D
espite their silent compliance, Jewish women did not consider being “unclean” for bodily functions over which they had no control, a compliment. Since the birth, Mary and Joseph had been received in the home of Julia and Hermas, two compassionate people who would not hear of Mary and the child “spending one more hour in that horrible stable.” Hermas ben David had lived in Bethlehem all his life, his father a Jew, his mother gentile. He had married a Roman woman, not an uncommon practice for Jewish men. Yet they lived as Jews. Julia more tolerated Judaism than embraced it. She had little patience for some Jewish teachings, especially as they regarded women. Still, they were a devout family, and hospitable.
For the first week of Jesus’ life, his mother was considered ceremonially unclean until his circumcision. While her unclean status found its basis in ‘Moses,’ and ‘ceremony,’ in the eyes of those who did not share that status, there was no substantial difference between Mary’s condition and that of a leper. Julia found this unnecessarily cruel for someone who had just gone through nine months of discomfort and the horrific pain of childbirth. “Shameful,” she would say, “Even God gets his day of rest, but for us women? Not so much as a grunt of appreciation from the men of this world. Shameful, I say.”
Hermas smiled at his wife’s complaint. “She’s right, you know.” He remarked to Joseph. “It is much more difficult in this world to be a woman than to be a man.”
“It seems insufferable that women should be so demeaned as to be considered ‘unclean’ for any reason connected to childbirth. I do not understand the ways of priests and Levites,” agreed Joseph. Especially for this child, Joseph thought.
For an additional thirty days Mary was forbidden to touch hallowed things and in that time, was not permitted to enter the temple. After forty days, she was required to offer sacrifice for her purification. Purification? She thought. Purification from what? For having this child? The incongruity appalled her. Purification after a birth required a sacrificial lamb, or if a family could not afford that, two turtle-doves or two young pigeons. Joseph, ever mindful of his dwindling purse, watched as the priest broke the necks of the birds and offered them to God. Now, he mused acidly, she is clean! Joseph found the whole process revolting.
At this time also, Jesus, as their firstborn son, would be presented to the Lord for service as a priest. According to ceremony, they would then “buy him back,” or redeem him for the price of five shekels. Joseph rolled his eyes heavenward at the levitical considerations that had brought the young family to the temple in Jerusalem when Jesus was barely six weeks old. They dutifully deposited their shekels in the third Trumpet near the raised dais where the women worshiped.
