Who was Mary?

Two thousand years ago, an unmarried teenager in a back water town in the far reaches of the Roman Empire became pregnant. What happened 9 months later changed the entire world. The church says she was still a virgin, even after she gave birth to Jesus. The world's largest church, the Roman Catholics, say that she herself was born of an immaculate conception, was a life-long virgin, was without sin her entire life and did not die, but ascended into heaven. Many Protestant groups challenge these teachings and say only that Mary was a virgin when she gave birth to Jesus. Here are the background basics on Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Name: Mary. In Hebrew, her name would look like this: îøéí. This more closely translates either as Maryam or Miriam, but has come to be translated as Mary in English. In Koine Greek, the language the New Testament was written in, her name is translated either as Μαριαμ or Μαρια.

Family tree: Mary's parents are not listed by name in the Bible. In non-Biblical sources, her parents are listed as Joachim and Anne. According to the Bible, she is a cousin of Elizabeth, who was married to the Levite priest Zechariah. Elizabeth was the mother of John the Baptist, making both Mary and Jesus cousins of John. Some scholars claim that the genealogy listed in Luke 3:23-38, is the genealogy of Mary, which would make her part of the House of David. Mary apparently was born and raised in Nazareth.

Married life: Mary married a man named Joseph, whose genealogy is presented in Matthew chapter 1. According to the Bible, Mary become pregnant while she was betrothed to Joseph. Betrothal is similar to being engaged in American life, but with a much stronger legal and moral commitment between the man and the woman.

The prophesy: From the book of Isaiah 7:14: Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Immanuel means: God with us.)

The virgin birth: The Gospels of Matthew and Luke both specifically state that Mary was a virgin when she conceived Jesus. In Luke, chapter 1, Mary spcecifically asks the angel Gabriel how such a thing could possibly happen. His response: "Nothing is impossible with God." (Luke 1:37). The Gospels of Mark and John do not make any reference to the birth of Jesus. The belief in the virgin birth has been the official church doctrine since the beginnings of Christianity and is included in both the Apostle's and Nicene Creeds (early forms of the Apostle's Creed appeared to have been in use by about 150 A.D., the Nicene Creed was first written around 325 A.D.)

Mary in the Qu'ran: Mary is actually mentioned more times by name in the Qu'ran, the holy scriptures of Islam, than she is in the Christian Bible. The Qu'ran includes a chapter on "Maryam" and relates the story of her special place as the mother of Jesus. The Qu'ran includes the teaching of the virgin birth: her child conceived through "a Word from God." This passage explains how the virgin birth is possible (3:47):

"'My Lord,' said Mary, how shall I have a son when no man has ever touched me?" The angel answered, "Thus it is: God creates what He wills: When he decrees a matter, He only says to it: 'Be,' and it is."

Mary's "other" children: There are a few references in the Bible to the brothers and sisters of Jesus. In two cases (Matthew 13:55 and Mark 6:3), four men are listed by name as brothers of Jesus: James, Joses, Simon, and Judas-are mentioned as the brothers of Jesus. There are three basic theories about who these men were: Jesus' half brothers, born of Mary and Joseph after Jesus was born; stepbrothers whom Joseph had from a previous wife; and cousins of Jesus. The Bible provides no further discssion of exactly who these men were. There is, however, a school of thought that the James listed as a brother of Jesus is the same James who later became the head of the church in Jerusalem, which would lend strength to the argument that this James had a special relationship to Jesus, such as that a brother might enjoy.

Jesus & Mary: We don't hear much of anything about Joseph after the birth of Jesus, but Mary plays a role in several key moments. At the start of his ministry, as both Jesus and his mother are at a wedding (recorded in John 2), Mary prompts Jesus to begin to display who he really is, by performing the first of his miracle, turning water into wine. Later, as Jesus is meeting and teaching his disciples, a concerned Mary and his "brothers and sisters" wanted to talk with Jesus, apparently to check up on him. At the crucifixion, Mary is at the cross of Jesus and, apparently now a widow, as Jesus, from the cross, pointedly instructs the disciple John to care for her as he would John's own mother. Finally, Mary is among those gathered with the disciples in the upper room in Acts 1, where the disciples are anxiously attempting to figure out what to do next, and is likely still with them when they receive the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost.

Later years: According to the writings of several early church leaders, the disciple John went to live later in the town of Ephesus (think of the Epistle to the Ephesians) in what is now Turkey, after his activities outlined the book of Acts. It is highly possible then that Mary lived out her final years there and there is a small shrine, sacred to both Christians and Muslims, just outside Ephesus in that region, known as the "House of the Virgin Mary." According to legend, she died, surrounded by a group of apostles, either in Jerusalem or Ephesus, somewhere between three and 15 years after the Ascension of Jesus. According to accounts not included in the Bible, a group of apostles later went to check on her body in her tomb and found that it was empty and concluded that she had been assumed in body into Heaven. There is also a shrine in Jerusalem known as Mary's Tomb. It should be stressed that other than the reference in John 19:27 that "From that time on, this disciple (John) took her (Mary) into his home," and her presence with the disciples in the days immediately following the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus, there is no Biblical account of Mary's final days.