Letter shares amazing story of Savior’s birth, Holy Family’s plight
By John F. Fink
The following is a letter sent from Elizabeth, the wife of Zechariah, to Mary, the wife of Clopas, sent during the 22nd year of the reign of the Roman emperor Caesar Augustus.
Dear Mary,
I just received a letter from Mary, the wife of Joseph, and she asked me to tell you what has happened to her. She thought you might be worried about her since she has been gone for so long. The letter came from Egypt! How that happened is what she wanted me to tell you, and it’s an amazing story indeed.
The last time I saw Mary was soon after the birth of my son, John. As you know so well, Mary is always thinking of how she can help others, so when she learned that I was pregnant with John she made that long trip from Nazareth to Ein Karem to help me. She thought I would need some help since I was old for bearing children.
I was six months along when Mary suddenly appeared at our home and greeted me. As she did so, John leaped in my womb and I somehow realized that Mary, too, was pregnant. Not only that, but I was inspired enough to realize that her baby was the Son of God!
I couldn’t help but cry out, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled” (Lk 1:42-45).
While Mary was with us for three months, she told me more astonishing news. She said that an angel had appeared to her! And yes, I believe her. The angel told her that, of all the women in the world and throughout all the centuries, she had been chosen to be the mother of the Messiah we’ve been waiting for.
Of course, Mary wondered how that could happen since, as she told you as one of her best friends, she intended to remain a virgin. The angel said that the Holy Spirit would come upon her, and the child would be called the Son of God. And that’s also when the angel told Mary that I was six months pregnant.
After John’s birth, Mary thought that she’d better return home. She was greatly concerned about what would happen when she got back to Nazareth since she hadn’t told Joseph about her pregnancy, and she wasn’t sure what he would do. As you know, they had gone through the first part of their marriage ceremony, when they became husband and wife, but not the second part when the man takes his wife into his home.
It wasn’t until I received Mary’s letter that I learned what happened. Joseph was very upset, as any man would be. He knew that he wasn’t the father of her child, so it seemed obvious that she had had relations with someone else, probably while she was staying with me.
But he’s such a good man. He didn’t want to accuse her of adultery since the Jewish penalty for that is death by stoning as described in Deuteronomy 22:23-24. So he decided to divorce her quietly. But then, Mary wrote, another remarkable thing happened: Joseph had a dream in which an angel told him that Mary’s child had been conceived through the Holy Spirit.
Joseph believed the angel and took Mary into his home during the usual great feast that accompanies that part of the wedding ceremony. (In her letter, Mary apologized for not letting me know about that sooner. Naturally, I couldn’t help but wonder what happened when she got back to Nazareth.)
Mary wrote that she had a very easy pregnancy. But about the time she was ready to deliver, Caesar Augustus ordered that census you’re so familiar with. That meant that Joseph had to go to Bethlehem, the home of his ancestors, to be enrolled.
Mary insisted on going along because she knew that Jesus was meant to be born in Bethlehem, the City of David. As you know, Mary, we Jews have long believed that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. Mary was convinced that the census was God’s way of providing the reason for Jesus to be born there.
After their five-day trip to Bethlehem, they had a hard time finding a place where Mary could have her privacy because so many descendants of David were there for the census. They eventually found a dry cave that was used as a stable. They were able to have their donkey put up in the stable, and there was also an ox there.
And that’s where Jesus was born. Mary wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger.
Not long after his birth, Mary wrote, they had some visitors. It seems that some shepherds had been tending their flocks when an angel appeared to them and told them that “a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord” (Lk 2:11). Then, the shepherds told Mary, a whole multitude of angels appeared singing, “Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace to those on whom his favor rests” (Lk 2:14).
Naturally, they had Jesus circumcised when he was eight days old. I think by that time Joseph had been able to find a house for them since most of those who had come to Bethlehem to register had returned to their homes. They didn’t want to try to travel back to Nazareth with a newborn baby, so they decided to remain in Bethlehem until it was time for Mary’s purification 40 days after Jesus’ birth, as prescribed by Leviticus 12:2-8.
Since they were only five miles from Jerusalem, they went to the Temple for the purification. After she did that in one of the mikvot (baths) built for that purpose outside the walls of Jerusalem, they went into the Temple and offered two pigeons. Since Jesus was their first-born son, they consecrated him to the law as Exodus 13:2-12 requires.
While they were there, Mary wrote, an elderly man named Simeon recognized Jesus as the Messiah and said a prayer in which he told God that he could now take him because his eyes had seen God’s salvation. Also, an 84-year-old prophetess named Anna praised Jesus to all who were around. One sorrowful thing happened, though: Simeon told Mary that a sword will pierce her soul, whatever that means.
Mary said that the shepherds weren’t their only visitors while they were in Bethlehem. One day some men, wearing Eastern attire like Persians, arrived at the house. They told Mary that they were magi, or astrologers, who were searching for the newborn king of the Jews because they had seen his star at its rising.
They said that they had been to Jerusalem where they met with King Herod. He asked the chief priests and scribes where the Messiah was to be born, and they told him that it would be in Bethlehem. So Herod sent the magi there. They arrived at the house and prostrated themselves before Jesus. They also offered valuable gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
That all sounds great. But then came the bad news. Joseph had another dream. This time the angel told him to get up immediately and take Mary and Jesus and flee to Egypt because Herod was about to search for Jesus and kill him! It must have been a nightmare journey, taking about a week, through deserts where it was difficult to find water, and worrying that Herod’s men might be chasing them.
They weren’t though, because, as you probably heard, Herod sent soldiers to Bethlehem to massacre all the boys 2 years old or younger. The soldiers weren’t chasing Joseph, Mary and Jesus because they thought they had already killed Jesus.
So that’s why Mary wrote her letter from Egypt. She wrote that they intend to stay there until Herod dies. Then they plan to return to Nazareth. Mary said that they wouldn’t want to return to Bethlehem after the massacre there, with the only boy who survived. Besides, it’s too close to Jerusalem in case Archelaus succeeds his father Herod.
Mary wrote that they hope to be able to stop at your home in Emmaus on their way back to Nazareth, whenever that happens. Until then, she asked to be kept in your prayers as you are in hers.
Elizabeth
Obviously, the letter is fictional, but the events reported are factual. Mary, the wife of Clopas, remained a friend of the Blessed Virgin and stood with her by the cross when Jesus was crucified (Jn 19:25). It’s possible, because of the closeness in spelling, that she also could have been the wife of Cleopas, one of the two disciples Jesus met on the road to Emmaus after his resurrection. Since the other disciple isn’t named, it could have been Cleopas’ wife.
(John F. Fink is editor emeritus of The Criterion.) †