May the mumbling commence!
Mary and Joseph were good practicing Jews. They did what the Law prescribed for the birth of Jesus. This is evident from chapter twelve of Leviticus. Read it below:
The Lord said to Moses, "Give these instructions to the Israelites: When a woman becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son, she will be ceremonially unclean for seven days, just as she is defiled during her menstrual period. On the eighth day, the boy must be circumcised. Then the woman must wait for thirty-three days until the time of her purification from the blood of childbirth is completed. During this time of purification, she must not touch anything that is holy. And she must not go to the sanctuary until her time of purification is over. If a woman gives birth to a daughter, she will be ceremonially defiled for two weeks, just as she is defiled during her menstrual period. She must then wait another sixty-six days to be purified from the blood of childbirth.
When the time of purification is completed for either a son or a daughter, the woman must bring a year-old lamb for a whole burnt offering and a young pigeon or turtledove for a purification offering. She must take her offerings to the priest at the entrance of the Tabernacle. The priest will then present them to the Lord and make atonement for her. Then she will be ceremonially clean again after her bleeding at childbirth. These are the instructions to be followed after the birth of a son or a daughter.
If a woman cannot afford to bring a sheep, she must bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons. One will be for the whole burnt offering and the other for the purification offering. The priest will sacrifice them, thus making atonement for her, and she will be ceremonially clean."
If we look at the gospel of Luke, we will see the obedience of Mary and Joseph to this rite. We also know that Mary and Joseph provided two turtledoves… so we know that they were poor. It is always heartening to see other avenues for the poor to show their devotion to God.
And Jesus showed his devotion to God by eschewing his own will and taking up the will of the heavenly Father. Read from the end of Mark chapter eight:
Then Jesus began to tell them that he, the Son of Man, would suffer many terrible things and be rejected by the leaders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, and three days later he would rise again. As he talked about this openly with his disciples, Peter took him aside and told him he shouldn't say things like that.
Jesus turned and looked at his disciples and then said to Peter very sternly, "Get away from me, Satan! You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God's."
Then he called his disciples and the crowds to come over and listen. "If any of you wants to be my follower," he told them, "you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross, and follow me. If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will find true life. And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul in the process? Is anything worth more than your soul? If a person is ashamed of me and my message in these adulterous and sinful days, I, the Son of Man, will be ashamed of that person when I return in the glory of my Father with the holy angels." (Verses 31-38)
Help us, O Holy Spirit, to put aside our selfish ambitions and our myopic sight so that we might take up the mission you have specially created us for. To take up the will of the Lord is to live life to the fullest. To take up the will of the Lord is to live in its truest sense.
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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