28 March, 2024

Worthy of Honor

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by | 20 December, 2010 | 3 comments

By Terry O”Casey

She was nearly divorced, forced to become an immigrant in her teens, welfare poor, left alone with seven kids, and witnessed her oldest boy”s gruesome execution. Eventually, her descendants split up. In a heated custody battle lasting to this day, some of them still aren”t allowed much time with Mom.  Who is she? Join me, Bible in hand, for some holy imagineering.

Two families: Joe and his dad, Jacob (Matthew 1:16), headed over to her dad”s house. Jacob spoke: “Heli1, my son would like to marry your daughter. If you agree, we”ll draw up the ketubah for the prenuptial agreement. Set the mohar, the bride price, for your daughter, Heli.”

Joe turned to his fiancée, “I am going to prepare a place for you in my father”s house!”

Picture young Mary, 14 years old, walking along the Nazareth streets with her friends. She points to a handsome construction worker building a place for her attached to his father”s house.

If someone asked, “Who”s that young girl over there?” pointing to Mary, the answer came, “She is one who was bought with a price.” She was expected to honor her husband with her body.

Out of Control

But one day Mary had to break the news to her fiancé, “Joe, I am pregnant!” I doubt he handed out cigars. He didn”t buy her line: “Joe, the Holy Spirit did it.”

Joe said to Mary, “Great, I will tell my dad, “˜Mary”s pregnant. Now, I know what you are thinking, Pops. Didn”t happen like that at all. God”s Holy Spirit did it.””

Did Joe turn to say, “Sorry, Mary, my dad is just not going to buy it?” Then, his head downcast, tears misting his eyes, “Tell you the truth, I don”t believe it either. Sorry Mary, I have made up my mind, it”s a done deal” (Matthew 1:19, 20).

Mary was almost a single parent. She and her son continued to bear the label mamzer, “illegitimate,” à la the Scarlet Letter, throughout their lives.

God intervened in a marriage that was out of control. God and Joe had a midnight marriage-counseling meeting (Matthew 1:20-24). In the morning, Joe took his “beloved”2 into his arms preparing to parent a child he didn”t father. Then things got tougher.

Born in a Home

Mary headed south to En Kareem, the burb-village of Jerusalem where God”s other pediatric miracle was happening. Dr. Luke records geriatric Beth greeting the pediatric Mary with something that sounds scandalously like the Rosary””unless, of course, that is really what she said. “Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb [Jesus]” (Luke 1:42, King James Version).

Then came the requirement to register for Caesar”s census. The journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem was 75 plus miles on foot, no donkey or Ford Pinto. That was a later addition from a fake gospel3. Arrival in the sunrise-facing village of Bethlehem, south of Jerusalem, was complicated by a rooming shortage.

Dr. Luke uses a phrase often misunderstood today: “There was no room in the kataluma.” The doc uses the same word for the last supper”s “upper room,” a place for guests (Luke 22:11).

Come on in with me. Bethlehem homes are built on steep hills and often are trileveled. Front doors doubled as stable entrances. Fresh hay spread nightly kept the smells down.

Step up to the next level. This is the family living room, separated from the stable below by stone feeding troughs or mangers. Half a level above is the living room, the kataluma or guest room. Jesus was born in a HOME4 and laid in fresh hay. His godly mom sang a Scripture-embedded lullaby-hymn. Is this the home the wise men visit in Matthew 2:11?

Struggling Migrants

Joe and Mary were so poor that when they went to the temple 40 days after their son”s birth, they could not afford to offer sheep. Instead they gave the food stamp offering of two turtledoves (Luke 2:22-24). Remember that when you see a young couple struggling.

Ever have a bad experience at church with your kids? Cradling her newborn, Mary walked through the crowded megatemple. An elderly gentleman stopped her, took the child, and said: “A sword will rip your heart because of this child” (Luke 2:35). Nearly divorced, dirt poor, shot down by a prophecy””could it get any more challenging?

God tells Joe: “Take your family down to Egypt.” They became migrant workers! Did the holy family have a green card? Did people mock them because they spoke with an accent and didn”t know Egyptian? No wonder Jesus made how we treat migrants a condition for getting into Heaven! (Matthew 25:35, 38).

How old is Mary now? How many different towns, states, and countries has she lived in by the time she was nearing 20? She settles into her father (in-law”s) house in Nazareth. She and Joe did NOT practice celibacy after the virgin birth (Mark 6:3). Their first son was named for Gramps, Jacob (James). He authored a New Testament book; the second son was named after Dad, Joe; the fourth was also an author in the New Testament, Jude. Mom and Dad also had several daughters!

Her Son, the Carpenter

Picture Mary. She is now 25 or 30 with five sons and at least two or three daughters to get ready on time for Sabbath services at First Nazareth Synagogue! (Luke 4:16).

Twelve-year-old Jesus, who is approaching his bar mitzvah, joined his proud parents and headed down to Jerusalem for Passover. Mary”s first gray hairs probably came at 26 years old when she and Joe lost Jesus for several days (Luke 2:44-46).

Each night her men returned from their construction jobs 10 kilometers north at Zipporis, the state capital. Jesus worked construction for 18 years. His burly arms unloaded the burro bearing a lumber rack. Mary is 44 with gray streaked hair. Joe is probably dead. Then her son, her Savior, hangs up his carpenter”s belt for the last time. He sets out on foot to his brief life”s call.

Concerned about Mom

Jesus arrives at a wedding his mom is attending in Cana, a few kilometers east of Nazareth, where the host ran out of wine (John 2:1-11). Here is a mom who believes in her boy. She asks for his help.

Jesus looks around. With a wink and a sense of humor he eyes the “kosher containers,” six stone water jars used for holy water. Each held 20-30 gallons. Jesus turns 120-180 gallons of holy water into wine. Manischewitz by the Messiah! Did Mary smile and say, “That”s m”boy”?

Three worried years later, a mom, with face and hair wizened by time”s troubles, nears the fulfillment of Simeon”s heart-piercing prophecy. Mary is 45 to 50 years old. (Ever picture her as that age before?) Joe”s gone. She watches her beloved, her firstborn, arrested, tortured, taunted, and turned over to sadistic, bored Roman soldiers. The Roman weapons wound her heart over and over.

From upon the cross, her Jesus, deserted by his brothers, who mocked his messianic pretensions (John 7:5), speaks to his mom and to his best friend: “Mom, John will care for you. John, care for Mom” (John 19:26, 27).

Worthy of Honor

The Bible gives us a few additional crimson threads to weave into the tapestry that is Mary”s life:

“¢ The last clear sighting of Mother Mary is when she is present at the Pentecostal Prep Prayer Meetings in Jerusalem. Everyone, including Mary, is praying aloud (Acts 1:14), not just with Jesus” disciples, but with her own boys; Jesus” brothers have come to believe.

“¢ A great joy for Mary is that her other sons married, and””this is so cool””Mary had daughters-in-law who were believers. Read 1 Corinthians 9:5, 6, which speaks of the married brothers of the Lord!

“¢ According to church historians Hegesippus and Eusebius, Mary became a grandmother through her other sons.5

Calvin Miller wrote in his poem book, The Singer, “If she has loved him, a man will carry anything for his mother””a water pot or a world.”6

Jesus loved his mom. We should too. He honored Mary. We ought to as well. Cousin Elizabeth praised her. It”s OK for us to do the same.

Idolize her? Nope. Honor her. For sure! This Christmas, Jesus gets first honor but he wishes for us to honor his mom too. (And your mom too!)

_________

1Luke 3:23; Some believe Luke”s geneology records Mary”s family history. If so, then Heli may well be Jesus” grandfather on Mary”s side.

2Song of Solomon 5:9, which continues to be inscribed on Jewish wedding bands.

3Gospel of James 17: “And he saddled the ass, and set her upon it.”

4Kenneth Bailey, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2008), 33.

5Eusebius, Ecclesiastical history.

6Calvin Miller, The Singer (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1975).

Since 2007, Terry O”Casey has served in a joint partnership with Oregon Christian Evangelistic Fellowship and High Lakes Christian Church to reenergize the small, 25-year-old church plant in one of the fastest-growing areas in Oregon””the Bend-La Pine region.

3 Comments

  1. Debbie Mekosky

    This is, as always, a colorful, insightful word picture of the mother of Jesus. Pastor Terry O’Casey is a favorite!

  2. Kevin Bryan

    Great imagery! Keep pushing us to think beyond our tainted traditions.

  3. Joel & Jarmila Danenberg

    Beautiful, Pastor. Thank you for making her story so vivid.

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