Luke Chapter 1 – an Introduction to Mary

The Gospel of Luke is in the form of a letter to Theophilus, and starts with the account of the conception and birth of John the Baptist. ‘Theophilus’ means ‘Lover of God’ and it could be a cover-name. The Gospel was written about AD60, 20 years after Luke had been converted. Luke did not know Jesus in the flesh and it is thought that he knew Mary well, because of the personal history that he gives that can only have come from Mary herself.

The Course of Abajah.
 Zacharias was a priest of the course of Abijah. The course of Abijah was one of 24 courses, arranged in the time of Ezra. Each course was on duty twice a year, burning incense in the inner sanctuary at the time of the morning and evening sacrifices. Abijah was the 8th course. Each course was to serve in the Temple for a week in turn (! Chron 24v10). It was a great honour for a priest to burn incense in the temple. Lots were drawn to select the priest, and he would only be allowed to do this once in his life time. Zacharias’s course would be on the 24th June. This chapter says that Jesus was 6 months younger than John, so Jesus was conceived, (not born) at Christmas.

The traditional place that Zacharias and Elizabeth lived in is Ain Karim, (Now called Abu Ghosh). Zacharias would travel to Jerusalem for the honour of burning incense, and ‘depart to his own house’ afterwards.

Cousins
 The Authorised version says that Elizabeth, John’s mother, was a cousin of Mary. The word cousin, in Greek, means ‘relative’.

Elizabeth was past the time that women can conceive, (probably over 40 years old), and Mary seems to have been about 15 years old. Elizabeth could have been her cousin because women started bearing children from 15 years old and ended about 35 years old, but it is more likely that she was the Aunt of Mary. The impression that I get is that Mary was a teenager who spends a lot of time at her Aunt, (and uncle), and was not very happy at home.

On the Cross, Jesus puts Mary under the care of his beloved disciple, John, as if he knew that Mary was a bit paranoid about being left alone.

Elizabeth was of the tribe of Levi and Mary was of the tribe of Judah. So the relationship was by marriage, something like Mary’s mother, who was of the tribe of Levi and her father from the tribe of Judah, (Mary’s mother possibly being the sister of Elizabeth),

The Bible does not mention the parents of Mary, which is strange, if Mary was only 15 years old. Mary behaves as if she is an orphan.

"I am expecting a baby and it is not yours"
 If you were engaged to be married, and loved your fiancé, and an angel came to you and told you that you that you would be pregnant with someone else’s baby, would you accept it as willingly as Mary?

Would you just be puzzled as to how it could be because you had not had sex? Or would you be really concerned about how your fiancé would take the news. How much it would hurt him….Would he despise you?

Was it an arranged marriage between Joseph and Mary and she did not, at the time, love Joseph?

I get the impression that Joseph was not good looking. He was no ‘Tom Cruise’. When Mary told him that she was pregnant with someone else’s baby the Bible does not mention his emotion. It could have hurt him greatly but he accepted it as if he was half expecting it.

It is Mark, not Luke, that tells us that Joseph, being an upright man, decided to quietly break off the engagement, for Mary’s sake. He could have saved his reputation and told everyone that Mary was a whore and a cheat, but he hid the hurt.

What ever happened, the gentle and caring way that Joseph did things impressed Mary. The way he was only concerned about Mary, not thinking about himself. Righteousness in a man is usually greatly respected by women.

How did Joseph tell Mary of his dream? What did Mary say?

Mary was married to Joseph, (although he did not consummate the marriage until Jesus was born), and as the months went on, Mary seems to have got more and more in love with this lovely, righteous, gentle, caring man.

He must have lost his reputation in Nazareth by marrying Mary. The people of the village must have despised him, thinking that he had been sleeping with Mary out of wedlock, and they would have taken their business to a more Godly person.

Years later the scribes told Jesus that ‘They were not conceived out of wedlock’.

Mary’s visit to Elizabeth
 When Mary heard that Elizabeth was six months pregnant, (and before Mary was showing her pregnancy), she went and lived with Elizabeth for three months until John was born.

Zacharias and Elizabeth could have lived in Nazareth, or nearby, but there seems very little concern in Mary for her parents, when she lived with Elizabeth.

Elizabeth could have even lived in Jerusalem, and if so, Mary, aged 15, would have walked 50 miles to Jerusalem on her own, and stayed there. Would you let your 15 year old daughter do that….on her own?

I suppose there was a postal service where she could write to her parents saying that she had arrived safely and that she was going to stay at Elizabeth’s for three months. The whole thing seems to give too little concern between Mary and her parents.

Wonderful Joseph

Later on, when Mary was 8 months pregnant she seems to cling to Joseph, and not want to leave him, even for a week or two, while he went to Bethlehem. She seems to have fallen in love with him. He was all that she had ever hoped for. She did not want to be left alone in Nazareth without him.

It was a stupid thing to do, an 8½ month pregnant woman to walk, or travel 50 miles to a village that was crammed with people, there for the census. No wonder Jesus was born after that walk.