Long ago in an ancient land ruled by a tyrannical empire, an
impoverished 13-year-old country girl found herself at the
frightening heart of a social scandal.
Long ago in an ancient land ruled by a tyrannical empire, an impoverished 13-year-old country girl found herself at the frightening heart of a social scandal.
Mary of Nazareth, barely a teenager, faced the very real possibility of a brutal form of capital punishment – crushing stones thrown from the hands of friends and neighbors. The child’s “crime”: someone with whom she was not married had impregnated her.
Of course, we know how miraculously her extraordinary story ends. On this Christmas Eve, the world celebrates the birth of her child Jesus.
Earlier this month, I sat in the Old Mission Church in San Juan Bautista and watched a performance of El Teatro Campesino’s “La Virgen del Tepeyac.” The beloved story relates how a simple peasant farmer named Juan Diego encountered the Blessed Virgin Mary several times on the sacred Aztec hill of Tepeyac in central Mexico.
After enjoying the phenomenal performance, I pondered the earthly life of the mortal Mary.
According to the apocryphal Gospel of James, Mary was born in Nazareth to Anna and Joachim, poor Jews in a backwater town. Perhaps they worked as farmers in the green hills surrounding the tiny agricultural village.
If she looked like other girls of the area, Mary had dark hair and Mediterranean features. It’s unlikely she knew how to read or write. Ancient people considered such skills a waste of time to teach a lowly girl.
From an early age, Mary spent her days helping her parents. She prepared food with Anna and wove sheep wool for cloth.
She certainly heard about – and might have personally witnessed – much of the violence from Roman imperial soldiers as well as terrorist acts by Jewish rebels. Her Judea homeland was a troubled territory.
At age 12, Mary was betrothed to Joseph, a neighbor perhaps in his late teens or early 20s.
In that ancient world, a betrothal was much more complicated than what we modern people might consider in an engagement. Although not a marriage, it was a legal contract. It bound the woman as the “property” of her future husband who would serve him faithfully and bear sons.
Legend has it at age 13, when Mary went to the village well for water, she had her miraculous encounter with the angel Gabriel. Calling her “blessed among women,” he told her that her womb would be a conduit for God to come to Earth in human form. You can only wonder what thoughts poured through her child’s mind. Imagine the angelic message: the young girl was called to be God’s mother.
But the psychological stress on Mary from such a divine pregnancy must have been profound. Joseph found out three months after the conception. Scandal!
To him, Mary was spoiled goods. To have his “property” defiled was a massive shame to an honest Jewish man.
So, Joseph decided to end the betrothal quietly and preserve his dignity. Of course, he knew, once the pregnancy started to show, the village of Nazareth would turn against Mary and her unborn child. They’d crush her with the pounding weight of heavy stones.
But, the biblical story goes, one night Joseph experienced a dream. It changed his mind. He secretly wed Mary.
Later, according to the Gospel of Luke, the couple were forced on a desert journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem for the Roman census. It was an arduous trip for anyone – but especially for a frail girl on the verge of labor. Mary gave birth to Jesus in a small cave used for livestock. She placed her newborn baby in a “manger” – a cattle trough filled with hay. Jesus indeed had a humble birth.
According to Protestant Christian tradition, Joseph and Mary continued to have normal marital relations. Mary gave birth to four more sons – Joseph, Judas, Simon and James – and at least two daughters (legend has their names as Anna and Lydia).
Some time in Jesus’s teenage years, Joseph died. No doubt it was stressful for the single mother Mary to raise children on her own. And in later years as Jesus grew up to take on his Messianic mission, it must have hurt Mary to see her first-born son become an object of shame and ridicule in their Nazareth neighborhood. Some villagers even proclaimed Jesus was insane.
But social embarrassment was nothing compared to the agony Mary must have experienced witnessing the brutal Roman execution of her son. Crucifixion was an inhuman torture reserved for the empire’s most contemptible criminals. What despair must have racked her as she suffered the horrible spectacle of her child undergoing excruciating anguish. Michelangelo’s famous “Pietà ” expresses her sorrow, showing the dead Jesus crumpled in his mother’s lap.
It’s uncertain what happened to Mary in her later years. Maybe she assisted her son James in founding the Jerusalem church. Perhaps she witnessed the brutal Roman execution of James.
Some legends have it she lived her remaining days in the Turkish town of Ephesus with John. The Catholic faith holds she mystically ascended to heaven into the arms of Jesus and Moses.
Mary’s story shows her as one of history’s most extraordinary women. She possessed immense courage, a powerful will and a tremendous conviction of faith. She certainly must have been emotionally robust to bear the pain of scandal and the brutal deaths of two sons.
Even centuries after her death – with visions of her beheld by simple people in Tepeyac, Lourdes and Fatima – she still radiates a reverent light in the hearts of the faithful. In these revelations, the mother of Jesus represents the feminine spirit of the divine.
During the last two millennia, Mary has had a major impact on history and the Christian religion. This remarkable woman overcame the pain of social stigma and immense sorrow. She gives hope to our modern world.
And, as the frightened 13-year-old peasant girl, she plays the pivotal role in the Christmas story. Without her, this winter holiday season would never exist. Mary of Nazareth’s life is truly a miracle.
