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What if the first Christmas took place in a 21^st-century Western culture? Consider the different set of life choices that would have been available to someone living in the Middle East at that time. Could a possible scenario go something like this?

As was the custom of her community, the young woman had for some years been betrothed (engaged) to be married. Her husband-to-be, as was often the case, was an older man.

The orderliness of this relational process was unexpectedly thrown into jeopardy after the visit of a stranger. This resulted in her becoming pregnant outside of marriage! Before her now lay a future of unknown obstacles to her happiness.

Tossed Aside

What could she say to her husband-to-be? She tried to explain what had happened, but he rejected what she had to say. He was ready to end the relationship and have nothing more to do with her.

Her family, though, saw in their daughter’s impending marriage the chance to better herself and improve their social standing. To secure this advantageous union between the two families, they saw no other option than to have her end the pregnancy and act like nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

The troubled woman contemplated her future without a husband to support her in her pregnancy and beyond. Economically, she would have to rely upon the good graces of her parents to help her, but this option seemed a slim possibility at present.

Her wider community wasn’t helpful either. They had the mindset that shunned women like her — seemingly unfaithful to her intended husband and having rejected the social norms of her community. To whom could she turn to provide her with the support she needed?

Maybe the government had the answer. Being free from the constraints of her local community’s customs, it might present her with new options to consider. It wasn’t long, though, before their goals became horrendously apparent. The ruling authority, which had its own agenda to enact, was not only sanctioning but actually pursuing a policy of genocide that involved the killing of infants.

At every level, it was looking desperate. One course of action remained to enable her to pursue life as she knew it prior to the stranger’s visit. The only option that could solve her dilemma appeared to be: abort the child. But this young woman, against all odds, held her ground and said no to the termination of her unborn child’s life.

Choosing Life

If she had given in to the pressure of our present Western culture’s attitude to the unborn, there would be no Christmas to celebrate, no public holidays to recognise the birth of Immanuel, God with us. There would be no good news to share about the birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, nor any angelic declaration of the arrival of peace and goodwill to all people.

The young woman was, of course, Mary. Fortunately, she wasn’t living in our days. The visitor was the angel Gabriel announcing that God had favoured her with the miraculous task of carrying a son and giving birth to baby Jesus, God’s Son.

Joseph, her husband-to-be, was an honourable man who eventually accepted that this child was God’s gift to the whole world, destined to redeem all humanity on the cross. He took Mary to be his wife. Through His death and resurrection, Jesus released forgiveness and new life to all.

If not for the faith and courage of this young woman, history, the present and our futures may have been quite different. Let us pray for single women like Mary, faced with an unplanned pregnancy and an uncertain future, that they would find God’s help to value and carry the little life God was creating within them. May they, like Mary, believe that their child has the potential for a productive life, and may they find the support they need from family, friends and the wider community to make good choices.

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Photo by Susanne Jutzeler.