Session 3: When life gets complicated

Luke 2:25-40 Mary receives a surprise prophecy about herself

In verse 25 and verse 26, how is Simeon described?

What does Simeon do in verse 28, and what does he say in the verses that follow?

How does Simeon describe Jesus in verse 32?  Is this an accurate description of what Jesus ends up being?  Explain.

Simeon’s statement about the Gentiles in verse 32 builds on a statement in Isaiah 42:6 and Isaiah 49:6 that Israel will be a light to the nations (i.e., the Gentile nations).  What is significant in Simeon’s interpretation that this claim applies to Jesus?

In verse 33, how do Mary and Joseph react?

Now Simeon turns his attention to Mary.  What does he say to her in verses 34-35?

How does the prophetess Anna add to the story?

When we make ourselves available to God, as Mary and Joseph did by going to the Temple and as we do when we go to church, we open ourselves up to the possibility for interactions and blessings that we might miss if we weren’t there.  How has your participation in your church’s rituals and activities opened the door to blessings for you?

Now look at this incident through Mary’s eyes.  What happened, from her perspective?

What do you think the phrase in verse 35 meant to Mary, when Simeon said, “and you yourself a sword will pierce” (Luke 2:35, NABRE) or “a sword will pierce your own soul too” (Luke 2:35, NRSV)?

What do you think this experience with Simeon meant to Mary later, when Jesus was an adult?

Are there times when we must accept the pain of a figurative sword that accompanies the blessing of doing God’s will?

What can we learn from Mary here?  How is Mary a role model for the kind of person we are called to be?

How is Mary an example for how to actively live out our faith?

Now we are going to read the story of the “wise men.”  We usually look at this story from the perspective of the wise men or “magi,” because that is how Luke tells the story.  However, we are going to look at it from Mary’s perspective.

From Mary’s perspective, the story begins in this way: While she and Joseph and Jesus are staying in a house in Bethlehem (Matthew tells us in verse 10 that they were in a house when the wise men arrive), the Holy Family receives a surprise visit from some well-to-do wise men from far away in the East.  Consider Mary’s perspective as you read the story:

Matthew 2:1-12 The magi find Jesus

We do not know where in the “East” these men came from.  We do know this: Matthew does not use a Greek word to describe them.  Our word “magi” is a transliteration of the Greek word that Matthew uses, and that word is a Greek transliteration of the plural Persian word magi (the singular is magus), which referred to a caste of Persian priests of the Zoroastrian religion.  Zoroastrian priests were astrologers in the sense that they carefully studied the stars.  Priests of that caste were also at times associated with magic, and our word for magic comes from the same root word as magi, but it would be misleading to think of them as magicians or as astrologers.  In their time, the movements of the stars were thought to affect the fortunes of people and nations, so at a time of limited knowledge of the natural world, they were trying to be wise observers of nature.  We might think of them as the wise or scholarly practical philosopher-scientists of their time, in addition to being priests of their religion.

Since we are focusing on Mary in this study, go back and read verse 11 carefully.  What happens from Mary’s perspective?  What does she observe happening?

What do you think she thought when these wealthy, probably well-dressed, knowledgeable men came into the house and prostrated themselves before the baby Jesus?

Mary has now seen three very different groups of people approach the baby Jesus:

• the local, rough, lower-class shepherds;

• the very old, holy man of God; and

• the foreign, refined, upper-class magi.

How might Mary have reacted to the fact that all these very different people had important things to say about Jesus?

Throughout history, Mary has been seen as a saint who is accessible to everyone.  How might her experiences as a young mother have shaped her as an accessible and welcoming person?

Do you see Mary as the kind of role model who is accessible to people of all social classes, all nationalities, all levels of education and economic status?  Explain.

What can you learn from Mary here in the story of the wise men?

Matthew 2:13-18 The escape to Egypt and massacre of innocent children

The wonderment of the magi’s visit doesn’t last long.  Soon, an angel appears to Joseph with a dire message.

What does the angel tell Joseph?

How do you think Mary reacted to this?

What is our term, in English, for someone who has to flee their homeland and go to a different country because they are in danger?

Our term for people in this situation is “refugee,” which is a specific kind of migrant – see “What is the difference between a refugee and a migrant?” (USA for UNHCR).

How do you think Mary felt about being a refugee?

Note: There were Jewish communities in Egypt, so they might not have been totally alone (just as refugees who come to Western countries in our time often have communities they can connect with), but because of their religious and cultural differences, they would have been seen as outsiders in the broader Egyptian culture.

How do you think Mary’s experiences as a refugee shaped her as a person?

Looking at this part of Mary’s life, how can we be like Mary?

Matthew 2:19-23 They return to Israel

Throughout this set of passages, Matthew is making subtle connections between Jesus and the ancient Israelites who were brought out of Egypt by God in the experience we call the Exodus.  In verse 15, he quotes Hosea 11:1, where the prophet refers to Israel as God’s son but Matthew sees a new application to God’s Son Jesus.

In verse 20, Matthew makes a connection to Moses.  An angel tells Joseph that he can return to Israel, “for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.”  This echoes the experience of Moses.  In Exodus 2:15, Moses had fled Egypt because Pharaoh wanted to kill him.  In Exodus 4:19, Moses is told that he can return, “for all the men who were seeking your life are dead.”

How might Mary have seen parallels between Jesus and Moses and between Jesus and the nation of Israel as she journeyed to Egypt and back to Israel?

As Mary and her fellow Jews celebrated their faith, they constantly recalled the story of God’s action that brought salvation to the Israelites in the event known as the Exodus where they escaped from Egypt.  How might that story have been an encouragement to Mary in her ordeal of escape from and return to Israel?

Where do Mary and Joseph settle, and why?

Matthew and Luke focus on different stories related to Jesus’s birth and infancy, with Luke presenting Mary’s story while Matthew focuses on Joseph.  Luke 1:36-37 indicates that Mary’s hometown was Nazareth.  Matthew does not tell us where Joseph lived before Jesus was born; he says only that Joseph’s ancestral home was Bethlehem.  When they return from Egypt, they settle in Nazareth, which Luke tells us is Mary’s hometown, whereas custom would have had a bride move into her husband’s home.

How do you think Mary felt as she returned to Israel?

What would it have been like, raising your child, knowing that powerful people might again someday decide he is a danger and should be killed?  Do you think that Mary told Jesus about the dangers, or kept them to herself, and why?

When you face ongoing dangers in life, how do you find a balance between ignoring them and obsessing over them?

How might Mary be a role model for how to deal with the risks we take in life?

Take a step back and consider this:

In these passages, Jesus is honored, Mary receives a troubling prophecy, and then Jesus is targeted for execution.  What a complicated start to motherhood, for Mary!

Mary and Joseph did not realize what an adventure their marriage would be, and they did not have all the answers for what to do.  The angel who first visited them did not tell them about Herod, or the magi, or that they would become refugees in order to escape Herod’s murderous plan.

They did not need to know those things in the beginning, nor did they need God to spell out solutions in advance.

God revealed what they needed to know, when they needed to know it.

Notice what this means: Following God was not, for them, just one big leap of faith.  It was a series of smaller steps, where they trusted God each time for what they needed to know and do at that moment, in order to get to the next step.

The same is true in our lives.  We don’t need to know everything about our future.  We only need to know what we need to know for the present moment – and then we need to do it, in order to get to the next step.

It’s an important lesson: We don’t always need to know what is coming.  God sees the whole picture, and that is enough.

When in your life have you had to trust God through a series of steps where you did not know where things were going, but God ultimately led you to a good outcome?

What are you facing right now, where you would like to know more about what is coming than God has revealed to you, and you just have to trust God and take one step at a time?

What are the best things for you to remember as you face times of uncertainty?

How might Mary be a role model for you in these times of uncertainty?