Fact is stranger than fiction…

15.03.2015:

Fact is stranger than fiction…

There is a saying in Malayalam, ‘അമ്മ സത്യം, അച്ഛന്‍ മിഥ്യ.’ which would mean somewhat like this: ‘maternity is a fact, paternity is only a fiction/myth!’ This apart, the ‘story’ of Jesus’ ‘virgin birth’ as narrated in the gospels might in all probability have been more of a controversy, may not for the ‘faithful’ of our day but for his contemporaries.

‘When his (Jesus’) mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit; and her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to send her away quietly… he took to his wife…’ (Mt 1:18-25) ‘…took the child and his mother by night, and departed to Egypt…’ (2:14) ‘… he withdrew to the district of Galilee. And he went and dwelt in a city called Nazareth…’ (2:22-23)

‘…and Simon… said to Mary, his mother, ‘Behold… a sword will pierce through your own soul also…’ (Lk 2:35) ‘And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom; and when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem… After three days they found him in the temple… and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been looking for you anxiously.” And he said to them, “How is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (2: 42-49)

‘And his mother and his brethren came; and standing outside they sent to him and called him. And a crowd was sitting about him; and they said to him, “Your mother and your brethren are outside, asking for you.” And he replied, “Who are my mother and my brethren?”And looking around on those who sat about him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brethren!’ (Mk 3: 31-35) ‘… and many who heard him were astonished, saying… Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?’ (6:2-3)

‘…there was a marriage at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; Jesus also was invited… When the wine failed, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “O woman, what have you to do with me?” (Jn 2:1-4) ‘…standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister… When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” (19:25-26)

As the title of the great book “Jesus before Christianity” by Albert Nolan dares to present Jesus before ‘faith’, here am attempting to make some sense for the incident in Jesus’ life when he was twelve at Jerusalem, his reply, a question, to the crowd to their suggestion that his ‘mother and brethren’ were asking for him: ‘who are my mother…?’, his being addressed as ‘the son of Mary’ etc. from the angle of his contemporaries, without in anyway intending to insult/hurt anyone’s faith/feeling, if at all anyone is hurt by the way…

As the gospels narrate, only Joseph, after his grueling night of feeling that he was cheated/deceived, was told that ‘for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit…’ (Mt 1:20)! ‘… he took to his wife…’ (Mt 1:25) Naturally, not being able to face his neighbors, he ‘took the child and his mother by night, and departed to Egypt...’ (Mt 2:14) and even after returning to ‘the land of Israel… he withdrew to the district of Galilee’ (2:21-22) may be out of shame.

As he slowly might have realized at the age of twelve that he was not the son of Joseph (Mk 6:2-3), he might not have felt comfortable… So, when he got an occasion at the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, wanting to escape the shame and humiliation from his peers and neighbors he stayed back there. And on the third day when his ‘parents’ came back in search of him, he was harsh/rebellious enough to shot back, ‘Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?’ Here he might have been desperately/rebelliously trying to find out an alternate and meaningful paternity for him other than Joseph… Thus he might have developed the idea of God being his and anyone like that of his nature’s father.

And even after coming back home, he could not settle down and face people around and be comfortable. So, he might have left for good far away, not to be known till he came back ‘enlightened’ at the sober age of thirty with a different conviction, courage and outlook towards life altogether… (Hidden life…)

At this age, he was not even bothered of as to who his mother or brother or sister is... By the time he could very well see in any woman his mother as well as his sister and any man his brother or friend… (Mk 3: 31-35). In spite of his ‘enlightenment’, he could not deal normally with his mother even; seemingly he could not reconcile with her or rather accept her as she is… That was why the indifferent, if not outrageous retort at Cana. (Jn 2:1-4). This reaches a sublime stage only at the cross, the culmination of his journey towards self-realization/total surrender. That was what we see at Calvary wherein he replaces all humanity in his place in the person of John. (Jn 19:25-26)

Was his rebellious nature, defying attitude an outcome of his sense of shame before his peers and neighbors due to his unknown paternity?

And Joseph was not at all seen anywhere other than the few incidents of infancy narrative… Where was he all along his journey? If he could reconcile with his mother, why could he not be reconciled, as it appears, with Joseph, the righteous? Was he not given any importance even by his disciples/friends?[to be continued...]