Jesus, Mary, and Joseph by Frilingos Christopher A.;

Author:Frilingos, Christopher A.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Published: 2017-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

Second Surprise: Mary Is in Trouble

From the start, the relationship of Joseph and Mary, whatever it is, seems poised on the brink of dissolution. Joseph refuses to stay under the same roof as Mary, which is why he is not present when Mary receives life-changing news of her own. An angel appears to her at a well and declares, “You will conceive a child from his Word.”26 Mary asks, “Am I to conceive . . . and give birth like every other woman?” The angel replies, “The power of God will overshadow you. Therefore the holy one born from you will be called the Son of the Highest.”27 This language from the Gospel of Luke would likely have been familiar to an early Christian audience. The Synoptic story of the annunciation almost certainly was. What is different in the Proto-gospel of James is its focus on how Joseph reacts to the news.

Mary mostly takes things in stride, so much so that she travels to see her relative, Elizabeth. And then confusion sets in. When Elizabeth spots Mary, she exclaims, “How is it that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”28 The greeting puzzles Mary because, as the Proto-gospel of James reports, “Mary forgot the mysteries that the archangel Gabriel had spoken to her.”29 Like Luke, the Proto-gospel of James describes the annunciation and the conception of Mary as an exchange of knowledge. Mary will be “overshadowed” or known by the power of God. At the same time, Mary receives knowledge. She learns from Gabriel that she has found favor with God. She learns that her son will be holy, a son of the highest, and that he will save his people from their sins. But the knowledge that Mary acquires does not remain with her. For as soon as she visits Elizabeth, she forgets Gabriel’s message. Mary’s amnesia is hard for some commentators to accept. One argues, “Mary only ‘forgets’ to communicate her mystery.”30 Another insists that “Mary does indeed comprehend her situation.”31 But later episodes indicate the opposite. Mary is unable to explain the circumstances of her pregnancy because she no longer can recall them. Alarmed by her expanding midsection, Mary scurries home to hide “in fear.”32 And it is there, in Joseph’s house, that the wheel of drama begins to turn, and a new crisis erupts.

The crisis is evident: Mary is pregnant, and she does not know how it happened. Six months later, Joseph finally returns home from work: “As he came into the house he saw that she was pregnant.”33 Joseph’s reaction does not redound to his credit. He flings himself upon the ground—as he did with the ax—and begins to cry.34 He lashes out at everyone and no one: “Who has done this wicked deed in my home?” He wallows in self-pity: “Has not the entire history of Adam been summed up in me? For just as Adam was singing praise to God, when the serpent came and found Eve alone and led her astray, so too has this now happened to me.

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