The Thin Place of Mary’s Womb
The Thin Place of Mary’s Womb.
“The thin place is where the veil between this world and the next is so sheer that it is easy to step through.” (Barbara Brown Taylor, Home By Another Way).
This term from an ancient Celtic tradition has stood the test of time. The idea of a thin place between heaven and earth has captured our imaginations, and yet is not just a metaphor. Thin places are literal as well.
The traditional thin place as the Irish understood it has been described in many ways: where the veil between heaven and earth is so thin as to be porous, permeable, practically transparent; where the space between the divine and the human has narrowed; where the boundary between heaven and earth has collapsed; where the wall between heaven and earth have become indistinguishable; where the doors between heaven and earth have cracked open enough to walk through, if only temporarily; the place where eternity and time seem to join together.
Those descriptions of thin places have recently been expanded to include… wherever God has chosen to reveal Himself and make Himself known with unusual intimacy; wherever the sacred interaction with God’s presence is more pronounced and accessible; wherever the Holy Spirit is released in a particularly powerful way; a physical space where one can more directly and intensely experience God’s presence.
Every Person is Sacred. “You formed my innermost being, shaping my delicate inside and my intricate outside, and wove them all together in my mother’s womb. I thank you, God, for making me so mysteriously complex! Everything you do is marvelously breathtaking. It simply amazes me to think about it! How thoroughly you know me, Lord. You even formed every bone in my body when you created me in the secret place… carefully, skillfully, shaping me from nothing to something. Your eyes have seen my unformed substance. You saw who you created me to be before I became an embryo! (Psalm 139:13-16, a psalm of David; TPT).
Thus, Every Womb is Sacred. The mother’s womb isn’t that difficult to define. The womb is the physical organ of the woman that is constructed of muscles and ligaments and blood vessels that encircle the fetus, making a safe place for the unborn baby to grow and develop within the pregnant mother; a protected shelter that completely surrounds the growing child in the womb; a quiet and peaceful refuge, a nourishing sanctuary, and a life-giving haven for the developing unborn baby; the protective barrier that guards the growing fetus from outside danger.
Safe Space. Creator God designed a safe place within each woman’s body to offer safe harbor to a growing baby when the woman is pregnant. This womb is of course necessary for a fetus to bond with its mother, to develop in peace, to be enveloped in loving nourishment, to grow in the security and trust needed to develop in a healthy way. This secure shelter within the pregnant woman prepares the baby to grow to the point where it will survive outside the womb. In the womb, the unborn baby is literally surrounded by a divinely designed system to protect and feed and cherish the child within her. The woman’s womb is the sanctuary in which the strongest human bond of love is established, the bond between mother and child.
Mercy. Womb is one of the root words for mercy in the Hebrew Bible. The word “rachem” is translated in Scripture as mercy, compassion, and womb. In the Hebrew mind, the womb is much more than the sacred place in a woman that enables the unborn baby to safely develop till birth. Womb also became a metaphor for mercy because of its linguistic roots. The Hebrew word rachem is intended to mean mercy-womb. God formed each of us with rachem when we were mere unborns, and we were conceived and nourished within His rachem, the mother’s mercy-womb. The baby within the woman is the ideal time to extend God’s compassion to that human being inside of her. The developing baby utterly depends on a mercy-womb. And God wants Himself to be experienced as our womb-sanctuary, our safe place in Him, our refuge and shelter. God Himself yearns to be experienced as a womb of mercy for each of us, a refuge and shelter and safe haven. The purpose of our lives is to live in God’s rachem, God’s womb of love.
The Unique Conception. “And the angel Gabriel said to Mary, ‘Rejoice, highly favored one, full of grace! The Lord is with you; blessed are you among women. Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And Behold! You will conceive in your womb and give birth to a baby boy, a Son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High.” (Luke 1:28-32).
Gabriel’s Message :: Good Shepherd Band (youtube.com)
Mary’s Womb. In the fullness of time, Isaiah’s prophecy became true: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14). The angel Gabriel was sent from God’s presence to an unmarried girl, most likely a teenager, who was a virgin. This young lady was named Mary, which means “exalted one.” Mary lived in Nazareth, a little village in the Galilee district of Israel. Mary was betrothed to a man named Joseph. Both of them were descendants of King David. In Jewish marriage, a couple becomes betrothed as they commit themselves to a future marriage. Betrothal was a very formal contract and not a mere engagement period that could be easily called off at any moment. Betrothal was a binding commitment to a covenant relationship. Most betrothals lasted one year, and unfaithfulness on the part of the bride during betrothal brought drastic consequences, even death. A pregnancy during betrothal would have been horribly scandalous and deeply shameful. Unless the baby’s father agreed to marry the woman, she would likely remain unmarried for her entire life. And if her father rejected her, she would be removed from her home and she would have to beg or prostitute herself to make a living.
Mary’s Magnificat. Through her magnificent prayer-song (Luke 1:46-55), Mary can rightly be judged a student of Scripture, a champion for the powerless, and a young Jewish woman of great faith. Mary rejoices that her son will be the Messiah, from the line of David, the One who will bless the whole world. Mary is in awe of that truth, and humbly considers herself the most fortunate of all women. She is amazed that she has found God’s favor to this degree, and frankly finds it almost unbelievable. She is overwhelmed by God’s mercy and grace.
Pregnant with Jesus. True to the announcement of the angel, Mary indeed was made pregnant by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Holy God. The Spirit fell upon Mary and spread His shadow of power over her, hovering over her like a pure white dove. And this was the deep mystery that resulted in a momentous conception within Mary. Jesus had no human father, but He had a heavenly Father, and so Jesus has been called the Son of God ever since. And Jesus will reign as King of Israel forever, and “of His kingdom there will be no end.” (Luke 1:33). Jesus Christ, fully divine from God, fully human from Mary His mother. The whole of Christianity comes down to this intimate moment of conception between Mary and the Holy Spirit.
The Thin Place of Mary’s Womb. “The birth of Jesus took place like this. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. Before they came to the marriage bed, Joseph discovered she was pregnant. (It was by the Holy Spirit, but he didn’t know that). Joseph, chagrined but noble, determined to take care of things quietly so Mary would not be disgraced. While he was trying to figure a way out, he had a dream. God’s angel spoke in the dream: ‘Joseph, son of David, don’t hesitate to get married. Mary’s pregnancy is Spirit-conceived. God’s Holy Spirit has made her pregnant. She will bring a son to birth, and when she does, you, Joseph, will name him Jesus – ‘God saves’ – because he will save his people from their sins.’ Then Joseph woke up. He did exactly what God’s angel commanded in the dream. He married Mary. But he did not consummate the marriage until she had the baby. He named the baby Jesus.” (Matthew 1:18-25, Message; also notice a description of the conception process in Luke 1:35: “The Holy Spirit will fall upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you with the bright cloud of His presence.”
More Spacious Than the Heavens! There is an ancient Eastern Orthodox prayer that celebrates “this paradoxical mystery in which our God, who created the universe, whom the cosmos cannot contain, was contained within the Virgin’s womb as He became Man in His incarnation.” … ‘O sanctified Temple and Rational Paradise! O Glory of Virgins! From you, God was incarnate and became a child, our God before the ages. He made your body into a throne, and your womb He made more spacious than the heavens. All of creation rejoices in you, O Full of Grace!” What a majestic and (literally) awesome thought!
Mary, the first literal “Christian,” Christ literally within her, the first human tabernacle containing the Holy of Holies, the womanly Ark of the Covenant harboring the Word made flesh, the human branch bearing a heavenly Fruit, the Holy Gate that welcomed the Spirit of Yahweh to enter into her most intimate place and begin an unprecedented, unrepeatable new Life within her. Mary, who responsibly, carefully, and lovingly nurtured the unborn Savior inside of her, right on through to the bloody birth pangs when she introduced the physical, human God to the world:
- At conception, when Jesus was a one-cell zygote, a fertilized egg, when His genetic framework was established, his gender is set, and is now programmed to develop into a unique individual with trillions of cells; when God “empties Himself” into the human experience; Julian of Norwich called His conception “God in a point.” All this in a fraction of a second, when a spiritual seed united with a human egg. It is here we begin to see the weak and helpless God, vulnerable, and completely dependent on a human mother;
- Week 1 = The embryo of Jesus becomes attached to Mary’s uterine wall;
- Week 2 = Christ’s early brain begins to appear, as well as His heart;
- Week 3 = The blood vessels of Jesus begin to appear, and His heart begins to beat;
- Weeks 4/5 = The embryo of Jesus has His eyes and lungs appear, His kidneys form, and the cerebral hemispheres of His brain develop; Mary’s umbilical cord starts developing, and is fully formed by week 7, the life-line between them that provides the unborn Jesus with oxygen-rich blood and nutrients, and carrying away his waste products;
- Weeks 6/7 = The brain waves of the Lord in the womb begin to pulsate, the heart has developed its four chambers, and His hands and feet and legs begin to move;
- Weeks 8/9 = In modern terms, Jesus is now officially a fetus, and He can now open His mouth, suck His thumb, and move His head around;
- Weeks 10-12 = Jesus can now make facial expressions, and a heavenly eye witness could now see His fully formed nose, lips, and gender anatomy;
- Weeks 13-14 = The unborn body of Christ is now sensitive to touch;
- Weeks 15-20 = His brain’s hemispheres are now completely connected, He has stem cells in His bone marrow, and has a stress response to anything invasive;
- Weeks 21-24 = Jesus now has a blink/startle response to sudden loud noises;
- Weeks 25-30 = Jesus can now produce tears, react to light, and practice breathing movements for the near future;
- Weeks 31-40 = Jesus now shows preference for mother Mary’s voice, is aware of new songs sung to Him, has evidence of memory function, and has the capacity for learning.
I may be wrong, but… In Mary‘s sanctified womb that was literally full of the eternal Holy Spirit, Jesus grew and sanctified every stage of human development. In Jesus, all human stages of unborn life are now worthy of God Himself, His personal Presence, and somehow even His unborn life is involved in the mystery of redemption. Church Fathers maintained that Christ could only redeem that which He had personally experienced Himself. I include the unborn life of Christ in that aspect of redemption. Whatever Jesus has experienced in His human life, from conception onward, has been elevated and made even more special in God’s eyes. If the mother’s womb was literally good enough for God, then it must be honored and held in reverence. Since the incarnate Jesus, all physical life has been raised to a new level, even within the womb.
Birth Announcement. “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward all mankind!’” (Luke 2:13-14).
A Thin Place in the Shepherd’s Field. First there was the heavenly birth announcement by a lucky, unnamed angel bathed in a blinding light that could only be the glory of Yahweh. The shepherds were minding their own business, and their sheep, in the fields near Bethlehem. And all of sudden it was bright as high noon. The shepherds were terrified, of course, and didn’t know what to think. They were surrounded by this dazzling light, practically inside of it. The heavenly message assured the shepherds that they didn’t need to be afraid. This is a time to be joyful, not fearful! The Messiah, the Savior has been born in Bethlehem. And this is how you can tell, the angel said… You’ll find the baby in the manger, the feeding trough, wrapped in strips of cloth to make things cozy for the baby.
The Heavenly Invasion at the Shepherd’s Thin Place. Then in the blink of an eye the night sky was filled with innumerable angels, myriads upon myriads, a huge multitude of angels that couldn’t be counted. Yahweh-Sabaoth, the Lord of Hosts, has evidently mustered His army of angels for this unique and special moment. Yahweh-Sabaoth is one of the most popular names for God in Scripture, occurring 260 times in the Hebrew Bible. The Lord of Hosts is the name David gave to his God when facing off with Goliath, for example. The angels in the sky above Bethlehem proved themselves to be singing warriors, obedient to the God of the Angel Armies. Angels indeed intervened quite a few times in Scripture. But there are only two times in which the angels were said to rejoice. “The angels rejoiced when Jesus was born into our world, and when we are born into His!” (Haskell Stone).
This was the heavenly choir with their assignment from Yahweh-Sabaoth to sing praises to God and to point to the reason for the Savior’s coming to earth. The Messiah has come to reconcile humanity with God, bringing peace and healing to the wide chasm between God and the people. On top of that, the Messiah will be an incarnation of love, coming with good intentions toward all people, wanting nothing but the best outcome for all humanity. This song states that the Messiah will look with favor on all people.
Peace. Not only will we experience peace with God, we will receive peace from God, that inner peace we enjoy when we cast our anxieties upon Him. The peace that passes understanding, peace of mind, peace of heart, peace of soul. Since our division with God can now be healed because of the Messiah, the people on earth can now experience peace between each other, a time when hostilities can cease. So, “peace on earth” is quite the mouthful… peace with God, peace from God, peace between each other, all because of the Savior of the world lying in that humble manger, a normal human baby needing to be burped.
What was the melody of that angelic song? Can you imagine the exquisite harmonies being sung by all those angels? In fact, can you imagine any of this incomprehensible scene? This wasn’t a virtual sky filled with computer-generated angels for special effects. This was literally a sky filled with flying, triumphant angels from heaven in full voice.
The Christian’s First and Best Example. Through her life and witness, Mary was the model of discipleship. She literally contained Christ, and nurtured the life of the Savior within her. She devoutly studied the Word as her life’s reference point. She actively listened to God and obediently said ‘Yes’ to His new Life. She not only received God’s message from angel Gabriel, she faithfully submitted to him as Yahweh’s representative. She exulted in God’s truth, in His historical presence with her people, and she strongly trusted in God’s mercy and power. How could God’s humanity have even become reality without the obedient participation of mother Mary? Mary proved to be a righteous prototype of a faithful Christian. Her Magnificat is memorable, of course, but so are her words at the wedding in Cana… ‘Mary went to the servants and told them, ‘Whatever Jesus tells you, make sure that you do it!” (John 2:5). Mary’s words here point directly to her Son, and she offers a definitive piece of wisdom that gets to the heart of following Jesus.
Wow, please listen to this rendition of this familiar song… “Mary, do you know what’s inside of you?” This is very moving.
Mary Did You Know? (feat. Chandler Moore & Lizzie Morgan) | Maverick City Music – YouTube