What if Jesus’
younger brothers and sisters were typical of their day? They would most likely have been married and had
children of their own by the time Jesus, their eldest brother at the age of 30,
left home and the family Carpentry business, to begin wandering the Jordan
Valley.
Mary, like
most mothers/grandmothers, would continue to live in Nazareth supporting her
married children spending her days caring for and spoiling her grandchildren. Would Mary have left her home, her married
children and her grandchildren, to travel with her wandering son, Jesus?
After
three years of wandering the Jordan Valley and living off of the kindness of
strangers, Jesus was arrested by the only group ever threatened by his public speaking
and actions, - the Sanhedrin and Pharisees. Jesus was accused of sedition by the Sanhedrin
and turned over to the Roman ruler, Pontius Pilate on trumped up charges
guaranteed to result in his execution.
Sedition
in any country meant a speedy trial, and an execution by a slow death on a
large wooden post erected in full view of a busy thoroughfare entering a large
city to get maximum publicity. To
guarantee a maximum publicity, the victim was left on the post after he died
for sometimes weeks with a sign to warn others of the results of attempting to
overthrow the ruling powers.
Nazareth
is 90 miles from Jerusalem. There was no public transportation or communication
between the two towns. Mary and her
family would not have received the message of Jesus’ conviction of sedition and
execution for several days. It would
then take several more days before the 50+ year-old, Mary, with support of her sons/daughters,
made their way back to Jerusalem to beg Pontius Pilate for the’ body of Jesus
for burial.
In this
likely scenario, Mary would not have been present at Jesus’ trial and crucifixion,
and unlikely that she would have been allowed to consign his body to a
Jerusalem tomb.
