Birth of Christ Through Their Eyes - Mary and Joseph

The days and weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas are my favorite time of year.  I love the food, fellowship, music, decorations, gift giving... I love it all!  However, as Christians we know that the reason for the celebration is the birth of Christ.  I love reading the Christmas story from Matthew and Luke’s gospels any time of year, but during this season when we have set aside a special day to celebrate His birth, I love to meditate on it, to imagine what it might have been like to have been a participant in the events that surrounded the birth of our Savior.  

 

For the next few weeks, we will be looking at the Christmas story from the perspective of those who were there.  I will use Scripture, my research of Jewish culture, and a bit of my own internal dialog to help us to put ourselves in the place of those who had a bird's eye view into this amazing, miraculous event that changed the world!   

             Mary- 

Luke 1: 26-38: In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, 27 to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. 28 Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!” 

29 Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. 30 “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!” 

34 Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.” 

35 The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God. 36 What’s more, your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren, but she has conceived a son and is now in her sixth month. 37 For the word of God will never fail.” 

38 Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” And then the angel left her. 

Historians agree that Mary was probably between 12-14 years old when she was approached by Gabriel.  In a Jewish home, girls usually got married shortly after they reached childbearing age.i   

This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit.  (Matthew 1:18 NLT) 

From Matthew’s account we know that Mary was already betrothed to Joseph.  In Jewish culture in that time marriages were typically arranged by the fathers of the bride and groom.  The groom usually had some input into the arrangement; however, the bride typically had little say.  The betrothal was a legal ceremony and, “when the agreement had been entered into, it was definite and binding upon both the groom and bride, who were considered as man and wife in all legal and religious aspects, except that of actual cohabitation.”ii 

“Girls were expected to remain virgins until they were married. Virginity was highly prized in ancient Israel, not only because of its religious implications, but also because virginity implied a certain measure of self-control and obedience, qualities desirable in a wife and predicative of marital fidelity”.iii

 

Imagine being a 12–14-year-old girl, already being betrothed to a man who was likely at least 10 years older than you, being raised in a strict Jewish family, and now being approached by and angel who announces to you that you will conceive and carry the Son of God, through the Holy Spirit. Wow!!!

 

Deuteronomy 22:20-21, “But suppose the man’s accusations are true, and he can show that she was not a virgin. The woman must be taken to the door of her father’s home, and there the men of the town must stone her to death, for she has committed a disgraceful crime in Israel by being promiscuous while living in her parents’ home. In this way, you will purge this evil from among you.” 

Mary knew the requirements of the Law. She understood that adultery was punishable by death. She knew that Joseph held her life in his hands, however, her devotion to and love for God gave her the courage to humbly submit to the will of the Lord and to yield herself up as a vessel of honor for Him.

 

Mary must have faced terrible mocking, shunning, and been the subject of much gossip in Nazareth during those 8+ long months of pregnancy (and probably after as well). We are not given any details of her life during that time, but I can well imagine how the women of the town must have avoided her and the men must have looked down on her and her family. Mary’s situation not only impacted her life, but it had to have had an impact on her family as well. Yet, the trials they faced, in her eyes must have been worth it because we know she carried her beloved child to full term and raised him to be a godly man.  

Joseph- 

Matthew 1:18-25: This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. 19 Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly. 

20 As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 

22 All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet: 

23 “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’” 

24 When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. 25 But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus. 

While there are not many historical or Biblical records of Joseph, we can surmise that he was raised like most Jewish boys. Most Jewish households were made up of multiple generations from the paternal side. The schoolhouse was everyday life. Boys and girls learned from their parents and extended families. Proverbs 1:8 (NLT) states, “My child, listen when your father corrects you. Don’t neglect your mother’s instruction.” Jewish children watched and learned from the adults around them. They were actively involved in the economic, social, political, and religion of their culture. iv 

Joseph probably came from a long line of carpenters, as “A son was taught to worship God, to learn a trade, and to read the Torah.”v He was also educated in the Torah and was an active participant in the synagogue.  

As a Jewish man, he had waited his entire life to take a wife and have a family. He had probably thought a lot about what it would be like to marry Mary and settle down to raise his children. In his culture it was important to have sons, as they were the ones who stayed at home after they were married and supported their parents in their older years. It was also important to keep the family name alive.  

                            

            After years of waiting and planning, Joseph finally is betrothed to the woman of his choosing, only to discover that she is pregnant. How deflating and heartbreaking this must have been for him. Matthew tells us that because Joseph was a righteous man, he did not want to disgrace Mary publicly (he could have had her killed). He decided to break their engagement privately.

 

         I’m sure that when he found out about the pregnancy and apparent infidelity, he must have confronted Mary only to have her tell him the baby was the Son of God and had been given to her through the Holy Spirit. Wow! I’m sure that was not anywhere on his radar. How could this be?

 

    However, before he could divorce Mary, he too was visited by an angel of the Lord and told that the child was indeed the Son of God and that he was to marry Mary, raise the son she was carrying, and was to name him Jesus. He was also charged with the knowledge that this child would be the long-awaited Messiah. Double Wow!!!!

 

         Joseph’s world just turned upside down. He was not only marrying a woman who was carrying a child that was not his, he was now also subjecting himself to public ridicule and shame. And if that wasn’t enough, he was also gaining the overwhelming responsibility of raising the Son of God!!!!!! Yet, we know that Joseph, like Mary, humbled himself and willingly obeyed the angel’s message. He took Mary as his wife and protected Jesus even when that meant leaving his own country to do so. (More on that when we study Herod.) 

    

        What an amazing sacrifice Mary and Joseph made to ensure that we could be redeemed from our sin through the sinless lamb of God, who they called “Son”.  

_________________

Endnotes

i https://tjwrayauthor.com/the-lives-and-roles-of-women-in-biblical-times/ 

ii https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/3229-betrothal 

iii https://tjwrayauthor.com/the-lives-and-roles-of-women-in-biblical-times/ 

iv https://bibleinterp.arizona.edu/articles/world-children-hebrew-bible 

v https://www.chicagojewishnews.com/how-were-jewish-children-educated-in-biblical-times/