What you might not know about Mary and Joseph

Summary:

• A majority know the Christmas story, but Mary and Joseph’s lives were much more than the nativity scene implies.

• Both Mary and Joseph were of King David’s royal family, with Joseph potentially the rightful ruler of Judah.

• Joseph’s extraordinary faith, character, and actions, such as moving the family to Egypt, reveal his gentle nature.

A majority of the population is aware of the Christmas story. However, the entire idea of Mary and Joseph, as they used to be and how their lives resembled the nativity scene, is much more than what the nativity scene implies. The history, culture, and scripture jointly provide the viewer with two incredibly common individuals who were requested to do something that was utterly out of the ordinary. Below are ten facts about Mary and Joseph which most people have never heard.

Royal Blood

Both Mary and Joseph were of the royal family of King David. According to scholars, had Judah existed as an independent state, Joseph the carpenter would have been the rightful ruler of Judah, with Jesus coming up next.

Betrothal Custom

Betrothal in the first century Jewish culture was a marriage contract, a written version and was regarded as the legal start of marriage. Although couples normally did not spend up to a year before getting married, the bride had to prepare her dowry during this period.

Joseph’s Character

The moment Joseph realized that Mary was pregnant, he was in an immensely tough position. Instead of being rough, he fell on silent dignity and mercy – a judgment which showed to the full extent of his extraordinary and gentle nature.

Legal Marriage

Jewish betrothal was viewed as having all the legal force of marriage, and it could only be broken by a formal divorce. Violation of betrothal was the same offence as the termination of a full-fledged matrimony in the first-century laws.

Joseph’s Dream

 

Joseph was given a dream in which an angel revealed himself to him following the confirmation that Mary was pregnant with the Holy Spirit. This marked the beginning of the extraordinary faith that he had, the very fact that he took this message of God without any hesitation and followed it to the very last second.

More Children

It is stated in Scripture that Mary and Joseph had a bigger family following Jesus. The Gospel of Matthew, in exalting the names of brothers and sisters, indicates that Jesus was brought up in a household of active and affectionate siblings.

Joseph Disappears

The last place where the Gospel records the appearance of Joseph is at the temple when Jesus was twelve years old. He does not even appear in any record of adult ministry that would indicate his death before the age of teenage years in the life of Jesus, before his own son started his publicly visible ministry.

Egyptian Refugees

Joseph got a divine warning that the child was in danger after Jesus was born. He took immediate action to move his family to Egypt, where they remained as refugees until it was safe.

Mary At Cross

Whereas Joseph had vanished from scripture early, Mary had always been present in the life of Jesus. She was there at his first miracle; and she was there in his ministry and there at the foot of the cross, the last devotion of the mother.