Comments on: A Christmas Story

By: MarioM3

MarioM3 — Sun, 18 Dec 2005 17:58:42 +0000

Now I’m really confused. If they were legally married at the Announciation,then any infidelity on Mary’s part would have been adultery, since it would have occured after marriage. I know Moses allowed divorce in the OT.

Anyway, when I first read this cartoon story, I thought the stress on the couple being engaged at the Announciation and then getting married after the Announciation probably indicated they were a group who believes in the Virgin birth but also that Jesus had siblings.

That’s just how that struck me.

By: Matt

Matt — Sat, 17 Dec 2005 23:09:21 +0000

It’s my understanding that the Greek porneia, used in Jesus’ teachings on divorce, meant “fornication”. This term then, in those days, referred to sexual activity that occurred before marriage, but was discovered after marriage.

By: MarioM3

MarioM3 — Sat, 17 Dec 2005 14:40:58 +0000

Thanks for your post Matt.

When you use the word fornication, did you mean adultery? When I was young, fornication between unmarried people{shaking up) was rare and one partner could up and leave very easily,too easily IMO, since women ended being left with the kids by a man who suddenly got religion.I know that now with annulments,adultery may be grounds for an “annulment” but it use to be part of “for better or for worse”.

By: Matt

Matt — Fri, 16 Dec 2005 13:56:59 +0000

True. I chose to post this, though, because it was simple and focused on what Christmas truly means, in a way that I think is accessible and understandable to all people. That Mary and Joseph were “engaged” is a wide-spread understanding (which may make your addendum much more necessary), and people need to understand that “betrothed” had more force than “engaged”; it was more than a “promise to marry” as we understand it today. Unfortunately, there are fewer who know even that much … and knowing the story at all may be significant.

For those, such as you and I, who like to go deeper, the Pope’s words are significant, in light of the fact that the Scriptures say that when Joseph found that she was with child, he sought to divorce her quietly. There would be no need for divorce if they were not married. (To go further still, a situation such as this is what Jesus was referring to when he spoke about the grounds for divorce — if unfaithfulness (fornication) was discovered after marriage occurred).

Thanks for your comment!

By: MarioM3

MarioM3 — Thu, 15 Dec 2005 02:11:03 +0000

Nice story but one part contradicts what pope JP II said in “Redemptoris Custos”. According to this Apostolic Exhortation, Mary and Joseph were already married when the Announciation happened. A quote from section 18 follows:
“According to Jewish custom,marriage took place in two stages;first,the legal,or true marriage was celebrated and then,only after a certain period of time,the husband brought the wife into his own house. Thus before he lived with Mary, Joseph was already her ‘husband’.”