This post is Day 22 in a series of studies about “Mary’s of the Bible”. I strongly suggest you begin with the introduction to this study, please click here to read it.

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Mary’s of the Bible – Day 22

The accounts of the reactions of the followers of Jesus up to His death and beyond vary in the different gospels. Here we have Mary Magdalene who we have already thought about. But who is this Mary the mother of Joseph? Remember Joseph was one of the brothers of Jesus!

Mark 15:47

Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph saw where He was laid.

The Thought

The accounts of the immediate reactions of those who had followed Jesus up to His death and beyond vary in the different gospel stories. Here we have Mary Magdalene who we have already thought about (Days 14-16). But who is this Mary the mother of Joseph? Remember that Joseph was one of the names of Jesus’ brothers (Day 7)!

We can imagine that Joseph was a very common name in those times, and even today hundreds of believing families (both Jewish and Christian), as well as non-believing ones call their children Joseph, but why should this one son be mentioned here? And how many families had only one son?

Most families had numerous sons in Biblical times, and considered the birth of a son a particular blessing from God. Remember the story of Hannah, the mother of Samuel who was ridiculed by her husband’s second wife Peninnah, because she was not producing sons. Because The Lord had closed Hannah’s womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her (1 Samuel 1:6). After many years of suffering ridicule because she was childless, Hannah gave birth to Samuel. What a joy that must have been! Hannah gave Samuel back to God, and the consequence was The Lord blessed her with 3 more sons and 2 daughters! The first son Samuel became a prophet and has 2 books of The Bible in his name!

Action

Read the first two chapters of 1 Samuel today and feel the heartache of a woman who couldn’t have children. Think about how children are often the identity for their parents as in today’s reading. Mary was identified by the name of her son, Joseph (More about that tomorrow)!

Pray for any you know who cannot have children.

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