Mary’s View
Mary’s view is a look at the written scripture through the eyes of Jesus’ mother. Does this view change the meaning of the recorded scripture? No, but it does offer a fresh perspective of some very old stories. The stories of Jesus’ life written by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John have a slightly different interpretation when viewed through the eyes of a loving, caring mother.
When writing Jesus My Son: Mary’s Journal of Jesus’ Early Life, I had to create a valid timeline of Jesus’ life for Mary to record in her journal. It was impossible to create this timeline using only the sequence of events as recorded by the four gospels. Some events had to be added or shifted to compile a complete picture of Jesus’ life. The stories are not contradictory; they only tell the story from that particular writer’s knowledge.
For example, the story of Jesus’ birth can only be found in Matthew and Luke. According to Matthew, Joseph was betrothed to Mary, Mary was found to be with child, Joseph planned to send her away secretly, the angel appeared to Joseph, they got married, Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the Magi appear, they were forced to flee to Egypt and then they returned to Nazareth. According to Luke, Mary was visited by Gabriel, Mary then hurried to the hill country to visit Elizabeth for three months, she returned to Nazareth, then Joseph and his betrothed were required to go to Bethlehem where Jesus was born, the shepherds visited, Jesus was circumcised, he was presented in the temple where Anna and Simeon greeted them, and then they returned to their own city of Nazareth. Are these writers even talking about the same story?
At some point, all four gospels have Jesus and his group of followers in one place one day and in a place ninety miles away the next day. Does this mean the writings are wrong or contradictory? Not necessarily. When viewed through the eyes of Mary, most of the events can be pieced together to form a logical timeline of Jesus’ life. When reading these stories in the different books, we don’t think about the timeline. These discrepancies can only be seen when trying to create a daily walk of Jesus’ life as Mary does in her journal.
Questions often asked of Jesus’ life can be explained through Mary’s view. Many of the answers are ones that only a mother would know. Some questions Mary answers are:
• How did the four gospels acquire information for the particular events they recorded?
• Did Jesus perform miracles while living with His earthly family?
• Why did Mary hurry to Elizabeth’s right after she had been greeted by Gabriel?
• Why did the angel wait until after Mary told Joseph of her pregnancy to appear to him?
• Why didn’t people believe the shepherd’s story?
• Where did Luke obtain the smallest details of his story of the birth?
• Where did Matthew obtain his details of the birth story?
• When did the Magi appear to Mary and Joseph?
• Why did Herod kill all males two years of age and under if Jesus was a baby?
• Why did Jesus wait until He was thirty to begin His ministry?
• How was Jesus such a close friend to Lazarus?
• Did Jesus know any of His followers prior to choosing them?
• How did Jesus know so much about the lives of the fishermen and the farmers He used in His parables if he followed in His father’s footsteps as a carpenter?
• Why is John the only one who writes about many of the stories often repeated, but doesn’t even mention the forty days of Jesus’ temptation?