MARY, MOTHER OF GOD

The shepherds went in haste to Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph,and the infant lying in the manger.

Lk 2:16-21

Luke's exquisite nativity story is compounded of three ingredients—prophecy, history, and symbolism— which are so thoroughly intermingled that it is hardly possible to separate them. He does not claim in so many words that any prophecy was fulfilled; but, just as the prophecies of Mal. 3:1-4:6 and Is. 7:14 underlie the messages of Gabriel to Zechariah and Mary, so here many strands from Mic. 5:2-5 are woven into the fabric of the narrative. This prophecy tells how in t town of Bethlehem a mother in travail is to give birth to a prince of ancient lineage, who will be shepherd of the scattered flock of Israel, standing in the glory of the Lord and extending his authority to the ends of the earth, with a proclamation of peace.

The point in the story that especially captured Luke's fancy was not just that Jesus was born in Bethlehem according to the old prediction, but that this promise of God came true because of an enactment of the Roman government. God was working his purpose out not only through the hesitancy of Zechariah, the exuberance of Elizabeth, and the quiet faith of Mary. Caesar Augustus too, like Cyrus in earlier days (Is. 45:1), had become the unwitting coadjutor of a salvation which would one day encompass his whole empire. For the modern historian the account of the census presents difficulties. But there can be no question about its symbolic value for Luke.

Nor is this the only symbolism in the story. There was no room for the Savior in the common guest-room of the inn, just as later the Son of man had no place to lay his head, the King of the Jews no throne but a cross. His first worshippers, the shepherds, despised by the orthodox because their occupation made them neglectful of religious observance are the forerunners of the multitude of humble folk who were to throng him in his public ministry. The angelic chorus anticipates the jubilation which rings throughout the gospel and especially the joy in heaven which Jesus declared to ensue upon the rescue of the lost sheep. And the wonder with which the shepherds' story was greeted prepares us for the deeper and more abiding wonder to come.


The Mosaic Law provided three ceremonies to follow on the birth of a male child (Lv 12, Ex 13:12, Nm 18:6). The first was circumcision, which took place on the eighth day from birth and was usually the occasion for the giving of the child's name (Jesus is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew Joshua which means `the Lord is salvation'). Then, in the case of the firstborn, there was the rite of redemption by the payment of a five-shekel offering; this could be done any time after the first month. Finally, after forty days, there was the purification of the mother, who up till then was regarded as unclean and therefore disqualified from any form of public worship. The purification involved the sacrifice of a lamb and a turtledove or young pigeon, but the poor were allowed to substitute a second dove or pigeon for the lamb. Joseph and Mary made the poor man's offering. Luke appears to have confused the second and third ceremonies.