary's initial reaction to finding out that she was going to have Jesus. I think that it must have been pretty shocking (not that she'd react like she did in this story) and that she might have some crazy thoughts run through her mind and have no idea about what she was supposed to do, even though she does faithfully believe Gabriel and give birth to Jesus. I also read that Joseph initially wanted to break their "engagement" (some claim that engagements weren't a thing in biblical times), since she was pregnant with a child that wasn't his, so I thought it might be fun to kind of expand more into what it was like right after Mary found out and actions that she could have possibly taken simply because she was scared.
Bibliography: The readings covered Mary in three parts Mary and Elizabeth, Mary and Anna and Mary and Martha.
I also found information on Mary here.
Hey Jessica, I really liked your take on Mary's story. I grew up hearing this story and always wondered how God expected Mary to handle this news. I would have definitely freaked out, especially if my fiance had no idea! I also wonder what Gabriel thought about this whole scheme? That could have been an interesting twist! You did a good job capturing Mary's feelings though, so as a whole it was a really good read!
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