What happened to Jesus’ mother, Mary, after the Nativity?
Many people don’t know.
We get glimpses of her further in the New Testament, but nothing beyond.
Here’s what we do know from the Bible.
Mary, after the Nativity, lived in several locations
We don’t know if she was born in Nazareth, but the lineage in Luke 3:23 suggests Mary was a descendant of King David. (Got Questions explains why scholars believe this).
In addition, scholars believe Luke interviewed Mary about Jesus, which is why his gospel has details the other three lack.
King David’s hometown, of course, was Bethlehem–where Mary gave birth to Jesus.
Joseph and Mary, after the Nativity, “when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were completed, brought Jesus to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord.” Luke 2:22 NKJV.
At that point, the family had a choice: return to Nazareth or Bethlehem.
They chose Bethlehem–what better place to raise the “Son of God?”
It also may have been a good spot because Zechariah and Elizabeth, who knew the baby’s real identity, lived in the nearby Judean hill country.
Who knows what the Nazareth family thought?
The young family’s first move
Joseph had a second dream (the first told him to wed Mary), with an angel telling him to get up and leave that night.
They moved to Egypt until King Herod’s death.
We have apocryphal stories about the Holy Family in Egypt, including 25 places they stopped.
Mary, after the Nativity, probably saw the pyramids.
Some believe the family stopped in Heliopolis–where a spring bubbled from the ground.
(Oswald Chambers fans will be interested in knowing Heliopolis is a neighbor of Zeitoun–where he and Biddy lived in a YMCA camp during WWI.)
History tells us a substantial Jewish community lived in present-day Alexandria–one of the first synagogues stood there.
I think it’s interesting that, once again, Egypt figured in the Biblical account as a refuge. (Here’s one explanation for why).
(See Chad Bird’s Unveiling Mercy on December 8 for another thought of why Jesus lived in Egypt).
On to Nazareth, finally.
Why did Joseph and Mary, after the nativity’s glory, return to their obscure town in the Galilean foothills?
That’s where the angel sent them.
But, it also may have had to do with a parallel Jesus himself referred to: that of Jesus and Jonah.
Jesus, as the son of David, “fled to Egypt” and then lived in obscurity before arriving “on the scene.” He needed to wait “until his time had come.”
Other Mary sightings
Mary, after the nativity, traveled back to Jerusalem several times a year with her family to celebrate the feasts.
The year Jesus turned twelve, the family went up together.
During the journey home, she and Joseph went three days without noticing Jesus was missing.
Once they realized their bar mitzvahed son wasn’t with the party, they returned to Jerusalem.
When questioned why he was in the Temple, Jesus asked: “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” (Luke 2:49-50 NKJV)
Interesting answer, isn’t it?
During Jesus’ adulthood
Twenty years later, the proud Jewish mother–who knew her son’s true identity–encouraged him to display it at a wedding in the town of Cana.
A fully grown man by this time, he could admonish mother–“not yet”–while answering her request.
We also know Mary stood at the foot of the cross with her sister (name unknown), watching her son die.
Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!”
He gave his mother to the beloved apostle John–who also, it should be added, was one of the younger disciples.
We also know she waited with the disciples and her other sons in the Upper Room until the Holy Spirit came. (Acts 1:14, NKJV)
(Wikimedia Commons)
Apocryphal stories about Mary after the Nativity
Because the Bible does not tell us when or where Mary died, it’s not important to our faith.
We know Jesus left her in the care of his disciple John–not in the care of his brothers.
At that time, the brothers were not sure about Jesus’s divinity. That changed after the crucifixion. His brother James ultimately became a church leader in Jerusalem.
Mary disappeared from the Bible after the Holy Spirit came on Pentecost.
Scholars believe that John took her into his household, and when he became the bishop of Ephesus, she moved with him to Western Asia Minor (now Turkey).
A scholar friend visited the house near Ephesus, where tradition claims she died between 43-48 AD.
Was it?
Who knows?
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