MARY
The mother of Jesus. No one disputes this.
Almost everyone in a predominantly
Christian society knows the story of Mary, the mother of Jesus. When
Mary is introduced in the Christian scriptures, she is living in
Nazareth in Galilee and she is betrothed to be married to a man named
Joseph, who discovers that she is pregnant. Knowing that child could not
possibly be his child, Joseph agonizes over what to do about Mary.
Under Jewish law, he has two options. Option 1: Shame Mary publicly and have her stoned for infidelity. Option 2: Put Mary away quietly. The scriptures state that an angel came to Joseph in a dream and told him not to fear taking Mary as his wife. She had committed no sin and the child that she was carrying was the result of a miracle and the
fulfillment of a prophecy that “a virgin would conceive and bring forth a son who would be named Emmanuel, meaning ‘God with us’.” 
Some non-Christian sources say that Jesus was a bastard, an illegitimate child, the result of an unlawful union between Mary and someone other than her lawful husband. There is an ongoing debate as to whether the Qu’ran (Koran) states that Mary was a virgin who conceived and gave birth to Jesus, having never had sexual contact in any way with any man OR whether she was a virgin at the time the angel visited her and told her she would have a child.
Whether or not Christian and non-Christian sources agree Mary is the 5th woman mentioned by Matthew in the lineage of Jesus Christ.
- Bible References: MARY – MATT 1: 16, 18, 20; 2: 11; 13: 55; MK 6: 3; LK 1: 27, 30, 41, 56; 2: 5, 16, 19
A Lineage of Grace:Five Stories of Unlikely Women Who Changed Eternity
