St. Mary in the New Testament

God had given His word to Adam and subsequent patriarchs that he would ransom the fallen man in His own way and by His own chosen time. Adam lived in Hope waiting for His mighty Lord to be born of his Distant Daughter as the Lord has promised because that is the only way for Adam to find himself redeemed from the curse he had to live with. For Abraham, there was a heavenly word of covenant that in his seed "'all the families of the earth shall be blessed." Gen.12:2-3; Acts. 3:35. There were also prophecies of God's termination of the Age of Condemnation. Is. 9:2. This all comes down to the Birth of Immanuel for us to see, believe and witness God's being with us. If this has to materialize at the divinely set Age of Salvation, the chosen one who mother's Immanuel has to come first. This was fulfilled when St. Mary was born into a childless family of Yakem, Her father, and Hanna, Her mother.

Genealogically, St. Mary and Her care-taker, Joseph descend from the same line which branches from Eleazar, the man indicated as the great grand father of Joseph in the family tree within which. St. Mathew indicates Christ’s line. To cool down a possible cry from the chauvinist patriarchal society of the Jews who have no culture at all of indicating family lines maternally, St. Mathew has opted for indicating Christ's line through Joseph, St. Mary's Guardian who is also a close blood relative of Her:

Knowing that such a style of indicating Immanuel’s line would be a cause of skepticism and heresy to those who may tend to take Christ, forgive us Lord, as though He was a biological son of the mortal Joseph, the debate between St. Mary and St. Gabriel has made it succinctly clear leaving no lacunae of skepticism. Gabriel was asked by Herself how His Annunciation could be a godly one when She knew no man; "The Holy Spirit will come upon You... For with God nothing will be impossible," Gabriel has answered to which She in turn complies saying, "...let it be to me according to your word." Lk.1:35-38.

Those who speak as if Christ was born of Joseph biologically are, therefore, advocating the heresy Jews advocated in their firm hatred of Christ's Ministry.

As relayed unto us unadulterated from Holy Scriptures and authorities of our impeccable creed, we distance ourselves from the then heresy of the Jews and its contemporary manifestations. We believe and preach that St. Joseph was just a protector who played only the role St. John the Evangelist played to Her, after she was entrusted.to him by Christ on the Cross. We believe Christ was begotten, before ages and creation, of the Father without a Mother; Later He is born of a Holy Mother without a father. We confess His Dual Birth.

This said, St. Mary was conceived in the Holy womb of Holy Hanna on the 7th of Nahassie /13th August/. It was in Her Mother's Womb that St. Mary started to make miracles when  a sightless man, Bersabeh, gained sight due to Her.  Mary was born on the 1st of Ginbot / 9th may/ on Mt. Lebanon, for there had been a prophecy regarding Her being born there (songs 4:8) ,and also because Her parents had to flee in fear of Jewish persecutions. On that Mountain was born into Yakem and Hanna a Heaven out of whom will rise the Sun, Christ!

Before, Her parents had given God their word to give Him the child as a servant of His Synagogue if only He comforts them giving one to quell the  mockery leveled against barren (childless) families. So after St. Mary stayed in their bosom only for the first three years of Her child hood days, she was given to the synagogue where God kept Her safe for 12 years feeding Her from the Heaven as He did to Israel in the wilderness, the awfully famished Elijah, and to Christ's apostles, later in the New Testament. Exod. 16:P13; 1 king 1:1-8; Jn.21:9.

She thus lived in the synagogue giving Her entirety to God without longing for Her parents as was told by David in Ps.45:10. After 12 Years of Her life in the synagogue, i.e., when She became 15, God wanted to put them in the care of an aging priest by the name Joseph, the man whom we have already mentioned in connection with genealogy.

God has given Her to the care of the old, widowed priest to save Her from being stoned by angry Jews who might have got the excuse to do so taking her conception as an extra-marital one, which is forbidden and  in their Law. Plus, as she will be fleeing away from Herod, who would venture to kill her son, God desired to give her one, Joseph, who would flee with Her, the young mother in the spirit, sharing all Her ups and downs. Thus, it was written that She is betrothed to Joseph, though it has nothing to a literal betrothal under the sun. The Jews have also served as immediate causes when they opposed Her stay in the synagogue when She is 15, old enough to cause sacrilege to the House in a possible interaction She may have, as they felt.

This became a cause of worry to the chief priest who did not know what to do to Her if She is chased out of the synagogue. When he duly prayed to get the way out from heaven, he was told by God to gather rods of the widowed from the line of Judah, and pray on them all in the synagogue for God will give him a sign. He did as he was told and he saw the rod of Joseph with an inscription that read, "O Joseph, Fear not to take Mary, your Betrothed, in to your home." The chief priest also drew lots which fell on Joseph. He also saw a dove resting on Joseph. Relying up on such signs as was the norm in the scriptures /Numb.17:8/, Joseph took Her home.

As said earlier, this happened because Joseph was chosen as Her care-taker. And, he had no interaction at all in the sense of Adam and Eve. She had to flee away from persecutions; such moments demanded one like Joseph who would share Her pains. It is these divine purposes and not an ordinary betrothal of mortals that put Her in the realm of old Joseph. (... to be continued.)

May God Bless us, Amen.