After the angel tells the very teenaged, very virginal Mary that she's going to have a baby, Mary says, in Luke 1:38, "Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word."
Under threat of possible desertion by Joseph, and ostracism by family, friends, and townsfolk; under threat of the law, Mary obeyed. When it was "sinful," "impossible," and "wrong," Mary obeyed.
How many times have you invoked the law when God called you to obedience in performance of a task that was "sinful," "impossible," and "wrong" -- hosting the baby shower for the unmarried and pregnant single woman, providing a home for the transgender teen who's just been kicked out by her parents, sheltering the undocumented worker who just so happens to mow your lawn every week, honoring your sexuality and/or your gender if you are LGBTQIA (That's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Questioning, Intersex, Asexual -- in case you're not up on these issues)?
See that painting up there? The only reason Mary had the honor of crushing the head of the serpent with her left (symbolically-weaker, non-dominant) foot is that she obeyed. Obedience is supposed to cost you everything. Even Jesus, "though He was a son ... learned obedience by the things which He suffered." (Hebrews 5:8, NKJV) Who are we to submit to any less? Who are we to pressure others into resisting instead of submitting to God?
We should be encouraging each other to take courage and obey (1 Thessalonians 5:11). Instead, far too many of you encourage each other to harden your hearts, to worship your own ideas of what's right, to bite and devour each other. There's a reason Jesus tells us we can't enter the Kingdom unless we "change and become like little children." (Matthew 18:3, NIV)
Like Mary, in fact.
BTW, the painting is entitled Mary Comforts Eve. It was done by a Trappist nun. You can buy a print of it here.
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