I’ve been thinking about what it was like for Mary, the mother of Jesus.

A pregnant, unwed teenager having to explain to family and friends what happened.

“Mary, how could you do this?”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“But you’re pregnant.”

“But I’m still a virgin.”

“Tell me who the father is.”

“God.”

“God? What makes you think that?”

“An angel told me.”

Talk about gossip. Just imagine it. It had to be a humiliating nine months.

But hers was not the last humiliation in the story.

How about her Son being stripped naked, spit on, punched, whipped and crucified while being mocked and insulted for claiming God was His Father?