Mary was born and raised in the simple town of Nazareth. We can assume she was a young teen when Gabriel delivered the news that she would conceive a child by the Holy Ghost. We know she was from the line of David and was a descendant of Ruth. As such, her place in history is a fulfillment of prophecy. She was betrothed to Joseph.
When she was told of the honor she had been granted, a multitude of questions must have swirled through her head. She wondered how this could be so, since she had never known a man. Surely, given the prospect of becoming an unwed mother, she must have considered the cost to her and her family’s reputation, Even more, such a predicament could have meant being stoned to death as well as needing to explain her condition to Joseph Yet, she responds by saying, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me all according to thy word . . . ” Luke 1:38.
Bursting with her newfound news, Mary rushes to seek council from her cousin, Elizabeth. More of the mystery unfolds before Mary’s eyes as the child leaps in Elizabeth’s womb as he encounters pre-born baby Jesus. Not only is Mary’s pregnancy a miracle, but so is Elizabeth’s. As the ‘veil’ of marvels is being pulled back, Mary surely is becoming aware that the child she is carrying is beyond anything this world has ever known.
As Mary’s pregnancy progressed and as the birth was at hand, Mary responds to the details, conversations and circumstances surrounding her son’s nativity by “. . . pondering them in her heart.” Luke 2:19. Mary might have been given another clue that Jesus was chosen for a heavenly task when his parents found him in the Temple. Jesus told them that , “He must be in his Father’s House.”
