Mary is such an icon who even has a whole movement structured around her personality and status as the human tracks upon which God’s incarnate was routed. Yes, I’m referring to Mary, the Mother of Jesus. We even hail this Mary for her eternal contribution to the Salvation Story, especially with respect to her purity.

But as I begin to study, I realise that Mary had a Secret. That secret wasn’t her virginity as widely thought. This secret was what made her visible in the realm of the spirit, it was what provoked the activation of an Angelic Visitation after the order of Gabriel. For he visits for no reason, except for matters of eternal significance relating directly to The Christ.

I pray that as we read this and come into this knowledge, our eyes of understanding are enlightened to see beyond rhetoric into the inner workings of God in our lives.

“And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.” — Matthew 1:16, 18 KJV

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.

When we think of Mary, all that comes to mind is Virginity, Virginity, Virginity. So, unconsciously, our attempt to replicate Mary’s blessed and highly favoured exploits in whatever sphere of our endeavours pushes us only in the direction of Purity, which is valid, but here we see another overwhelmingly powerful factor which worked for her, for there were many other Virgins in Israel. What made her the first to be visited?

The answer lies in one of the verses quoted earlier; The Judah factor. Mary could provide the purity factor which is one condition for the hosting of the Christ, but she couldn’t by herself provide the Judah Factor. Yes, Isaiah said a Virgin shall conceive, but what we also know as indicated throughout the canon of Scripture is that The Seed will sit on the throne of His Father David; The Christ must be of the Tribe of Judah. The Virginity criterion was secondary to the Judah clause. God worked from Judah to Virgin, not from Virgin to Judah. So what contributed the Judah factor to Mary’s cause? Joseph her Fiance!

Consider the powerful effect of ALIGNMENT in a man’s life? We agree that by her discipline and chastity, she could preserve herself a Virgin, but the Judah Factor? How could she have positioned herself to be liked by a man carrying the Judah code, so that she could be the Mother of Jesus? That happened only by God’s sovereign placement. She couldn’t have bought that by her Virginity.

The Judah factor is what Grace represents in our lives. Something we couldn’t have worked for, something we could never have calculated, and that thing then become the primary source of Heaven’s attraction and attention to our cause. Too many people boast of their Virginity when what they ought to acknowledge is their alignment with Judah. At the Virginity level, too many people already have that, what separates us is not what we contribute, but what He distributes by His Grace.

Vs 16 of Matthew 1 makes it very clear, that the indispensable dimension of the genealogy is what matters even more. Jesus must be connected to Judah, so God looked for a man from Judah; Joseph who was then espoused to a Virgin; Mary. Mary’s name did not feature in the genealogy because she was most likely from the Tribe of Aaron. She was a cousin to Elizabeth who belonged to the Aaronic order. So going by her lineage, she was disqualified, but just when it mattered most, she aligned to Judah! Joseph is grossly underrated simply because he didn’t provide blood in the equation of incarnation, but he provided covenant! Without him, there would be no Mary.

If Joseph’s fiance’s name was Suzan who happened to be a Virgin, today, it would have been Suzan the Mother of Jesus. He was the indispensable factor, not Mary. Oh dear, do we see this? So, I hope you would start praying the prayers of Alignment much more than the legalistic pursuit of contribution.

Another powerful truth here is that Joseph and Mary were not married when God knew, based on their commitment levels, that they were marriage bound. Vs 18 made it clear that the visitation protocol was activated the moment Mary was espoused to Joseph before they “came together”. Her “Yes” to Joseph was the trigger in the corridors of Heaven. God didn’t even wait for marriage before He moved. This means that our words and commitments must never be taken for granted. Many ladies abound who say “Yes” to 3 brothers within a calendar year and guess what? Just before the angel shows up, they have broken up. God knew Mary’s Yes was a solid Yes, not a “let’s see how it goes” kinda “Yes”.

As a generation, we need to get to a point of absolute commitment and loyalty to the cause we believe in. It would interest you to know that the visitation that preceded the hosting of Jesus was the last major instruction that came to Mary.

Every other instruction regarding the preservation of that Life was routed through Joseph. You need to see the way Mary completely submitted to the leadership of Joseph, even before marriage.

What we find today is many ladies saying “we are not married o, so don’t expect this level of submission from me”, guess what? How you will do in marriage is how you’re doing now. Selah

There is so much to glean from Mary’s “Diary of the Privileged Mother of Yeshua” and I hope you have gleaned a doze of Wisdom today. What’s your MSc.?

Father, I pray these hearts are established in Your Word and empowered by Your Spirit in Jesus name.

Have a productive week ahead.

Dami Oguntunde
@damioguntunde