Session 2: Jesus’s birth causes uncertainty as well as joy

As we explore the birth and infancy of Jesus, we are going to look at what happens from Mary’s perspective.

We begin with a story that is partly about Mary but not told from Mary’s perspective.  It is Joseph’s side of the story as Mary and Joseph grapple with the virginal conception and birth of Jesus.

Matthew 1:18-25 The birth of Jesus from Joseph’s perspective

What dilemma does Joseph face?

How do you think Mary felt as Joseph was considering what to do about the fact that she was pregnant?

How do you think Mary felt when Joseph told her about her dream and took her into his house to live their married life together?

Mary bears a lot of uncertainty throughout her life.  The Bible doesn’t tell us much about what she is thinking or how she deals with the anxiety of not knowing what will happen.  How do you think Mary dealt with anxiety?

We have no words from Mary in this story.  What can learn from this “silent Mary” who endures all things quietly and stays faithful?

Luke 2:1-7 Mary and Joseph travel to Bethlehem, where Jesus is born

Why do Joesph and Mary travel to Bethlehem?

Traveling from Nazareth to Bethlehem would require walking around 90 miles, which would take 4-7 days, depending on how fast Joseph wanted to push his pregnant wife and perhaps a donkey.  Donkeys walk at roughly the same speed as humans, so a donkey helps carry a burden and can carry a human, but it doesn’t speed up the journey.

Note: In Luke 2:4, Jesus is referred to as Mary’s “firstborn son.”  Some have tried to argue that this is a clear signal that Mary had more children later.  That would be a misreading of the text.  This passage does not provide any guidance regarding the debate between Protestants and Catholics over whether Mary had additional children or was a perpetual virgin.  For Jews, the phrase “firstborn son” had a special meaning that applied regardless of whether the mother had more children later.  They were commanded to redeem their firstborn son through a special offering.  We will see this when we look at Luke 2:22-24.  This offering was required regardless of whether they ever had additional children.  So the only thing Luke is clearly stating here is that Jesus is subject to the requirements that applied to a “firstborn son.”

How do you think Mary felt when she learned that she and Joseph needed to walk or travel by donkey to Bethlehem?

How comfortable do you think Mary and Joseph are with each other at this point?

If you have had a newborn child, think back to those early days.  Now add to your mental image the extra challenges Mary faces: staying in a cave or barn, or more likely, staying in a stranger’s house on the first floor where the animals live, while the residents sleep upstairs.  What do you think it would have been like for Mary in those first days in Bethlehem with a newborn baby?

If you were Mary, how would you try to make sense of the contrast between the prophecies that this child would be great and the gritty reality of life with the animals?

Luke 2:8-20 Shepherds suddenly pop in and tell Mary that her son is special

We usually start looking at this story from the perspective of the shepherds, who see angels.  Consider it from the perspective of Mary, who does not see these angels (though she has seen an angel before) but first encounters the shepherds when they barge into the cave or barn or house and tell her they have seen angels.  Focus on verses 16-17 for a moment.  How do you think Mary feels?

According to verse 11, What did the angels tell the shepherds about Jesus?

In verse 11, the angels tell  the shepherds that this is good news for all people.  What do you think this reference to “all people” means to them and to Mary?

Verse 18 tells us that everyone who heard the shepherds’ story was amazed.  Do you think this includes Mary?  What do you think her initial reaction is?

Verse 19 tells us that Mary hung onto these events long after they happened, keeping them and reflecting on them (NABRE) or treasuring them and pondering them (NRSV) in her heart.  There are two parts to this.  First, she keeps or treasures the memories.  What do you think these memories mean to Mary as the years go by during Jesus’s childhood?

Second, she ponders or reflects on what has happened.  How does pondering and reflecting what has happened in the past help prepare us or strengthen us for what may lie ahead in our life?

How does looking back on what God has done help us discern what God is trying to do in our lives now?

Do you think these memories meant something different to Mary after Jesus began his public ministry?

How might these memories have taken on a different or enhanced meaning after Jesus died and rose from the dead?

What Mary was, we are called to be.  How can the habit of treasuring and pondering what God has done in our lives help us be the kind of people God is calling us to be?

What Mary did, we are called to do.  How can we act on what God shows us as we treasure and ponder what he has done previously in our lives?

Luke 2:21 Jesus is circumcised and named

What is the significance of the fact that Jesus is circumcised?

If you go back and look at the accounts of the appearance of the angel to Mary and the angel in Joseph’s dream, both angels tell them to name the child Jesus.  This would be the Hebrew name Joshua, which means “God saves,” or “Yahweh saves.”  What do you think the assignment of this name to Jesus meant to them?

Luke 2:22-24 Mary offers sacrifice for purification and Jesus is consecrated to God

Starting in verse 22, Luke describes rites that occurred 40 days after Jesus’s birth.  There are two things going on here:

• According to the Law of Moses, a woman who gave birth was considered unclean – i.e., ritually impure – for 40 days after the birth of a son (80 days after the birth of a daughter).  At the end of that period, she was supposed to make an offering to God of a year-old lamb and either a pigeon or a turtledove.  If she could not afford a lamb, she could offer a second pigeon or turtledove.

Read Leviticus 12:1-8 to see the purification rule in the Old Testament.

What strikes you as significant in Leviticus 12:1-8?

What does the fact that they offered two pigeons or turtledoves, and not a lamb, tell you about them?

• Also, according to the Law of Moses, every firstborn son belongs to God and must be consecrated to him.  The firstborn son is ransomed by the offering of a sheep, in remembrance of the death of the firstborns in Egypt when the Israelites were rescued from bondage.  Jews were not required to make this offering at the Temple, but that is where Mary and Joseph did it.

Read Exodus 13: 1-2, 11-16 to see the rules regarding the firstborn in the Old Testament.

What does the fact that Mary and Joseph brought these offerings to the Temple tell you about them in terms of their faith?

How do you think Mary and Joseph’s dedication to following the Law affected Jesus as he was growing up?

As Mary was, so we are called to be.  What does this passage say to you about your approach to your faith?

Sometimes, when we face unexpected developments in our lives, it is easy to fall away from the regular routines that we might otherwise stick with, including church attendance and religious observances.  How is Mary’s approach toward these practices an example to us of how to live out our faith in uncertain times?

Take a step back and consider this:

Mary faces a great deal of uncertainty as she ponders what the angels are saying about her son.  The angel she encountered directly, at the Annunciation, told her that her son would be given the throne of David and would rule over the house of Jacob forever (Luke 1:32-33), yet his birth did not look like a royal birth in an earthly sense: no palace, no royal attendants, no heralds proclaiming the birth to the people in the countryside.  Angels declared to nearby shepherds that he was a savior and Messiah, but no one cared enough to provide them a proper room for the delivery.

We face uncertainties too.  We might ask in faith for something we know is a good thing, and not receive it.  We might pray for someone for decades and not see the outcome we desire.  We might seek to be freed from a habitual sin and find it still lurking years later.  And yet God has assured us that he never forsakes us.

We might summarize this experience of life by saying that life is not always easy, but God says things are not always as they seem.  There is more going on than we can see.

Mary lives with the uncertainty and keeps doing what people of faith do, while keeps pondering, and treasuring, and trusting.

How can you, like Mary, keep trusting God for what lies ahead, even when what is happening now is not what you might have liked?

What attitudes and practices can you embrace that Mary has shown?