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00:00Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women.
00:12Luke 1.28
00:15Two thousand years ago, the Bible tells us, one of the most mysterious events in history took place.
00:24Thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus.
00:37Luke 1.31
00:39A fourteen-year-old Jewish peasant girl, a virgin named Mary, is said to have miraculously given birth to the Savior of her people.
00:54There is scant evidence of Mary's remarkable life.
01:02Much of her story seems to have vanished, scattered by the winds of time.
01:09Even the four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, reveal little of her, a mere seventeen lines in all.
01:18I think the history of Mary is quite mysterious.
01:25How can there be so little of her in the New Testament, and so much of her in the church?
01:31This is the question we have to try to answer.
01:34Can we ever know this woman, so loved and revered, yet about whom so little is known?
01:50Much of Mary's story comes down to us from an obscure ancient text said to be written by Jesus' brother.
01:57But could this manuscript be mere legend, fueled by a vivid imagination?
02:09The unanswered questions about this remarkable woman, the mother of Jesus, appear endless.
02:15What is the true nature of Mary's immaculate conception, and how does it differ from the virgin birth of Jesus?
02:30Is Mary's husband, Joseph, a young man?
02:33Or is he elderly, a widower with grown children?
02:41What role does Mary play in the new church after the death of Jesus?
02:48Were her final days spent in Asia, with the disciple John?
02:55Or was she lifted directly into heaven, leaving no earthly trace that she had ever lived at all?
03:03These are but a few of the mysteries of the Bible.
03:33To be continued...
03:35To be continued...
03:43To be continued...
04:00Ancient Israel in the hill country of Galilee, more than 2,000 years ago, it is here that
04:22Mary's extraordinary story unfolds.
04:29The truth about Mary's birth has always been cloaked in mystery, but this event, as well
04:35as many others in her life, cannot be found anywhere in the Christian Bible.
04:44The stories of Mary's early life, which are missing from the New Testament, have become
04:49known to us after a surprising discovery made in the 16th century.
04:58An ancient manuscript called the Infancy Gospel of James.
05:03It is attributed to Jesus' younger brother.
05:07However, scholars believe it was written in the second century, far too long after James'
05:15death to have been his work.
05:18It may be based on stories passed among the earliest Christians.
05:26The Gospel of James that isn't included in the Bible may have been written for a variety
05:32of reasons.
05:34I think one of the reasons behind it is simply biographical curiosity.
05:39People in those days wanted to know where Mary came from and what could be known about
05:45her family.
05:47For years, Mary's aging parents, Anna and Joachim, have offered heartfelt prayers to the God
05:56of Israel, begging him to grant them a child.
06:03And Anna remains barren.
06:12Finally an angel appears to Anna with an astonishing announcement.
06:19God answers your prayer.
06:21You will give birth to a girl, and your offspring shall be spoken of in the whole inhabited world.
06:44According to the Infancy Gospel, Mary's conception in her mother's womb is physically ordinary.
06:54But God makes a special provision.
06:59Mary will be born without the taint of original sin, which some believe has marked all humans
07:08since Adam disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden.
07:16Mary will be the first Immaculate Conception.
07:26Why is this remarkable story missing from the New Testament?
07:31Is Mary the Immaculate Conception?
07:38Or was this story invented long after Mary's death for a specific religious purpose?
07:46In the world of the church, female sexuality was viewed as polluting and as a source of sin.
07:54So the idea that your Messiah would come born of a woman was actually a fairly unpleasant
08:00idea to celibate church men.
08:04They had to discover a way that Mary was worthy to be the mother of God.
08:13The Infancy Gospel of James tells us that when Mary is only twelve, her elderly Jewish parents
08:20allow the high priest of the Jerusalem temple to choose Joseph as Mary's husband.
08:29Joseph may be the most contradictory character in this story.
08:33Christians traditionally think of him as a young man, no more than thirty years old.
08:41But the Joseph of the Gospel of James is a full eighty years old, a wealthy widower with grown
08:47sons.
08:54Whatever Joseph's age, both the Christian Bible and the Infancy Gospel of James agree, Mary
09:00is in her early teens when she and Joseph are betrothed.
09:10Both sources also tell of the remarkable events surrounding Mary's mystical meeting with the
09:15angel Gabriel.
09:22This electrifying prophecy will alter not only her own destiny, but the course of world history.
09:33behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus.
09:42And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David, and of his kingdom there
09:50shall be no end.
09:51Luke 1.31
09:54Luke 1.31
09:59Perhaps it is the moment when Mary faces the angel Gabriel that she first reveals her remarkable
10:05courage.
10:10Or instead of being overwhelmed by the stunning impact of Gabriel's words, that she would bear
10:15the Son of God out of wedlock.
10:19Mary responds to this momentous prediction with a single telling question.
10:23Mary said to the angel, how can this be, since I am a virgin?
10:34Luke 1.34
10:43The angel's reply is among the most enigmatic statements in the Christian scriptures.
10:49The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
10:56Therefore, the child to be born will be holy.
11:01He will be called the Son of God.
11:06Luke 1.35
11:10There are conflicting church traditions regarding the location of this momentous event, although
11:20both sites are sanctified by tradition and faith.
11:27As early as the fourth century, the Grotto of the Annunciation in Nazareth is honored by
11:32Roman Catholics as the sacred place where Mary meets the angel.
11:41The problem is, Nazareth has been rebuilt and destroyed and rebuilt so many times, thirteen
11:45times since those days, that all of the earliest artifacts are pretty well lost.
11:51Not far from that location, however, is an ancient well, where Eastern Orthodox Christians believe
12:00the visit between Mary and the angel took place.
12:06Now, the geology of this area doesn't change.
12:09And what's fascinating is that, under the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation, you
12:15can see the authentic well of Nazareth from about twenty centuries ago.
12:20And the water is still flowing there.
12:21Despite these conflicting claims, all agree, Mary's transcendent encounter with the angel
12:36is an event that will captivate believers throughout the ages.
12:41It will set the stage for one of the most mysterious events in religious history, the virgin birth of Jesus.
12:50Now, the birth of Jesus, the Messiah, took place in this way.
13:10When his mother, Mary, had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together,
13:17she was found with child from the Holy Spirit.
13:21Matthew 1, 18.
13:26For Mary, being pregnant out of wedlock presents a dangerous dilemma,
13:32even though the child she carries is the Son of God.
13:38For a young woman to be pregnant before marriage was a scandal.
13:47This constitutes a real threat to Mary.
13:50According to Hebrew scriptures, the penalty for adultery, which is what this would have been regarded as,
13:57was death by stoning.
13:59Perhaps to avoid this fate, the Bible tells us that Mary leaves immediately for her cousin Elizabeth's home near Jerusalem.
14:14When Mary returns three months later, she will face Joseph and be unable to hide her pregnancy from him.
14:29He obviously notices Mary's pregnancy and is much disturbed by it.
14:35He has decided, and the scripture says being a just man, to put away Mary quietly.
14:42He legally had an option of publicly disgracing her and even stoning her to death.
14:48The Christian scriptures tell us that once again an angel intervenes on Mary's behalf.
14:59This night he speaks to Joseph in a dream.
15:03Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife,
15:12for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit, Matthew 1, 20.
15:25Joseph awakens with a profound change of heart.
15:29According to the infancy Gospel of James, Joseph promises to guard this child with his life.
15:37But the precise location of Jesus' remarkable birth remains elusive,
15:42even as the Gospels place it in the town of Bethlehem.
15:50Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea,
15:56to the city of David called Bethlehem,
16:00because he was descended from the house and family of David.
16:04Luke 2, 4.
16:09Was Jesus born in Bethlehem or in Nazareth?
16:16According to Luke's Gospel, in the ninth month of her pregnancy,
16:20Mary and Joseph are forced to travel to Bethlehem,
16:23the village of Joseph's birth,
16:26to be counted in a Roman census.
16:29Strangely, however, historians have never found a shred of evidence
16:34that a Roman census was conducted precisely at the time the Christian Bible records Jesus' birth.
16:44Most likely, the reason we're told that they go to Bethlehem for the birth
16:50is that David, the forefather of Jesus, is born in Bethlehem.
16:59Bethlehem is closely associated with the line of David,
17:05and it may well be that this is Christian reflection on the Davidic origins of Jesus.
17:12In fact, many scholars believe that Mary and Joseph never went to Bethlehem at all.
17:23Instead, they tell us that Mary gave birth to the Holy Child somewhere in the village of Nazareth,
17:3090 miles from Bethlehem.
17:38But there is yet another mystery.
17:41Is it possible that Mary and Joseph were never married at all?
17:47In Luke's version of the journey to Bethlehem,
17:57Mary and Joseph were not yet married, but merely engaged.
18:02Nowhere in Luke's story does he refer to the marriage of Mary and Joseph.
18:08But according to the Gospel of Matthew,
18:11the couple were married after Joseph awoke from his dream.
18:20Perhaps the most profound mystery, and to Christians the most disturbing,
18:27is the question of Mary's virginity.
18:32Many believe that the Hebrew word for virgin,
18:35found in the New Testament, was mistranslated.
18:40Could this mean that Mary was not a virgin when she gave birth to the Messiah?
18:45In that biblical period,
18:50there is no emphasis of Mary as the virgin mother.
18:55You also have to understand that the word virgin, Alma,
19:01was used often to mean beautiful young maiden.
19:06It didn't have a focus of perpetual virginity or clinical virginity.
19:15It was common in Greece for children who were born out of wedlock,
19:19to be said to be born of virgins.
19:22We have many traditions that suggest that virginity is the state in which the mother exists before she gives birth.
19:32The exact nature of Mary's virginity seems destined to remain a mystery forever.
19:39And she brought forth her firstborn son,
19:49and wrapped him in swaddling clothes,
20:06and laid him in a manger,
20:08because there was no room for them in the inn.
20:12According to the New Testament,
20:21Mary and Joseph finally arrive in Bethlehem,
20:24after an arduous 90-mile journey from Nazareth.
20:29Mary goes into labor,
20:31while Joseph is left to search frantically for an inn.
20:35But the village is so overcrowded,
20:38that Joseph is forced to take his young wife to the outskirts of the village.
20:42The traditional Christmas story tells us that Joseph brings Mary to a stable.
20:50But the infancy Gospel of James, as well as many experts, disagree.
20:56We imagine Mary in a stable surrounded by animals.
21:05The infancy Gospel of James places this birth in a cave.
21:11In any case, we're talking about a fairly unpleasant,
21:14perhaps noisy, even smelly environment.
21:18The infancy Gospel of James tells us that Mary suffers the pains of childbirth alone,
21:27in this dank cave.
21:33While Joseph hurries to the village,
21:35searching desperately for a midwife to assist her.
21:43When he returns with the midwife,
21:45both stop transfixed,
21:47as they watch a dark cloud envelop the cave where Mary is in labor.
21:55Suddenly, the cloud vanishes,
21:57and a dazzling light shimmers from within the cavern.
22:01As the radiance dims,
22:03Mary's holy child is born.
22:11Sadly, it is soon after the miraculous birth of her son, Jesus,
22:15says that Mary is reduced to the level of a common fugitive.
22:25According to the Gospel of Matthew,
22:26news of the birth reaches the despotic King Herod,
22:30who fears that the prophesied King of the Jews has been born.
22:36Herod orders his soldiers to slaughter every male child in Bethlehem,
22:41under the age of two.
22:47But even as his armed men begin to carry out this grisly massacre,
22:51Mary's husband has a dream.
22:53Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt,
23:03and remain there until I tell you.
23:05For Herod is about to search for the child to destroy him.
23:09Matthew 2, 13.
23:15Though Matthew's Gospel refers to Mary's flight,
23:19mysteriously, the Christian Bible provides no details whatsoever
23:24about her days spent in Egypt with her husband and the infant Jesus.
23:29An Arabic infancy Gospel discovered in the late 17th century
23:42tells us that Mary and her family make an extraordinary three-year pilgrimage
23:47across the desert and down the Nile, some 480 miles.
23:52Some scholars believe the Holy Family traveled to Alexandria,
24:04where other expatriate Jews may have helped them to find refuge.
24:09From Alexandria, they may have made their way to what is now Cairo,
24:14to a grotto that today is beneath this church of St. Sergius.
24:24Legend has it that for three months,
24:26Mary and her family lived concealed here,
24:29as they kept watch for Herod's soldiers.
24:38Some say it was in this rough-hewn sanctuary
24:40that Joseph received word from an angel that Herod was dead.
24:47Get up and take the child and his mother
24:50and go to the land of Israel,
24:53for those who were seeking the child's life are dead.
24:57Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother,
25:01and made his home in a town called Nazareth.
25:05Matthew 2, 20.
25:14As the years pass,
25:15Mary raises her remarkable firstborn son, Jesus.
25:19Surprisingly, the New Testament records the existence
25:22of Mary and Joseph's other children.
25:27Throughout the Synoptic Gospels,
25:29Mark, Matthew, and Luke,
25:31we do hear of four brothers and unnamed sisters.
25:38Is not this the son of Mary,
25:44and brother of James,
25:46and Joseph, and Judas, and Simon?
25:49And are not his sisters here with us?
25:52Mark 6, 3.
25:55It is typical in a patriarchal society
26:01that the brothers would be named in the scriptures,
26:03and the sisters, all we know,
26:05that there are more than one, would be unnamed.
26:12The New Testament tells us
26:14that when Jesus, their eldest, is twelve,
26:16Mary and Joseph take the boy to the temple in Jerusalem,
26:20most likely to celebrate his bar mitzvah.
26:30Following this family trip,
26:31the Bible never mentions Mary's husband, Joseph, again.
26:35Mary's influence on Jesus remains a fascinating enigma.
26:50Only tantalizing hints of their relationship
26:53exist in the pages of the New Testament.
27:05John 2, 1
27:18There was a wedding in Cana of Galilee,
27:20and the mother of Jesus was there.
27:23Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.
27:27John 2, 1
27:30The Gospel of John offers some intriguing clues
27:39about Mary's life as the mother of Jesus.
27:45In fact, Mary may have played the key role
27:47at the beginning of her son's life
27:49as a teacher and worker of miracles.
27:56Jesus and his newly chosen disciples
27:58join Mary in the town of Cana
28:01at the wedding feast of a family friend.
28:09When the wine ran out,
28:11the mother of Jesus said to him,
28:13They have no wine.
28:16John 2, 3
28:23At first, Jesus seems to refuse his mother's request,
28:27saying that his time has not yet come.
28:34But then he turns to the servants
28:36and directs them to fill the drinking jars with water.
28:44When the host drinks, he makes a staggering discovery.
28:48The water has become wine.
28:50Jesus has performed his first recorded miracle
28:55in response to his mother Mary's appeal.
29:03After this feast at Cana,
29:05the Gospels report Mary's presence
29:07but a few more times
29:09at the places where Jesus is teaching.
29:12Even during the tumultuous events surrounding the arrest
29:27and trial of Jesus,
29:29the writers of the New Testament
29:31failed to mention his own mother Mary.
29:34In fact, Mary's name does not appear again
29:43in the Christian Bible
29:44until the day of her son's crucifixion.
29:53On Mount Calvary, she is observed at the foot of the cross,
29:56a poignant but courageous witness
29:59to the agonizing execution of her own child.
30:10None of the Gospel writers gives us any clue
30:12how it is that Mary responds to the crucifixion of Jesus.
30:17The one hint that we get is in John's Gospel
30:22when he simply says that Mary is standing at the cross
30:26with this mysterious figure he calls the beloved disciple.
30:35When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing,
30:40he said to his mother,
30:42Woman, behold your son.
30:45And then he said to the disciple,
30:48Behold your mother.
30:50And from that very hour,
30:52the disciple took her with him.
30:55John 19, 26.
31:04Why, if Mary had other sons,
31:06would Jesus' last words be to entrust her
31:09to the care of someone outside the family?
31:12An unheard of request in the ancient world.
31:20The reason, I think,
31:22that she didn't stay with her second born, James,
31:27James had not yet converted to Christianity.
31:30That's why Jesus chooses John.
31:32But the resurrection appearance of Jesus
31:34is what converted James.
31:43There is no record of an appearance by Mary
31:45at Jesus' resurrection.
31:51It will not be until nearly two months later
31:53that her name returns to the pages of the New Testament.
31:56She is seen in Jerusalem in a sacred place known as the Upper Room.
32:05It is the same room where many believe Jesus and the disciples
32:09shared his last supper.
32:11Mary and her sons now join all twelve apostles,
32:21and over a hundred others,
32:23to gather and to pray.
32:25All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer,
32:32together with certain women,
32:35including Mary, the mother of Jesus,
32:39as well as his brothers.
32:42Acts of the Apostles, 1, 14.
32:46Mary is portrayed as being part of the core community
32:51that gathers in Jerusalem,
32:53and that forms what we've come to talk about
32:56as the Jerusalem church.
32:58I think one of the reasons he singles out Mary in particular
33:03is that Mary and Jesus' brothers represent
33:07a kind of continuity for Luke with the ministry of Jesus.
33:12According to the Book of Acts,
33:20it is during one of these gatherings
33:22that Mary, her four sons, and the Apostles
33:25undergo a profound mystical transformation.
33:29Suddenly, from heaven, there came a sound
33:46like the rush of a violent wind,
33:48and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.
33:52Divided tongues as a fire appeared among them,
34:00and a tongue rested on each of them.
34:03All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit.
34:07Acts of the Apostles, 2, 2.
34:17Following this extraordinary transcendent moment,
34:20the Bible never mentions Mary by name again.
34:29Some believe that she devotes herself
34:31to the new Christian community,
34:33even preaching with her son James,
34:35who becomes one of the first bishops in the new church.
34:39But even as Mary's life comes to a close,
34:43she is destined to comfort generations as yet unborn.
34:47Then he's by next day.
34:48So none of them is going to be completely separate from happening.
35:01An unborn to her friend to love her.
35:04It is due to the fact that Mary and Eve하iel was really
35:16We all perceived that her spotless and precious body
35:26was translated into paradise.
35:30The Assumption of Mary, 5th Century Manuscript.
35:37The true story of Mary's final days
35:40may always remain a source of intense controversy.
35:43In fact, there are wildly conflicting theories about her death.
35:51According to one early Christian tradition,
35:54Mary spends her final years in Jerusalem
35:57and dies 22 years after Jesus is executed.
36:03Some believe she is placed in a tomb
36:06located near the Mount of Olives.
36:13In an even more intriguing account,
36:41Mary leaves the Holy Land
36:43and travels with the disciple John
36:45some 1,000 miles to the country today called Turkey.
36:54It is here in the ancient city of Ephesus
36:57that Mary and John preach the gospel together
37:00until Mary dies.
37:02Wherever the place of Mary's death,
37:08the most astonishing theory
37:09may come from an early church tradition.
37:13Many believe that Mary, in physical form,
37:16is taken directly to heaven by her son Jesus.
37:21And this is the reason her remains
37:23have never been found.
37:33The mystery of Mary's death may never be solved.
37:39But despite the sketchy evidence
37:41offered about her in the Christian Bible,
37:44Mary's legend continues to grow.
37:46Across the centuries,
38:00visions of Mary have been witnessed
38:01by Christians and non-Christians alike.
38:05According to researchers,
38:07nearly 80,000 Marian apparitions
38:10have been claimed,
38:12beginning as far back as the 3rd century.
38:15One of the most famous of these sightings
38:18took place almost a century and a half ago
38:21in the village of Lourdes
38:23in the French Pyrenees.
38:30It is late winter in the year 1848.
38:35In the icy stillness,
38:37Bernadette Soubarou,
38:39a poor, sickly girl of 14,
38:43suddenly hears a loud rustling
38:45in the brush behind her.
38:48She turns
38:49and watches in awe
38:52as a beautiful young teenaged girl
38:54in flowing white robes
38:56and a blue cape
38:57takes form before her eyes.
39:02The vision of the girl,
39:03surrounded by a cloud of gold,
39:05steps out from the mouth of a cave
39:07and signals Bernadette
39:09to step forward.
39:16I rubbed my eyes.
39:17I shut them.
39:19I opened them.
39:20But the lady was still there,
39:23continuing to smile at me
39:24and making me understand
39:26that I was not mistaken.
39:28Bernadette Soubarou
39:30at Lourdes, 1858.
39:38According to Bernadette's story,
39:40the beautiful girl instructs Bernadette
39:42to dig into the soil near the cave.
39:45Mysteriously, Bernadette uncovers a spring
39:50that begins to flow with water
39:52from somewhere deep within the grotto.
39:56Water that continues to flow
39:58at the rate of 27,000 gallons a day.
40:04Millions come to Lourdes
40:06because they believe
40:07that the water Bernadette discovered
40:09can heal them.
40:10of her many recorded appearances
40:36in this century,
40:38it is the vision of Mary
40:39in the troubled nation of Bosnia
40:41that has captured the attention
40:42of so many in the last decade.
40:53It is the year 1981 in late June
40:56in the peasant village of Medjugorje,
41:00a hamlet of no more than 250 families.
41:05Mary reportedly appears
41:06to six Croatian children
41:08and tells them
41:09she is the queen of peace.
41:14Tragically, by 1992,
41:16Medjugorje is caught
41:17in the crossfire
41:18of deadly internal warfare.
41:27Medjugorje is caught
41:27in the crossfire of deadly internal warfare.
41:28Medjugorje is caught
41:29in the crossfire of deadly internal warfare.
41:32Medjugorje is caught
41:33in the crossfire of utterly
41:33by the
41:59grandfather-carb reports.
42:00in all, hoping for a glimpse of what they believe will be Mary's miraculous healing presence.
42:09I think that apparitions of Mary, with their powerful healing impulse, are testimonies
42:17to the faith of simple people, of people who are desperate, who are in need, and who are
42:24looking for a reason to tell themselves it's possible to be well.
42:30What is it about a woman who lived over 2,000 years ago that compels people to seek her presence
42:45even now, with such passion and devotion?
42:54Perhaps a clue to this intriguing question lies in the pages of the Christian Bible itself.
43:00Just after Mary is told she will give birth to a saviour.
43:08And Mary said,
43:09My soul magnifies the Lord, for behold, from henceforth all generations shall bless me.
43:20Luke 1.46
43:23Even though these words may have been written several decades after Mary's death,
43:34No one, then or now, could ever have imagined that a simple Jewish peasant girl from a small
43:44village in ancient Israel would evoke hope in the hearts of the faithless and come to symbolize
43:52the feminine face of God.
43:54The feminine face of God.
43:55The feminine face of God.
43:59The feminine face of God.
44:01The feminine face of God.
44:02The feminine face of God.