Page 2 - December 12, 2013 ‘Mary of Nazareth’ Cont. from Page 1
raphies. As such, this article will not include garden-variety commentaries (such as the Nativity Scene, the Flight Into Egypt, etc.) all of which can be read elsewhere, in great abundance, and of which we are, only, too familiar. The events which gird Mary of Nazareth’s life almost implores us to investigate more deeply because, despite her world renown and though she is celebrated with deep reverence by countless people for more than twenty centuries, she remains shrouded in mystery. Her personal life and eventual death remains, hugely, unknown.
Re-examining ancient texts, and eliciting the opinions of the world’s leading secular and Christian scholars, new light is shone upon this humble Hebrew girl, known as Mary of Nazareth in the New Testament (or Maryam in Aramaic, the dominant spoken language of her people during her lifetime). The language Mary spoke was most certainly Aramaic, an agreement strongly adhered to, across the board, from antiquarian experts and Judeo-Christian pedagogues. She lived the major portion of her life in the north, in Nazareth.
Give Us This Day Our Daily Chuckle This week, a compendium of wit, wisdom and neat stuff you can tell at parties. Enjoy! Heavenly . . .
One day God was looking down at earth and saw all of the rascally behavior that was going on... So He called His angels and sent one to earth for a time. When the angel returned, he told God,'Yes, it is bad on earth; 95% are misbehaving and only 5% are not.
God thought for a moment and said, 'Maybe I had better send down a second angel to get another opinion.' So God called another angel and sent her to earth for a time. When the angel returned she went to God and said, 'Yes, it's
The local tongue in that region, as well as the surrounding areas within Galilee, was Aramaic. To this day, Aramaic is still spoken in that area of the Middle East, to the north of Israel and to the south of Syria. In fact, Aramaic was the so-called ‘mother tongue’ of the Galilee area, during her time. Even the sacred Jewish book, the Talmud, has not changed its language in thousands of years – it is still written, today, totally in Aramaic, and not in Hebrew. (Aramaic, incidentally, is not a dialect of Hebrew, as some may think.) Mary, of course, spoke Hebrew, the ancient language of which the Jewish Torah (the first five books of the Christian Old Testament) is written. And of course, she was given a Hebrew name at birth, Miryam. The names of Mary’s father and mother are never mentioned in the Christian Bible.
However, the second century Gospel of James, a non-canonical text, is the first ancient source to enumerate her parents by name: her father, Joachim, and her mother, Anne. Even though this is an apocryphal manuscript not included in the New Testament,
true. The earth is in decline; 95% are misbehaving, but 5% are being good...' God was not pleased.
So He decided to e-mail the 5% who were good, because he wanted to encourage them, and give them a little something to help them keep going.
Do you know what the e-mail said? Okay, I was just wondering, because I didn't get one either. WHAT CAUSES ARTHRITIS?
A drunk man who smelled of beer sat down on a subway next to a priest.
The man's tie was stained, his face was plastered with red lipstick, and a half-empty bottle of gin was sticking out of his torn coat pocket. He opened his newspaper and began reading.
After a few minutes the man turned to the priest and asked, "Say Father, what causes arthritis?"
The priest replies, "My Son, it's caused by loose living, being with cheap, wicked women, too much alcohol, contempt for your fellow man, sleeping around with prostitutes and lack of a bath."
many contemporary Bible scholars now grant veracity to this particular parental claim. MARY’S EARLY YEARS
Nothing is known, outside of Scripture, of Mary’s early, formative years. Primarily, because there is no mention of it in the New Testament Bible.
However, historians (both Christian and secular) are comfortable in their assessments of what her life may have been like, in ancient Jewish times. She is assessed to be of Jewish peasantry. In general, times were harsh, particularly for the Jewish lower classes. Throughout her lifetime, the Holy Land was under the cruel control of the vast Roman Empire.
Little is known of the number of inhabitants in the village of Nazareth during Mary’s time. However, archeologists and hard science seem to suggest that her village population at the time was somewhere between 70 to 150. Nevertheless, this estimate is unproven.
Like her surrounding neighbors, Mary’s parents most likely labored long hours in the fields, turning the soil, to earn
The drunk muttered in response, "Well, I'll be,” then returned to his paper.
The priest, thinking about what he had said, nudged the man and apologized. "I'm very sorry. I didn't mean to come on so strong. How long have you had arthritis?" The drunk answered, "I don't have it, Father. I was just reading here that the Pope does." MORAL: Make sure you understand the question before offering the answer. Where’s God?
A loving couple had two little boys, ages 8 and 10, who were just terrible kids always getting in trouble. Running out of ideas, they decided to look to the church. They heard that a clergyman in town had been successful in disciplining children in the past, so they called him, and he agreed to give it a shot. He asked to see the boys individually, so the eight-year old was sent to meet with him first. The clergyman sat the boy down and asked him sternly, 'Now where is God?"
The boy made no response, so the clergyman repeated the question ever louder, "Where is God!?'
a modest living. Even as a very small child, Mary probably worked alongside her parents to help out in every way she could. She was also expected to do other tasks. “I imagine that she helped her mother with food preparation, which would have been much more expensive than most of us have ever experienced. If they were farmers, she certainly helped in the planting and harvesting. Perhaps even in preparing things for the market.” (Dr. Beverly R. Gaventa, Ph.D, Princeton Theological Seminary.)
Only the barest of survival skills were afforded Mary as a young peasant girl. In her day she most assuredly learned the rudiments of cooking, farming, and weaving. Most likely, that would have been the extent of young Mary’s education. In the ancient world, any schooling beyond that would have been a rare exception, even a luxury, which most of the peasantry were not granted -- most especially for little girls. Many Biblical historians say Mary of Nazareth, more likely than not, was probably illiterate. “It’s not to definitely say Mary couldn’t read or write. She could have read Scripture
‘Mary of Nazareth’ Cont. on Page 3
Again the boy made no attempt to answer, so the clergyman raised his voice even more and shook his finger in the boy's face, "WHERE IS GOD!?" The boy suddenly ran out of the room, ran directly home, and slammed himself in his closet. His older brother followed him into the closet and said, "What happened?" The younger brother replied, 'We are in a BIG mess of trouble this time. God has gone missing and they think WE did it!" First Christmas Joke of 2013:
Three men died on Christmas Eve and were met by Saint Peter at the pearly gates. 'In honor of this holy season' Saint Peter said, 'You must each possess something that symbolizes Christmas to get into heaven.'
The Englishman fumbled through his pockets and pulled out a lighter. He flicked it on. 'It's a candle,' he said.
'You may pass through the pearly gates,' Saint Peter said. The Scotsman reached into his
‘Chuckles’ Cont. on Page 7