Untold: The True Story of Mary, the Mother of Jesus

The Madonna with Flower by Leonardo da Vinci c.1478

According to the Gospel of Luke, Mary, a young virgin, is asked by an angel if she is willing to give birth to the messiah. Every Christmas we celebrate this momentous occasion through pageants and candlelight services. As beautiful and meaningful as these rituals are, they mask the reality about the historical Mary whose voice has been silenced because the mythology around Jesus’ life metastasized in the years following his execution.

There’s an incredible story about Mary in the New Testament that is often ignored and it leads to some uncomfortable conclusions about who Mary was, how Jesus came into the world and his upbringing. Therefore, without further ado, let’s dive into what we really know about Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Timeline

In order to fully understand Mary’s story, you first have to appreciate how the New Testament on your bookshelf was written. Do me a favor, if you have a Bible close by, open it to the first page of the New Testament. The first book you will see is the Gospel of Matthew. The next book is the Gospel of Mark. Then Luke, John, and Acts. After the gospels, we move into the epistles beginning with Paul’s letter to the Romans.

One might think that these books are ordered according to the date of their writing, with Matthew first, Mark second and so forth. This is not how the New Testament was compiled. The editors responsible for ordering the books in the New Testament ordered the gospels according to their theological importance.

Matthew’s gospel is first because it starts with a genealogy that connects Jesus’ lineage back to King David, which is important for establishing the Christian claim that Jesus is the Jewish messiah. Chronologically, we know the first gospel written was Mark’s gospel, but Mark does not contain a birth narrative. From the editor’s perspective, Mark is not as theologically valuable as Matthew.

However, the gospels are not even the earliest documents in the New Testament. That honor belongs to Paul’s letters and, even among Paul’s letters, only some of them were actually written by Paul during his lifetime. The others were written after his death and ascribed to him. Below is a chart to help you understand the difference between how the documents in the New Testament appear ordered in your Bible compared to their chronological date of authorship:

Order in the New Testament	Order according to the date of composition*
1.            The Gospel of Matthew	1 Thessalonians – 51 C.E.
2.            The Gospel of Mark	Galatians – 55 C.E.
3.            The Gospel of Luke	1 Corinthians – 56 C.E.
4.            The Gospel of John	Philemon – 56 C.E.
5.            The Acts of the Apostles	2 Corinthians – 57 C.E.
6.            Romans	Romans – 58 C.E.
7.            1 Corinthians	Philippians – 60 C.E.
8.            2 Corinthians	The Gospel of Mark – 70 C.E.
9.            Galatians	James – 80 C.E.
10.         Ephesians	Colossians – 80 C.E.
11.         Philippians	The Gospel of Matthew – 80 C.E.
12.         Colossians	The Gospel of Luke – 85 C.E.
13.         1 Thessalonians	The Acts of the Apostles – 85 C.E.
14.         2 Thessalonians	Hebrews – 85 C.E.
15.         1 Timothy	1 Peter – 90 C.E.
16.         2 Timothy	The Gospel of John – 90 C.E.
17.         Titus	Revelation – 90 C.E.
18.         Philemon	Ephesians – 95 C.E.
19.         Hebrews	2 Thessalonians – 95 C.E.
20.         James	1 John – 95 C.E.
21.         1 Peter	2 John – 95 C.E.
22.         2 Peter	Titus – 100 C.E.
23.         1 John	1 Timothy – 100 C.E.
24.         2 John	2 Timothy – 100 C.E.
25.         3 John	3 John – 100 C.E.
26.         Jude	Jude – 115 C.E.
27.         Revelation	2 Peter – 120 C.E.

 *The dates are derived from Raymond E. Brown, An Introduction to the New Testament.

There’s a couple of reasons why this difference matters. First, when you read the books of the New Testament chronologically, it ends up telling a very different story about Jesus than when you read them in the order the editors selected for theological reasons. Second, the documents written closer to Jesus’ life are more accurate to who Jesus was as a person, while the further away the document is from Jesus’ life, mythology is more likely to creep into the narrative.

The Crucifixion of Christ by Titian c.1558

Based on the chart above, if we assume that Jesus was executed sometime around 30 C.E., then the closest document to Jesus’ life is Paul’s first letter to the church in Thessalonica written 21 years after his death. Likewise, the final document, 2 Peter, was written 90 years after Jesus’ death. Jesus is spoken of very differently in 1 Thessalonians compared to how Jesus is treated in 2 Peter. However, if you read the New Testament according to the theological ordering, you would never know that was the case, which is quite intentional.

The point being: If you want to know who Jesus really was, you need to read the documents in their chronological order. Indeed, for our purposes in this article, the same logic applies to Mary.

A Woman Born Under the Law

In my opinion, the most accurate information about Jesus, and therefore, Mary, is found in all the documents written prior to 70 C.E. In other words, Mark’s gospel and earlier is going to give us the most accurate information about Mary’s life. The first mention of Jesus’ mother occurs in Paul’s letter to the Galatians: “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law…” (Ga. 4:4)

If you’re feeling like you missed something, like Mary’s name, you’re correct. When Paul mentions Jesus’ birth, it is extremely brief, almost in passing. What is clear is that Paul has no idea who Jesus’ mother is. He doesn’t know her name. All he knows about her is that she is Jewish, which is what he means when he says she was “born under the law”.

You’ll notice that Paul makes no mention of the virgin birth when referencing Jesus’ mother, which tells you something very important: Paul has no knowledge of the virgin birth. Why does this matter? Well, according to our chart above, Paul’s letter to the Galatians was written in 55 C.E., 25 years after Jesus’ death. Paul is also the only author in the New Testament who personally knew Jesus’ disciples (James, Peter and John). Another important factoid is that Paul never met Jesus during his lifetime. Paul’s only interaction with Jesus was when Paul claims to have met Jesus after his resurrection. (Ga. 1:11-12)

Conversion of St Paul on the Road to Damascus by Hans Speckaert (c.1540-1577)

Why does this matter? Well, if Paul never met Jesus when he was alive, then Paul would rely on Jesus' disciples for biographical information about Jesus’ life. If the virgin birth was something known by the disciples (particularly, James, Jesus’ brother, who grew up with Jesus), they would have shared it with Paul. The fact that Paul doesn’t even know Jesus’ mother’s name tells me: 1) the disciples never really spoke to Paul about Jesus’ mother and 2) Jesus’ disciples had no knowledge of the virgin birth.

This is confirmed by the fact that the first gospel written about Jesus’ life, the gospel of Mark, contains no mention of the virgin birth. If Mark was written in 70 C.E., then for the first 40 years after Jesus’ death, the virgin birth was nowhere to be found. The first mention of the virgin birth comes with Matthew’s gospel, which was written in 80 C.E. This tells us that the story of the virgin birth became part of Christian lexicon sometime between 70-80 C.E. Indeed, five years after the composition of Matthew’s gospel, we can see the importance of the virgin birth amplified in Luke’s gospel. Written in 85 C.E., Luke provides the most detailed account of Jesus’ mother found in the New Testament.

Based on this timeline, I feel confident that the virgin birth, which we celebrate every Christmas, is a later tradition that was not part of the original Jesus movement. In other words, the virgin birth is a mythology. A made-up origin story that enhances Jesus’ lineage and reinforces the belief that was developing in the 70s and 80s of the first century that Jesus was divine from birth.

Therefore, if the stories about Mary in Matthew and Luke are fictional, what can we know about the real Mary? Who was she? Where did she come from? And most importantly, how do we understand her relationship to Jesus?

Mary, Did You Know?

If we exclude Matthew and Luke, which are fictionalized accounts of Mary’s life, then our best source of information about Mary is her depiction in Mark’s gospel. There are three references in Mark from which we can derive information about Mary. The first comes in chapter 3. Jesus has begun healing and is gaining a measure of fame:

Then [Jesus] went home; and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, “He has gone out of his mind.” And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.”  (Mk. 3:19b-22)

This is a quick reference to Jesus’ entire family, which includes his mother. Word has gotten back to them about what Jesus has been doing. Clearly, they don’t understand his behavior. The fact that they think Jesus needs to be restrained would indicate they think something is wrong with Jesus. Indeed, they believe that he is possessed by a demon, insinuating they think Jesus has gone insane.

This tells us something very important: In Mark’s gospel, Jesus’ family is unaware that there is anything special about Jesus. According to Matthew and Luke, Mary would have special knowledge of Jesus being the messiah from his birth. According to Mark, Mary and the rest of the family find Jesus’ behavior to be out of character. They have no knowledge of Jesus’ messianic ambitions.

The second reference to Jesus’ mother in Mark is found in the same chapter:

Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you.” And he replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.” (Mk. 3:31-35)

In this section, Jesus’ family wants to speak with him when a crowd has gathered around him. Interestingly, rather than request that his family be ushered through the crowd, Jesus explicitly rejects his biological family. Rather than speaking with his mother, brothers and sisters, he redefines the very notion of family. According to Jesus, one’s family is not determined by blood relationships, but by their behavior. Jesus adopts his own family: Anyone who follows the will of God is considered his family.

Christ Healing the Blind by El Greco c.1577

An important detail in this passage is that Jesus’ father is nowhere to be found. Since there is no birth narrative in Mark’s gospel, we’re never given a name or any biographical information about him. The only thing we know about Jesus’ family is that Jesus has a mother and multiple brothers and sisters.

These two passages tell us that Jesus’ relationship with his family is, at best, strained. They think Jesus has lost his mind and Jesus, for his part, doesn’t want anything to do with them. This portrayal is the polar opposite of what we encounter in the gospels of Matthew, Luke and John who attempt to smooth over these rough edges.

The Son of Mary

There is one final reference to Mary in Mark’s gospel. It occurs in chapter 6, when Jesus returns to his hometown of Nazareth. Before we dive into the specifics of these verses, I think it’s important to give a little bit of background on Nazareth, which was located in the hill country of Galilee.

If you look at descriptions of Galilee from that era—descriptions that identified to the Roman government where people lived for purposes of taxation—Nazareth isn’t anywhere to be found. This tells us that Nazareth was so remote and inconsequential that tax collectors didn’t even bother to log it in their official records.

Archaeological excavations of 1st century Nazareth have revealed that there were approximately 100 homes there during Jesus’ lifetime. Given that Jesus grew up in Nazareth, we can presume that everyone in the village knows Jesus and his family quite well. Therefore, one would expect that when Jesus returns to his hometown, he would receive a warm welcome, but that’s not exactly what happens:

He left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. Then Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.” And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. And he was amazed at their unbelief. (Mk. 6:1-6a)

According to this passage, when Jesus enters Nazareth, he attempts to teach and perform miracles, but the people of Nazareth are not receptive. In fact, they are confused. They don’t understand how the Jesus standing before them is the same Jesus they knew from when he was growing up. The Jesus they knew lacked wisdom and could not speak eloquently. The Jesus they knew had no ability to heal and perform miracles. This dissonance mirrors Jesus’ family’s confusion from Mark chapter 3.

This begs the question: Who is the Jesus they knew when he was growing up? We are given some clues in the text. Jesus is described as a tekton, which is often translated into English as carpenter. A better translation would be day laborer. Although we can’t say for sure, Jesus likely would have worked among the building crews who were constructing homes for the wealthy in the nearby city of Sepphoris.

However, after we are told Jesus is a day laborer, the text tells us that Jesus is the “son of Mary.” (Mk. 6:3) This is highly unusual. Normally a Jewish male is identified by his paternal lineage. The fact that Jesus is called the “son of Mary” insinuates in Jewish culture that Jesus was an illegitimate child born out of wedlock. Indeed, when you combine this with the fact that Jesus’ father is entirely omitted from his “family” in Mark chapter 3, this tells us that not only is Jesus’ father not in the picture, but no one knows who Jesus’ father is.

This context is important because following the revelation that Jesus is illegitimate, we discover that he has four brothers (James, Joses, Judas and Simon) and an undisclosed number of sisters. Moreover, we’re not told where Jesus is in the birth order. He could be first, somewhere in the middle or even last. Mark doesn’t seem to know or care.

What Mark does care about is conveying to us that Jesus has no known father, which is likely the case among his brothers and sisters as well. Given the Old Testament laws surrounding sex outside of marriage, we know that adultery is punishable by death: “If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death.” (Le. 20:10) However, Mary is still alive, which indicates Mary is not guilty of adultery.

Therefore, if Mary is giving birth to children where the father is unknown and she is not being put to death for adultery, the only plausible explanation in 1st century Jewish culture is that Mary is a prostitute.

Impossible, you say! Yes, it's possible. Even likely.

Connecting the Dots

The reason why you never hear this claim about Mary is because Christians allow the narratives about Jesus’ birth in Matthew and Luke to take precedence. This is why the editors of the New Testament put Matthew first. If you assume that Jesus was Mary’s first child and that Mary was impregnated by God, then Jesus being born out of wedlock doesn’t seem so bad. However, we’ve already established that the narratives surrounding the virgin birth are mythologies that were written between 70-80 C.E. Therefore, our best source of information comes from Mark’s gospel and Mark, as I've demonstrated, wasn’t trying to hide anything about Jesus’ origin.

When Jesus returns to Nazareth, the people of his hometown are flabbergasted that Jesus is capable of teaching and healing. Why does this seem so impossible to them? Well, if you understand how prostitution worked at that time, it makes a lot more sense.

What most people do not realize about the Jewish culture of Jesus’ era is that men having sex with prostitutes was not considered adultery. Single and married men alike were allowed to have sex with prostitutes without penalty. The charge of adultery came when a man slept with a married woman.

Look closely at this verse again: “If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death.” (Le. 20:10) This verse says nothing about sleeping with unmarried women and that’s because the expectation was that men could do so without repercussion.

Christ with the Woman Taken in Adultery, by Guercino, 1621

Accordingly, prostitutes often staked claim to an area and developed a symbiotic relationship with the locals. They were allowed to live and operate within a specific region as long as they kept a low profile. Mary would have been known as a prostitute who serviced the men in Nazareth. Given the small size of the village, Mary may have been the only prostitute in the area (or one of a few). Regardless, this is why the townspeople are flummoxed by Jesus’ ability. Mary is a known quantity among the people of Nazareth. How could the son of a prostitute possibly gain such remarkable wisdom and the ability to heal?

This would also explain why Jesus feels so comfortable spending time with prostitutes. According to the gospels, not only does Jesus minister to prostitutes, but prostitutes like Mary Magdalene are among his closest confidants who are with him at his execution: “There were also women looking on from a distance; among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome.” (Mk. 15:40)

Furthermore, this would explain why Jesus never married. As the son of a prostitute, traditional Jewish marriage would be out of the question. Moreover, if Jesus’ mother was a prostitute, then Jesus would have grown up being familiar with the culture surrounding prostitution. Jesus’ romantic options would have been limited to the daughters of prostitutes, who likely would have become prostitutes themselves. Indeed, this may have been how Jesus initially encountered Mary Magdalene.

The Son of God, The Son of a Prostitute  

I’m sure any traditional Christian who venerates Mary as innocent, holy and pure is probably fuming right now. Even among those who don’t, this idea probably makes you feel very uncomfortable. I get it. Jesus’ lineage made Matthew and Luke feel uncomfortable as well, which is why they included the narrative of the virgin birth in their gospels.

However, what I find to be remarkable about Mary's origin story is that the very thing Jesus preaches about (God taking the marginalized and raising them up to become something extraordinary) is exactly what Jesus’ life became. I have known about the controversy surrounding Mary for some time and, for me, this makes Jesus’ story even more remarkable.

To think, the man so many people worship every Sunday morning is not only the product of infidelity, but the son of a prostitute is paradoxically beautiful. If Jesus can be God’s son who delivers the good news, then think of how big God’s tent actually is! If Jesus is the kind of messenger God chooses, then everyone is invited. That’s cause for celebration because the birth of Jesus really does reinforce the most fundamental message of the Christian faith: God’s love is truly unconditional.

What Mary's story conveys is how that unconditional love starts with a son who comes from the humblest of origins. Not a baby born in barn surrounded by shepherds as we celebrate on Christmas Eve, but a baby born from a prostitute who likely doesn’t know the man who impregnated her. That he is the founder of the largest religion in the world is quite an amazing story indeed!