by Patti Richter
I fancied myself an actress after starring in my eighth-grade play. My high school drama team proved more competitive. A girl named Mary received the lead role in our spring production while I accepted the part of collecting admission tickets for the event.
When Mary graduated and left Arkansas to pursue an acting career in New York City, I was skeptical. After all, her accent was even stronger than mine. And was as she really that good? The answer repeated itself over the years as Mary Steenburgen starred in one big-screen movie after another. I realized she was truly talented—especially when she won an Academy Award.
Another girl named Mary hailed from the humble town of Nazareth, in Galilee. If not highly esteemed by her peers, she had heavenly admirers. An angel informed her: “You have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son. . . Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. . . His kingdom will never end” (Luke 1:26-33, NIV).
The book of Isaiah had supplied God’s people with a description of what to look for in the coming Messiah. The prophet said he would grow up “like a root out of dry ground. . . no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him” (Isaiah 53:2, 3 NIV).
In Bethlehem, while angels and shepherds worshiped the child born in a stable, descendants of David, oblivious to the arrival of the Savior, slept in warm beds at nearby inns. A Roman decree had brought them to register for a census (Luke 2:1-20). They fulfilled their duty but missed their opportunity to witness the advent of the One who would divide the old world from the new—Before Christ and After.
The people of Nazareth, forgetting Isaiah’s words, also missed out. After Jesus began his ministry and returned to teach in his hometown, they were amazed, but not for the right reason. “Isn’t his mother’s name Mary?” “Where then did this man get all these things?” Perhaps resenting Jesus’s favor with God, “they took offense” and missed whatever blessings might have come to them. Jesus “did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith” (Matthew 13:53-58 NIV).
The Pharisees missed out too, by esteeming the letter of the law above the Lawgiver. Instead of criticizing Jesus for healing the sick on the Sabbath day (Matthew 12:1-14) they could have fetched a sick friend or family member in need of the Lord’s touch.
While those people looked to find fault with the Redeemer, our modern society does no better, accepting him only on its own terms. Baby Jesus in the manger still appeals to many, at least during the holiday season. And Jesus’s teachings continue to provide popular maxims for those who adapt and paraphrase his words without giving credit to the Source.
However, Jesus requires more than selective admiration: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). And he commends those who do not reject his claims: “Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me” (Matthew 11:6 NIV).
As Christ’s followers, we may lose favor in some circles. We’ll be tolerated by those who nod but do not bow to God. We’ll be dismissed as narrow-minded by those who reject the Savior. Yet we will be blessed—favored—by God.
Everyone who is called by My name, and whom I have created for my glory, whom I have formed, even whom I have made. Isaiah 43:7 NASB
About the author: Patti Richter lives in north Georgia with her husband, Jim. She writes and edits global mission stories for The Gospel Coalition and her faith essays appears at BlueRibbonNews.com. 
Patti is the co-author of Signs of His Presence—Experiencing God’s Comfort in Times of Suffering. It is the story of Luann Mire, whose godly husband was blindsided by an indictment due to a former employer’s tax fraud. The resulting prison sentence and restitution took the once joyful couple into a long season of suffering as they fought judicial tyranny. Helpless to change her situation, Luann endured a painful examination of her life and found God faithful to His promises.
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