Luke 1:56 Commentary and Bible Study

Mary realises that she faces a difficulty for Gabriel has appeared to her and not to Joseph, and it will be almost impossible for Joseph to believe, on the basis of her word alone, that she has not been unfaithful to him. He is certain to look upon her as a liar who is covering up what she has done. She loves Joseph and cannot bear the thought of this. Luke does not record Jospeh’s reaction, but Matthew’s Gospel tells us ‘When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. ¹⁹ Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily’ (Matthew 1:18-19). At this stage he still did not know the real explanation. She had to go through this period of unfounded suspicion in the minds of Joseph and others, and it would have been great comfort to her to hear Elisabeth’s words that Luke has recorded. It was only after this time that Joseph discovered her condition. He could not be convinced of her innocence without the revelation he received in a dream: ‘But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. ²¹ And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins’ (Matthew 1:20-21).Mary stayed three months with Elizabeth and Zacharias, which would come close to the birth of John, since she had arrived in Elizabeth’s sixth month of pregnancy. Did she stay until the birth of John? Probably not. The order of the narrative suggests otherwise, and as Hendriksen says, it would have been wise for her to depart before John’s birth when the house would have been filled with visitors and her condition and her presence there might have been misinterpreted. But by the time she left it was clear to her that she was with child, and she must now go home and face the difficulty of telling Joseph without putting this off any longer.                   Z