Editorial

Events before Christmas

As we prepare for Christmas, perhaps a meditation on events leading up to that event, as told in the Gospels, will give us a few new insights.

When we pick up the story, Mary is betrothed to Joseph, a descendent of King David. Unfortunately, by this time, 1,000 years after the time of David, his house had fallen into obscurity. Joseph was a carpenter.

To say that Mary and Joseph were betrothed means that they were married. Betrothal was not just an engagement. Marriage for the Jews at that time consisted of two parts. The first part was the consent of both parties in the presence of at least two competent witnesses, the actual wedding. But they continued to live apart while a celebration was planned for the solemn entry of the bride into the groom’s home.

After the betrothal but before Mary moved into Joseph’s home, the archangel Gabriel appeared to Mary. He had earlier appeared to Zechariah to announce the conception of John the Baptist. Gabriel probably had a human appearance because Luke’s Gospel said that Zechariah could see him (Lk 1:12).

Gabriel told Mary that she would conceive a son who “will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father” (Lk 1:32-33). Mary would have known, as all Jews did, that this was a description of the long-awaited Messiah.

But Mary was still puzzled because she had taken a vow of virginity. “How can this be,” she asked, “since I have no relations with a man?” (Lk 1:34).

We have to wonder what Mary thought about Gabriel’s answer: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you”

(Lk 1:35). She had never heard of the Holy Spirit, although she probably knew of the various references to the “Spirit of the Lord” in Hebrew Scriptures. Mary probably thought the angel meant that the power of God would make this possible.

Whatever she thought, it was enough for her to give her consent: “I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38). And with those words, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity entered her womb—and, indeed, into our human race. Or, as St. John put it, “The Word was made flesh” (Jn 1:14).

Gabriel also told Mary that her relative Elizabeth was six months pregnant. We marvel at the confidence that Mary had in Gabriel’s words, because she at once made arrangements to join a caravan for the 90-mile trip from Nazareth to Elizabeth’s home in Ein Kerem, near Jerusalem. Did she tell Joseph that she was making the trip? If so, how did she explain how she knew about Elizabeth’s pregnancy? All we can do is speculate.

Mary was gone for three months. By the time she returned to Nazareth, she was at least three months pregnant. We presume that this is when Joseph learned about the pregnancy. How did Mary tell him? How does a woman tell her husband that an angel appeared to her and she became pregnant without having had sex with a man?

Matthew’s Gospel makes it clear that Joseph was “her husband” (Mt 1:19) but also that Mary was found to be with child “before they lived together” (Mt 1:18). It was, therefore, during that period between the actual marriage and the time that Mary moved into Joseph’s home.

Joseph obviously believed that Mary was carrying another man’s child—which meant that she had committed adultery. He didn’t want to expose Mary to shame though (or subject her to death by stoning, the penalty for proved adultery), so he decided to divorce her quietly.

That would have been difficult to do in a small village. Nevertheless, that was his intention until he had a dream in which an angel told him, “Do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her” (Mt 1:20).

Joseph did what the angel said “and took his wife into his home” (Mt 1:24), the second part of the wedding process.

We are now ready for Jesus’ birth.

As we continue on our Advent journey and approach Christmas, may we reflect on Mary’s “yes” to God and Joseph’s response to the angel and have the courage to listen to God’s messengers when they speak to us.

—John F. Fink