Mary Did You Know

Sermon for 2 Jan 2021

Today is Epiphany Sunday. Catholics also believe it is the date the Magi arrived and Christ was revealed to the Gentiles. Epiphany means “a revealing”, in this case it refers to recognizing the true identity of Jesus. Many scholars believe Christ was first recognized on the steps of the temple when he was 8 days old and brought to be circumcised. They tend to ignore the Christmas Eve visit by the Shepherds. They also ignore Joseph’s revelation several months before Christ’s birth. Mary recognized the true identity of Jesus before conception. Regardless of who first recognized the Messiah, his parents followed the law and took him to the temple 8 days after birth according to Jewish law. I wonder what Jesus and Mary were thinking eight days after Jesus was born after Jesus was born?

If Joseph was of the house of David, his father and uncles had to have been also. Ever wonder why they didn’t accompany Joseph and Mary when they went to the Bethlehem to be taxed. Could it have been to escape the gossiping tongues of the village muckrakers? Every town has them; I would think Nazareth would be no exception. Mary had been to her aunt Elizabeth’s home for much of her pregnancy. She left before she was far enough along to be obvious but returned in the full glory of expectant motherhood. Experts tell us Mary was somewhere between 13 and 15 and Joseph is estimated to be around 18 or 19. At that time, girls married early. It was a strict patrilineal society. Your place in the tribal hierarchy was determined by the linage of your father. Thus, it was extremely important to marry a virgin in order to prove who fathered the children. Joseph was prepared to raise the son of God, but the villagers didn’t know Mary’s baby was fathered by the Holy Spirit. All they knew was that she was an unmarried pregnant teen, and Joseph may or may not have been the father. The closer she came to delivery, the more the tongues would wag. They must have been very hard on the young couple for Joseph to put his very pregnant bride on the back of a donkey for a 100-mile trip. It would have taken more than one day; more like three or four full travel days. I wonder where they slept while traveling? There was no Motel 6.

Bethlehem was Joseph’s ancestral home, so he must have had relatives there. It was a busy time because of Caesar August’s decree for a general census. The town was obviously crowded as there was no room in the inn. It could be that Joseph didn’t call ahead and notify his relatives they were enroute, or maybe they didn’t want the stigma of an unwed mother in their home. Or, it could have simply been that the available beds were already filled with other relatives, leaving Joseph and Mary no option but to sleep in the barn. That actually wouldn’t have been too bad.

Have any of you ever been to Eastern Europe? For the most part, old farm houses didn’t have quarters for people and separate outbuildings for livestock. Most of the farm houses I saw in Germany and on into Russia had their living space on the second floor. Indoor plumbing is a fairly recent concept so the bathrooms were upstairs so that the black water could gravity flow down into a honey wagon which was then distributed onto the fields. The first floor was the barn. That was practical as the heat from the livestock would help heat the living quarters. I visited one farm in Russia that also had a third story workshop where they would prepare and weave the flax into linen cloth. I would like to think the housing shortage abated after the census, and the young family was able to move upstairs into the guest room. Matthew tells us the babe was born in a manger, however, when the Magi arrived, they were in a house.

Who helped with the birth? I know of only one husband who delivered his own baby, and he certainly didn’t plan it that way. It was a week or so before the due date, but his wife wasn’t feeling well so, he cancelled a business trip and stayed home. When the labor pains began, he called the midwife who told him to call back when the pains were closer together. The baby, however, didn’t wait; and when delivery started, he called the EMTs for help. The dispatcher asked how far the baby had progressed, and he replied, “Its, it’s a girl.” The EMTs came and took care of the rest. I don’t think Joseph planned to assist in the delivery either. Surely his relatives had midwives who helped. If Jesus had been born without any help at all, I’m sure scripture would have mentioned it.

I remember the birth of my first child. We were stationed in Waco, Texas and dads weren’t allowed to be in the delivery room as they are now. Dads had their own expectant father room. When the nurse brought the still wet newborn out, I surprised her by taking the baby, unwrapping my daughter and counting fingers and toes. She was perfect. This was not the child of God, but she was my child, and I had an overwhelming feeling of love and protectiveness. I wonder if Joseph felt the same thing. Not long after the birth, angels sent shepherds to visit the Christ child. Angels sent two of my bachelor buddies to visit Billie and I: Brian Callaghan and Steve Herd. Steve was too macho to show much interest. Brian, on the other hand, wanted to hold her, but every time he would, she would cry. I have lost track of Steve, but I ran in to Callaghan while I was in Viet Nam. He was leaving the military to marry a nun. That is another good story. Our daughter never did let him hold her. I wonder if the baby Jesus was particular about who held him?

As far as we can tell, the new family was left on their own for the first week or so. We stopped to visit our son in Seattle soon after his first child was born. We were on our way to New Orleans by train and only had one night to visit. I was surprised to learn my now ex daughter-in-law expected us to clean her house and cook for her while we were there. It was one of her complaints that came out in the divorce proceedings. When our first was born, we were several hundred miles from close family. Both our parents worked, so we didn’t expect them to rush down to “help”. We liked it that way. It gave us time to get to know one another and learn to be a family. It was a wonderful time in our lives. I think Mary and Joseph would have felt the same way.

Scripture picks up the new family the following week on that first Epiphany Sunday. As I said earlier, Jewish law requires male children be circumcised by the priest when they are 8 days old. For Jesus, that would have been today. This is the eighth day after Christmas. The rules also required all first-born sons be presented to the temple to receive the priest’s blessing on the fortieth day. The law also requires the parents to make a purification offering. So, two trips to the temple. The specified purification offering is a lamb, or if they can’t afford a lamb, then two pigeons will suffice. We know the three wise men had not yet arrived with their gift of gold, because Joseph and Mary were too poor to afford a lamb.

When the new family approached the temple on the fortieth day after Jesus’s birth, they met a man named Simeon. Simeon had been promised by God he would not die until he had seen the Messiah. Scripture says, “...he came in spirit to the temple.” I’m not sure what that means. I must assume it means that Simeon was somehow told by God the Christ would be there. Jerusalem was a pretty large city, and I envision the temple as a busy place. Lots of hustle and bustle. People exchanging currency and buying animals for various offerings. Among all this activity, Simeon was able to identify Jesus in his mother’s arms. He then took the baby in his own arms. I wonder why Mary and Joseph allowed this? I took my small grandchildren to Japan. Blond-haired, blue-eyed children were a novelty. We went to the zoo in Kobe and was the biggest attraction there. People would stop and take their picture. Bold ones would snuggle up to get in the picture, but we were very hesitant to allow anyone to pick up our grandchildren in their arms. I wonder why they let Simeon do that. I guess they were very trusting. Then Simeon announced to the crowd that this baby was the Christ.

A little latter on. We don’t know how much latter, we don’t even know it was the same day, but I assume it was on the same trip to the temple. They met Simeon going in then they met an old woman named Anna on their way out. She was eighty-four years old and was allowed to live in the temple. Normally this was reserved for priests, but somehow Anna had earned the privilege. When she saw the baby, she also recognized Him and again told the crowd who he was.

The three wise men are normally part of the Christmas story. Nativity scenes have them in the manger with the newborn Jesus, but they didn’t come until later. We know it was somewhere between 40 days and 24 months. Mary and Joseph offered pigeons as their sacrifice because they had no money. So, it had to have been after 40 days. After the wisemen came and went, Herod ordered every male child killed who was under two years old. The Magi warned Joseph, and he and his family had escaped into Egypt before the order was carried out.

I’m glad we didn’t have to go through that. Being a new parent was hard enough without the authorities trying to kill our baby. I am also glad we weren’t assigned to raise the Son of God. On the other hand, when you think about it, all children are children of God. We couldn’t do it without Him. We can’t do anything without Him. God has been very good to us. We have been fortunate to have many blessed experiences, not the least of which is our babies. I am glad to see children in our church. They are also a gift from God even if we are not their parents. Children make life worth living.