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Mary

             and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah. (Matthew 1:16)

Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph, the son of Heli, (Luke 3:23)

“What Zelophehad’s daughters are saying is right. You must certainly give them property as an inheritance among their father’s relatives and give their father’s inheritance to them. (Numbers 27:7)

Have you ever thought about Mary’s parents? Over the past couple of days, I have. Let’s start with what I didn’t think about much, the part that gives us information. Scripture provides two genealogies, and they do not match. There are three generally given explanations for this: it’s an example of the errors in Scripture that justify throwing the whole Bible in the trash, the father of Joseph was known by two or more names, or one was Joseph’s father and the other, Mary’s.

I reject the first explanation because it does not address the possibility that either of the other explanations might be true. It lacks scholarship. The second explanation fits with what has been seen in Scripture before. The third explanation is the one that makes the most sense, because the genealogy in Matthew goes back through Jeconiah, that lineage would disqualify Jesus as King of the Jews (per Jeremiah 22:24-30.) The genealogy in Luke, then, would be Jesus’ lineage through Mary. Genealogy of Jesus, Jesus family tree - Complete Bible Genealogy goes on to say that if Heli had only daughters, this would be a legal and proper royal line, as stipulated in Numbers 27:7 above.

Oh, and as a “by the way,” the genealogies list or allude to several interesting women: Eve, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba. We know their connections with the family tree.

I hope that explains the more common issue with Mary’s parents. Mine has been a little different. My question isn’t who they are, it’s where they are. Outside of the genealogies, they are never mentioned. The only relative who is mentioned explicitly is Elizabeth. Are her parents deceased? Did they disown her when they found out she was pregnant despite what Mary, Joseph, and Elizabeth may have said?

If they were dead, who were her guardians? Why aren’t they mentioned? Were Joseph’s parents her guardians? Was she working as a servant in someone’s home? The answers will have to wait. So will the answer to the question of why we hear so little about Joseph. But I can’t help but think that if she was on her own, or was someone’s servant, not only did they raise her well when they were with her, but one of the things they taught her was the courage she demonstrated.

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