A quick break from our Sabbath series (I swear I am working on part 2 and it is almost done) to talk about something I thought of reading this morning: how nuts Mary and Joseph were.
I mean, have you ever thought about how crazy what they did was? Take Mary to begin with. The Bible does not say much about her except for what is recorded around the time of Jesus birth. Often we assume that she was a very virtuous woman, however the Bible does not say so. Gabriel in Luke tells Mary that she is highly favored of God, but this says little about who she was as a person. In all likelihood, she was probably little different than other girls her age (between 12-18).
Yet suddenly she gets this angel who visits her and tells that she is going to have a baby via the Holy Spirit. This baby is the long prophesied and looked-for Messiah, the hope of Israel and Desire of Ages. This is the greatest honor that could be given to anyone, ever. Why Yahveh chose Mary will probably always remain a mystery. He chose her because he did, like he chose Abraham in Genesis. With Abraham, nothing is recorded about him before Yahveh calls him. No reason for Yahveh's call to Abraham is given, just that he did. The same is true of Mary. Yahveh chooses people simply because he does.
In this call to be the mother of God, Mary is given a choice. She can accept the awesome responsibility or reject. Now normally, this would be the proverbial no-brainer. However, Mary is an unmarried virgin who is already engaged to a man named Joseph. This provides for starters a mechanical difficulty with getting her pregnant, though Gabriel assures her that Yahveh will work the biology out. The real issue is what to do with Joseph. At some point, she is going to have to tell him and she is going to have to tell him the truth.
Can you imagine that conversation? "Hi honey, I'm pregnant, even though we aren't married yet, but don't worry. This angel told me that this baby is from the Holy Spirit and is going to be the Messiah, so it's okay." Right, that is believable.
Something that we have remember is that in this culture, virginity and purity from a woman was everything. Men, not so much, but that is a different topic. If a woman lost her virginity before she was married, she was considered damaged goods and therefore no one would marry her. Given that Mary was pregnant, the loss of virginity was basically a given, which means that Joseph had every right and reason to toss her aside. To make things worse, he could have her publically executed. If Joseph chose to reject her, the best life she could look forward to was one where she was on the same social level as a prostitute.
According to my sources, it would take about five weeks to three months for a woman sans a pregnancy test to know she is pregnant, depending on how well she understood her biology. Given that Mary was in her early to mid teens, I would assume she did not know that much. If I were in her shoes, I would wait to make absolutely sure that I was pregnant and not hallucinating before I told my betrothed the news. What this means is that even if Joseph believed her, which was unlikely (would you?) and married her, the local finger counters would realize that something was not adding up. Explaining the situation would merely add lunatic to the charge of whore, so no help there. She would be subjecting herself to a lifetime of social scorn.
All this undoubtedly ran through her mind while considering the off Yahveh was giving her. My logic and reason say that answering "yes" would be absolutely nuts. I might have said come back after I am married or recommended a married couple I knew. This would have probably defeated the whole point, but that would be my answer. Instead Mary says, "I am the Lord's servant. May it be as you have said." Despite all the struggle and heartache that would undoubtedly follow, she said yes.
What about Joseph? In a sense, he almost has it worse than Mary. This was done without his consent or choice and then he is told to be the step father to God. Not an easy job, to say the least. I mean, imagine him working away in his carpenters shop when his fiancée shows up and tells him this cock and bull story of being pregnant by the Holy Spirit and said child is going to be the Messiah. Points for creativity, but not much else.
Initially, he plans to divorce her quietly as to keep her public humiliation to a minimum, though that was completely unavoidable. But then he gets a visit from Gabriel telling him that Mary is not a) crazy, b) lying, and c) unfaithful. That must have been a shock to the system to realize that his job was to help raise the son of God, a son that was not his own. Of course, this also meant marrying Mary immediately.
Of course that itself had its own problems. Again, the finger counters would have noticed that Joseph married his bride a little prematurely and quickly. They also would have noticed that the time does not quite add up right. The logic thus follows that Joseph and Mary had "tested the waters" at the wrong time and were now trying to cover up their mistake. If he went through with what the angel was telling him to do would be to identify with Mary's humiliation. Risky to say the least.
Yet Matthew records that he did. Indeed, it is implied from the text that it was almost immediately after his dream. No hesitation, no looking back. He took Yahveh's command and followed it.
We know even less of Joseph than we do of Mary. Indeed, all we know of the carpenter that help raise our savior is that he was someone who did what Yahveh commanded without hesitation or question. He did not argue or complain like so many others throughout life, despite the fact he was given the toughest job any man has ever been given: raise a son that is not yours and the son that is the ruler of the Universe.
So what is the point of all of this? From a limited human perspective, what Mary and Joseph did was crazy. They essentially doomed the rest of their days to ridicule and scorn. They were to be social pariahs that might even be prosecuted. But they did it. Why? Because Yahveh said so.
What about you and me? How often have we been commanded by Yahveh to do things that are either crazy or at best quite unpleasant? I know it has happened to me more than once. What do we do? We complain, we question, we look for loopholes out. How often do we just say, as Mary, "I am the Lord's servant. May it be as you said."?
So what will you do? Will you do what Yahveh commands, no matter how nuts or unpleasant it looks? Will you be like Mary and Joseph?
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