Knowing The Word in Luke 1:56

Mary Returns Home

1:56 And Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home.

Comments

Mary went to visit Elizabeth when she was six months pregnant, so Mary must have returned to Nazareth just before the birth of John. Why did Mary stay as long as she did and why didn’t she stay for the birth of John? To answer these questions requires some speculation. A likely answer is that Mary’s destiny was separate from Elizabeth’s and her family. Because John the Baptist would later not recognize Jesus when he comes to be baptized, we can speculate that the two families never came together after the births of the two boys.

Mary returned to Nazareth three months pregnant. She would probably begin to be showing. Now was the time she would have to face Joseph. What would be his response? She has spent three months preparing for this moment, talking with Elizabeth and Zechariah and praying to God. Perhaps she asked Zechariah to accompany her back home to help intervene with Joseph. Or perhaps she sent for Joseph and confronted him with the news in the presence of Zechariah and Elizabeth. We do not know and cannot be sure, but we do know Joseph’s response thanks to Matthew 1:18-25:

18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:

23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel”

(which means, God with us).

24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

Joseph encountered an angel of the Lord—perhaps Gabriel again?—in his sleep and not in person as Zechariah and Mary had. The angel confirmed the boy shall be named Jesus, and Joseph should not hesitate to marry Mary and be the boy’s guardian father. Yet it would be difficult for this couple in the town of Nazareth. Perhaps there would be a way to get out of town without having to deal with nosy neighbors?

Application

When we only see the surface, we cannot know what is happening on the inside. The Bible confirms again and again that we humans get things wrong by judging too quickly, including Joseph who needed divine intervention to stay within the will of God. Jesus will later say we need to take the log out of our eye to help our neighbor with the speck in their eye. Think about when you have judged too quickly, unaware that God was on the move.

Prayer

O God, who from the family of your servant David raised up Joseph to be the guardian of your incarnate Son and the spouse of his virgin mother: Give us grace to imitate his uprightness of life and his obedience to your commands; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, p. 239)