Virgin Birth questioned: the implications

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by zeek

Well it must have been Mary then. No one else was there when she talked to the angel were they? But then, why is it that Mary and Joseph have no idea of what Jesus was doing in the Temple (Luke 2: 41-52)? And why is it that Mary and her other children thought Jesus to be out of his mind (Mark 3: 20-35)?

20 And He came home, and the crowd gathered again, to such an extent that they could not even eat a meal. 21When His family heard of this, they went out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, “He has lost His senses.” 22 The scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons."

31 Then His mother and his brothers arrived; and standing outside they sent word to him and call him. 32 And a crowd was sitting around Him; and they say unto him, Look, your mother and your brothers are outside looking for You. 33 And he answered them, Who is my mother and my brothers? 34 And looking round on them that sat round about him, he saith, Behold, my mother and my brothers! 35 For whoever does the will of God, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.

There is no evidence that Mary did not know how Jesus was conceived. Remember it had been 30 long years since all the events surrounding Jesus' miraculous conception and birth in Bethlehem. At least 6 other children had been born since then, Joseph had apparently died, and it is obvious that none of His siblings had a clue who big brother Jesus was. John 7.3-8 shows that His brothers did not believe in Him and baited Him to go to Jerusalem to perform a few miracles there.

Since His baptism, which apparently His family missed, Jesus went about preaching the gospel of the kingdom. He was constantly with His disciples and critics like the scribes and Pharisees. The circle of attention freaked His family out, and they attempted to take control of Him and bring Him to His senses. They definitely preferred the "old" Jesus. Unfortunately, their drama outside incited the scribes to proclaim that Jesus has Beelzebub and when He casts out demons, he does it by the ruler of the demons.

We have no idea what Mary's state of mind really was. I tend to think that she was merely drug along by the other boys for impact. After 30 years, I'm quite sure that the aging widow Mary loved having the most obedient, most respectful, and most loving oldest son nearby her in Nazareth. Perhaps, and scriptures are silent, she was still grieving the loss of her husband. Now Jesus is gone, the family seems out of control, and every night she is watching her Son on the nightly news. For the next 3 plus years, her life would be a constant whirlwind of excitement and tragedy.

But Mary "held all these things in her heart," and one day she would tell the whole story to Matthew, Luke, and others who believed.