Joseph washed his whole body and neatly groomed his face. He put on the clean clothes he only wore to the synagogue on the Sabbath and went to the well. Joseph filled the wooden bowl Mary had given him with water and smiled as he looked at it. As he lifted the bowl to drink, cool fresh water flowed into his inner being. He felt as if he had been born again.
The Joseph of yesterday and today were different people. How could a life that has encountered God be the same as one that hasn’t? He would no longer live as he did before. He headed toward Mary’s house. The early dawn air that enveloped the village calmed his mood but couldn’t quiet his heart swelling with hope. The bright smile on his face revealed his feelings plainly. Not because his dream of finding true love had come true, but because he firmly believed God would guide his and Mary’s future, so there was nothing to fear.
Mary’s house came into view in the distance-the place where his beloved Mary was. He stood there now, having passed through difficult times, weary moments, and times when he felt no one understood his heart. He had so desperately wanted to be understood by people, but it seemed understanding one’s own heart ultimately begins with taking interest in others’ hearts. All this time, he had only tried to avoid being disliked and to look good to others, without really thinking about what they truly wanted. So he had obsessed over each of their reactions, attaching excessive meaning to them. Focusing only on whether people might view him negatively, all he received from people was hurt. When Mary thought that she had hurt him, it felt like there was no one in the world more miserable than him. The feeling of being rejected and abandoned-how much pain had he endured because of it? And then, seeing Mary pregnant only made him feel as if the world was collapsing around him.
But now, he had come to know the truth. The truth was far simpler than he had imagined. It wasn’t her fault, and it certainly wasn’t because she had ignored him.
Joseph had been hurting himself, trapped in a fantasy of his own making. What had been tormenting him was not others’ gaze but his own. Though the time he had wasted felt futile, he also thought it was because of those times that he could be here now. From now on, he would not live bound by others’ gazes. From now on, he would live with gratitude for each moment. Now he would love freely and express himself freely.
Joseph’s heart was overflowing with anticipation for the future.
Joseph quietly knocked on the door of Mary’s house. Just as he wondered if he had knocked too softly, he heard footsteps approaching the door. And inside the opened door was his beloved Mary. She looked gaunt, as if she had tossed and turned all night. Seeing her worried yet somehow dignified expression, Joseph smiled.
“Shall we take a walk?”
The two entered the green dawn forest beyond the village. As they walked the forest path, birds chirped to welcome the morning. Flowers in full bloom smiled brightly among the green underbrush-yellow, red, blue, white, pink. There was nothing there that wasn’t beautiful.
“Mary, I like this village.”
Mary turned her head to look at Joseph’s face.
“And I really like you too. But… I think I’ve been too one-sided in my affection for you until now. Afraid you might dislike me, I tried so hard to look good to you, but I never tried to understand what was in your heart or what you were thinking. My selfish actions focused only on myself must have been suffocating for you. Mary, I’m sorry for all that.”
Mary continued to look at Joseph’s face.
“When I heard you had left to visit your relative, I was really disappointed. It felt like you were ignoring me, like I meant nothing to you, and my heart ached so much. Then yesterday I saw you. You, pregnant…”
Mary wrapped her arms around her belly as she spoke.
“I didn’t ignore you. It’s just… I don’t know how to explain…”
Joseph stopped walking and looked into Mary’s eyes.
“That which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
Mary’s eyes widened.
“How did you…”
Joseph smiled.
“I heard it in a dream last night.”
Clear tears began to well up in Joseph’s eyes. As the tears flowed down his smiling face, Mary raised her hand to wipe them away.
“‘Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.’ To think that word is being fulfilled through you. This isn’t a dream, is it? That the Messiah to come as David’s descendant will be your-no, our-child.”
Mary smiled too. Transparent tears pooled in her eyes, shining in the morning sunlight.
“God is with us.”
Joseph nodded. He embraced the tearful Mary, gently patting her back. Feeling his warm touch, Mary closed her eyes.
* * *
The two walked the forest path together, their backs joined as one. Smiles never left their faces as they held hands.
“Mary, there’s one thing I’m curious about, though.”
“What is it?”
“What were you planning to do if I didn’t accept you? I could have even reported you, you know.”
Mary laughed softly.
“I thought that was unavoidable. Though I’m innocent, if you didn’t believe that, there was nothing I could do. You had your choice to make. But I was certain that whatever path God led me on, He would protect me. It might be a difficult path, but I had to trust and go forward. Oh? Are you disappointed?”
Joseph hurriedly changed his expression.
“Not at all.”
“Come on, you’re emphasizing it so much. You’re definitely disappointed.”
“I’m telling you I’m not.”
Mary smiled as she watched Joseph pout, his lips sticking out.
“You’re sulking, aren’t you?”
“I’m not! Hmph.”
Mary smiled as she watched Joseph pretend to be upset.
“But what about you? Are you really okay? We can’t tell people the truth yet, so they’ll misunderstand you and gossip a lot behind your back. They’ll believe you’re this child’s father and speak ill of you-are you really okay with that?”
“I won’t care about such trivial things anymore. You’re the one who’s precious to me, not them. I won’t hurt you anymore by worrying about their opinions. You’re the one and only love God has given me.”
“Thank you.”
As Joseph nodded, Mary spoke again.
“We’ll be able to do this well, right?”
This was a question not just for Joseph, but for herself as well.
“Yes. We’ll be able to do it well.”
In the brightly shining morning sunlight, their lips met. And from now on, their lives too would be joined as one in God. As it is said, “What therefore God has joined together, let no one separate,” they would love and cherish each other with an unbreakable, firm faith. The two held a hasty wedding ceremony before Mary’s belly grew larger, and Joseph did not sleep with his wife until after the baby was born.
* * *
While Zechariah and Elizabeth were living in seclusion in Ein Kerem, there were many changes in Jerusalem as well. The biggest change among them was the replacement of the high priest. There had been an incident where Herod’s eldest son Antipater failed in an attempt to poison Herod and was imprisoned, and evidence was found that Mariamne II, who was the high priest’s daughter, had known about this plot but concealed it. Because of this, Queen Mariamne II and Prince Philip, who was about to become heir to the throne by chance, were both deposed, and the high priest Simon was also replaced by Matthias ben Theophilus.
When the seemingly unshakeable power of the high priest passed to another person, a fight broke out in the Jerusalem temple between those who had held power and those who newly sought it. The temple, which should have been holy before God, had become an arena for dirty struggles for worldly power. While all the priests’ attention was focused on which side would win, Zechariah, far removed from the temple, was still silently fulfilling his mission. Zechariah was learning well the life that teaches through living.
When the time for childbirth arrived, relatives came to the house to assist with the delivery. Mary bid farewell to the two of them and left for her hometown. Although they tried multiple times to persuade her that staying with them would be safer, Mary was resolute in her decision to return. She explained that just as they had their mission, she too had a mission given by God. In the end, they had no choice but to let her go.
Not long after, a healthy baby boy was born. Relatives and neighbors joined in the celebration, but the happiest of all were Zechariah and Elizabeth, who knew the truth. On the eighth day, more relatives gathered to perform the circumcision ceremony for the child.
“Elizabeth, how about naming the child Zechariah after his father?”
“No. He must be called John.”
“But there’s no one among our relatives with the name John. We should use one of the names that has been passed down in our family.”
“No. This child’s name is John.”
The relatives were very perplexed by Elizabeth’s stubbornness. In their common sense, it was right to use a name that had been passed down through relatives or ancestors. As far as they knew, there was no reason for the name John to appear in their family. But faced with Elizabeth’s unyielding, firm attitude, they had no choice but to ask Zechariah for help.
Those who went to Zechariah, expecting that he would make a proper judgment, asked him by gestures what he wanted to name the child. He asked for a writing tablet and wrote on it, “His name is John.” Everyone thought this strange. Why were Elizabeth and now Zechariah doing this? Why were they trying to break the custom that should obviously be kept?
People were still bound by the customs they had to keep as Jews. What was important to them were the traditions of the elders passed down through history. But Zechariah and Elizabeth chose God’s will, not human words. If asked to choose between God’s will and the elders’ traditions, isn’t it obvious to choose God’s will?
The moment Zechariah chose God’s will, his voice that had disappeared returned.
“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people; and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David (as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets who have been from of old), salvation from our enemies, and from the hand of all who hate us; to show mercy toward our fathers, to remember his holy covenant, the oath which he swore to Abraham, our father, to grant to us that we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, should serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life.”
Zechariah looked at his son. His eyes were filled with indescribable affection as he continued:
“And you, child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways, to give his people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
Elizabeth, watching her husband and child, felt the truth of his words deep in her heart. God’s promises were being fulfilled before their eyes.
As Zechariah spoke, murmurs spread among the relatives who heard his words. They whispered among themselves about the child who would prepare the way of the Lord, the one who would teach the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of sins.
“What then is this child going to be?” they wondered.
This rumor gradually spread throughout the Judean hill country, becoming a topic of conversation. Zechariah and Elizabeth began to seriously consider whether they should leave Ein Kerem and hide in the wilderness, concerned about the attention their child was drawing.
The passages from Matthew 1:20–21, Isaiah 7:14, Luke 1:68–79 quoted in this narrative are taken directly from the World English Bible (WEB) translation.
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