I could hear children laughing as they played outside. I heard the talk of women as they worked just outside the bedroom. I heard the goat, donkey and chickens rustling about in the stable. I heard what must have been a man pulling a wagon down the crooked, thin street outside the house. I heard several species of birds chirping. The men and women in the minuscule village shouted orders and greetings at each other.
But in this bedroom, there was only silence. I blinked several times before I found my voice. “You are with child,” I repeated what she said. “You are with child,” I said slowly but forcefully, pondering each word that made up her claim.
“Mary, is this one of your mystical metaphors?” Joachim started, twirling his staff in his hand. “You do realize the gravity of your words? Child, you are no longer a child. And you are not with child!”
It felt like needles pricked up my back and neck, and my vision was blurry. Joachim tended to complain about Mary. Not that she was an evil daughter, but that she was a strange daughter. He approved of her presentation in the Temple and I was certain he loved her. But Mary was not like the other young people in Nazareth. She had friends, but none that she was particularly close to. She seemed to work the hardest but complained the least. And Mary talked often about Adonai. When she spoke of Adonai and the scriptures, she seemed so innocent and humble, but at the same, I think she memorized the whole word of Adonai by heart.
“I am with child,” Mary insisted.
My stomach flipped. “Impossible!” I breathed. “Is this not impossible?” I craned my neck to the side, hearing it crack. Mary looked so serious and nervous, that I wanted to grab her hands and comfort her, but I needed to discern what message she was trying to convey.
“It is not impossible, Anne.” Joachim did not look at me as he stared hard at his daughter. “Mary…” he said slowly. “Are you telling me that you have been with a man? Who is he? Is he a Nazarene?”
“By no means,” Mary said quickly, brushing the thigh of her tunic. “I do not know man. Please hear me. An angel of Adonai came to me. He blessed me. He told me that I was chosen to bear the Messiah. The anointed one!” She smiled as her hands rested again over her flat stomach. “The anointed one is at last, here with us.”
I involuntarily shuddered as if a fifth presence was indeed in this small room.
Joachim groaned, leaning his head against his staff. “I am not hearing this…” he mumbled. “miraculous pregnancy…and not just that but with the Messiah…Mary, Mary…” He rubbed his forehead against the staff.
I looked at Joseph who was incredibly silent. Joseph crossed his arms, continuously shaking his head. He took a breath as if about to speak and then stopped. Then he took another breath. “Say…say your words are true,” Joseph croaked in a whisper. “How can you be pregnant with Israel’s king? And be a virgin? How can this be?”
“I asked the angel the same thing,” Mary said, looking desperately at Joseph. “I asked how this could be…” She was short of breath. “Since I do not know man. And he said that the grace of Elohim would come upon me. The power of the Most High would overshadow me.” She raised her rounded eyebrows. “And I will bear a son.” She said it as if she was telling us she was going to collect water from the spring.
I felt my blood pumping through my arms, in my neck, and then in my forehead. I pulled at the collar of my tunic, feeling overheated.
“And you even know it will be a son!” Joachim flung his spare hand in the air. “This is madness. Madness!”
“Are you certain you are with child?” Joseph said. “You do not look—”
“Of course, she does not look it!” I finally said. Men knew nothing of these things. “It will take time for her to show. Mary!” I grabbed my daughter’s shoulders. “When did this happen? Tell me! When did this happen?”
“Early this morning.”
Joseph sighed sadly. “She could not have been with a man this morning and now know that she is with child.”
“I do not know man, Joseph,” Mary said firmly, turning her head toward him. “I remain a virgin. My vows to Adonai I will fulfill.”
I dropped my hands from her shoulders.
“Virgins do not have children!” Joseph said loudly.
“Hush your voice, lest those outside hear us!” Joachim leaned to the side to peer out the doorway.
“Nothing will be impossible for Elohim.” Mary’s enthusiasm was growing with each word.
Joseph continued shaking his head. “No. No. This cannot be. Anne, tell me, is Mary truly pregnant?”
“It is too early to tell.” I crossed my arms, looking down. Tears burned my eyes.
“Because it was only this very morning she desecrated our holy marriage? Even if she is not with child, her crime is still graver than any words could describe.” Joseph tapped his fingers on his crossed arm.
“I do not understand.” I stuffed free pieces of grey hair back under my veil. I wanted to defend her. I knew my daughter. Mary was truthful. She never uttered a lie.
But I remained silent.
“Perhaps she has gone mad.” Joachim tapped his staff.
“Joachim!” I pleaded with my husband. He had suggested such before.
Joachim lifted his shoulders slightly. “She is an odd child. You cannot deny that, Anne. She is unusual.”
I looked down at my hands. Unusual was not the word. Holy was. Mary was a holy child. I believed there had to be an explanation for this. But still, I said nothing.
“I am leaving,” Joseph mumbled, eyes closed. He headed for the door. “I cannot take this news.”
“Joseph! Wait,” I cried, reaching for him. He was to be my son-in-law! Could I convince him of Mary’s integrity?
“Anne, let him go.” Joachim put a hand on my bony shoulder. “This is distressing news.”
We had to listen to Mary explain herself. Tears pricked my eyes as I gulped. Mary was a reasonable girl, devoted to the Most High. And I prayed to the Most High that we would see his hand in all of this.
Was I to be surprised that my own daughter would see an angel if I had before seen one? Was it to surprise me that she would have a miraculous pregnancy when my own was miraculous?
“Abba. Ima,” Mary said. “Cousin Elizabeth is also with child. The angel told me so. This is her sixth month of pregnancy.”
“Elizabeth…” Joachim pulled at his beard. “Zechariah’s wife? She is barren and of old age.”
As was I. I thought of saying it as I lifted my chin, pointing it at my husband.
“I must visit her,” Mary continued. “And this is so we may know that nothing is impossible for Elohim.”
“It is a five-day journey to Ein Karem!” Joachim tapped his staff against the wall. “I cannot allow this.”
I stared at Mary. She looked so innocent. My virgin daughter. With the Messiah in her womb.
It was ridiculous. It was impossible.
Yet, I believed her.
“Joachim,” I said, stepping closer to Mary. “Perhaps Mary should go away before she enters Joseph’s house.” I put my fingers to my lips, imagining the possibilities.
“So she can defile herself again with another man?”
“Joachim!” I begged.
“Anne.” He lowered his voice, leaned his grey face toward me, and whispered, “These are dangerous matters. If Joseph divorces her for adultery, Mary could be stoned. Whether Mary is pregnant or not! Joseph need only testify to the elders and rabbi.” And we both knew that if she was with child as she said, she could be stoned not only for adultery but for breaking her holy vow of virginity. “Say she is mad or possessed!” Joachim continued. “She could be shunned!”
I straightened my shoulders. It was indeed dangerous. But my belief in Mary’s words gave me confidence. “Then perhaps a trip to my cousin in Ein Karem will be good for her. She can step away from the eyes of Nazarenes and be with Zechariah and his family for a time. If Mary is pregnant, we will know with certainty that she is when she returns.” I closed my eyes for a moment and then opened them. “If she is not pregnant and is claiming to be when she returns…then we will know that…that…”
“That she is a liar. Or a madwoman,” Joachim said plainly.
“Or we will see that she is telling the truth!”
We both looked at Mary, who stood quietly. We were speaking of our daughter as if she were not there.
“I give my permission for you to visit Elizabeth,” Joachim said after a period of silence. His eyes looked hard at Mary beneath his grey eyebrows. “But you must return in three months. For that is when you are to enter the house of Joseph.”