FROM THE WOMB TO THE TOMB and BEYOND

                                                           By Celia Jolley, Advent 2020

We all have preconceived ideas, even when it comes to Scripture.  That includes our perception of  who Mary was.  Yes, we find Joseph and Mary engaged in Nazareth.  The Gospel of Matthew gives Joseph's lineage even though he was not literally in Jesus' gene pool, though nevertheless of great importance in the early years of Jesus' life.  Luke 3 gives Mary's.  Yet, unless we dig deep into her genealogy, we must admit we do not know much of Mary.  Since we find her in Nazareth, a humble little town, and since Joseph was just a carpenter, it has been assumed she was probably from a poor family though her parents are never mentioned.  

Let me flip this on its head.  In some research of her roots, it has been said that her father and grandfather were both murdered in the infighting of the Jewish High Council.  Both men were rich and held places high up in the Jewish religious order.  Not only that, but Joseph of Arimathea was possibly her uncle, her father's brother.  Because of this, whatever  Joseph of Arimathea did, he had to do carefully so as not to be next on the hit list.  His position was secure for now since he was a wealthy man.

And the plot thickens.  If it is to be believed, Mary's father Joachim was possibly murdered when she was very young while her mother Saint Anne remarried, and possibly Joseph of Arimathea became her guardian.  Legend has it that her wealthy parents were barren and long prayed for a child promising to dedicate it to the temple, like Hannah.  According to this legend, they left her to be raised at the temple at age three.  Her father died (was murdered?) soon after.  Whether Joseph of Arimathea arranged it or her parents, she supposedly grew up as a servant in the temple in Jerusalem.  Young girls were allowed to serve there until they had their first menses.  Thus it explains Mary's understanding of Scriptures from her young age.  

In order to keep her safe after that, Joseph of Arimathea might have felt the need to get her out of Jerusalem because of the infighting that might have led to her father and grandfather's murder.  Some say her wealthy parents were from Nazareth, though her father had died and her mother remarried.  Either way, thus Nazareth and thus her engagement to Joseph of Nazareth.

Now think of the prophetess Anna who was "advanced in years" who greeted them in the temple when they brought baby Jesus to the temple to present Him to the Lord since "every first-born male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord." (Luke 2:22 and 36-38)  Without a doubt, she must have watched Mary growing up in the temple.  After all,  since Anna after having been married, was widowed after seven years and then until this time at age 84, she "never left the temple, serving night and day with fastings and prayers. And at that very moment she came up and began giving thanks to God, and continued to speak of Him to all those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem." (Luke 2:36-38)  Do you think that some of those prayers might have included our sweet little Mary?  Was she a grandmother figure in the temple to young Mary?

Joseph of Arimathea was a very wealthy man.  The high council did not want to lose their share of  his riches and therefore kept him on in the High Council.  It is reported that he had ships that would sail from his tin mines in Corning on the southern coast of England from where he could have done commerce with France and other places until he returned home to Jerusalem.  According to Corning lore, he brought the boy Jesus with him on at least one of his trips.

Then think of Joseph of Arimathea on the High Council after the Feast of the Passover celebration in when the boy Jesus at the age of twelve "stayed behind in Jerusalem, and His parents were unaware of it."  When they returned to Jerusalem and after three days of searching "they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them, and asking them questions.  And all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers."  Might he have been under his Uncle Joseph's watch care and protection when his parents lost the very Son of God? (Luke 2:41-47)  Talk about panic!

Now back to Jesus' birth, some of the sweetest, most tender verses are found in Luke 2:7, "And she gave birth to her first-born son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger..."  Now compare this after the heart-wrenching verses describing His death on a cross then on to Luke 23:50-53 as it relates, "And behold, a man named Joseph, who was a member of the Council, a good and righteous man (he had not consented to their plan and action), a man from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who was waiting for the kingdom of God; this man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.  And he took it down and wrapped it in linen cloth, and laid Him in a tomb cut into rock, where no one had ever lain."  Can you see these verses juxtaposed: "she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger" (a manger probably made of stone); and "He...wrapped it (His body) in...cloth, and laid Him in a tomb."  Such loving care in both instances.

Now let's fast forward to the unsettling time after Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection.  The disciples were being killed and Christians were being hunted.  The apostle John whom Jesus loved and had asked to care for His mother when He was dying on the cross, was likewise in trouble.  However,  John was later sent to the island Patmos to keep him in isolation confinement from the rest of the world for his punishment.  Obviously, he could not care for Mary any longer.  In steps her guardian,  Joseph of Arimathea. 

 Now Joseph of Arimathea would never be accepted back into the High Council after asking for Jesus body,  before, in their eyes, the whole stone rolling away debacle happened.  In fact, he was probably high on their hit list of Jesus followers.  It has been written, not in Scripture but elsewhere, that Joseph  escaped taking the Marys, including the mother of Jesus, on one of his ships leaving some in France and taking others including Mary the mother of Jesus off to the southern coast of England where his tin mines were.  There are ancient records showing that Joseph paid Druids there in hides in order to buy land for their small  colony of Christians who had fled persecution.   This would have happened after Pentecost when the disciples became bold by the anointing of the Holy Spirit which blew the hatred by the Jews into a conflagration against them.   It was no longer safe to be a Christian in Jerusalem.

Thus from legends, ancient genealogies and history as well as Scripture, we have broken through some of the assumptions about our girl Mary.  From the womb to the tomb and beyond, this has given me a new perspective.  How about you?