Did Mary And Joseph know that Jesus was God

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FrancisPio

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I understand that Mary and Joseph understood Jesus was the Messiah. Did they understand that Jesus was God? Abraham’s son Isaac was also born after an angels message, yet unarguably he was a man. Did Mary and Joseph know Jesus was God and where is the proof in the bible?
 
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I don’t think that the Bible specifically says anything about what Mary and Joseph thought about Jesus.
 
In Luke’Elisabeth calls Mary “mother of my Lord”. So they both knew he was God.
Luke 43: ““And how does this concern me, so that the mother of my Lord would come to me?””
She does not say “mother of the son of God”" or anything else messianic.
About St. Joseph - apparently he did not know before His birth since he doubted Mary. Afterwards it is not mentioned what Joseph may have done or thought.
 
I think Mary might have pondered that in her heart. The Incarnation happened to her. It wasn’t something that was revealed by heaven and required faith. This gave her an exclusive union with the truths of the Incarnation along with her maternal bond with Jesus. I think it likely as Jesus knew she knew but like the Incarnation it’self, who could believe such a thing?
 
Luke:
And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, called Nazareth, [27] To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. [28] And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. [29] Who having heard, was troubled at his saying, and thought with herself what manner of salutation this should be. [30] And the angel said to her: Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God.

[31] Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son; and thou shalt call his name Jesus. [32] He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the most High; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father; and he shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever. [33] And of his kingdom there shall be no end. [34] And Mary said to the angel: How shall this be done, because I know not man? [35] And the angel answering, said to her: The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

OK, “Son of God”, “Holy Ghost and the power of the Most High shall overshadow”. . .this would have had a meaning for Mary that is not so obvious to us reading English translations of the 20th and 21st century.

To overshadow [tatzel] is Hebrew idiom denoting the presence and creative power of God. In Genesis 1 the Spirit of God “hovered over” [merachefet] the primeval waters when he began creating. The psalmists often use this hovering image to describe protection under the “shadow” of God’s “wings” (Ps 17:8; 36:7; 57:1), or the peace of living “in the shadow of the Almighty” (betzel Shaddai, Ps 91). The same Shadow [tzel] creates within Mary a “holy offspring” (Luke 1:35).

Remember, Isaac was born after normal human sexual relations between Abraham and Sarah. Jesus was born of a Virgin. “I know not man”.
 
stpurl said:
Remember, Isaac was born after normal human sexual relations between Abraham and Sarah. Jesus was born of a Virgin. “I know not man”.
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I only partially agree with you. Mary was a virgin, Sarah was not. But it doesnt quite seem like Isaac was born from normal sexual relations with Abraham…Anyone know the Jewish tradition on that? He is told by an angel during a meal…The how is quite mysterious
 
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While we have the benefit of retrospective and know that Jesus is God, there is no evidence that I can think of, maybe there is but not that I can think of, that Joseph and Mary knew he was God. Yes, they would surely know that he was someone special, not of purely human, a Messiah maybe, but God would probably not in their mind. In fact in the whole Gospel, this knowledge (that he is God) came into fulness after the resurrection, despite all the signs before that.

I am open to any other view and dexplanation on this though.

God bless.
 
To me, the greatest thing about Mary in being the role model of disciple and Christian, is that she pondered all that she heard in her heart. We can say that she is the first Christian in her Fiat. That the word ‘ponder’ becomes the gold standard for us in how we take things that we do not know of or not fully understand.
 
It is a smart question. Joseph probably died ignorant of Jesus’ divinity. Mary must have known something already at the Cana wedding, because Jesus performed the miracle by her intersession.
 
Mary and Joseph were simple people, not scholars of theology and, at the time, there was obviously no Christian theology at all to address the God-Human status of Jesus. They clearly knew that there was something special about him, given the nature of his conception. Mary would have felt it in her being; Joseph (knowing he was not the father) would have been extremely interested in the development of the young fellow.
 
This topic is very interesting to me. There is almost a complete assumption by all that Mary knew Jesus was God. But I suppose there is no evidence at all for this assumption.
 
FrancisPio said:
This topic is very interesting to me. There is almost a complete assumption by all that Mary knew Jesus was God. But I suppose there is no evidence at all for this assumption.
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That is what I am thinking. As I said earlier, today we have the benefit of retrospective - we have the Bible and the Church. We also know that doctrines do develope.

Often, looking at our present perspective, we tend to think that the apostles and the people in Jesus’ time would think the same. That of course is speculative. For example, Jesus did many miracles but that not necessarily meant he was God then. Thus they thought he was a prophet. God had to put His word into the mouth of Peter himself to declare that Jesus was the Messiah. Again, most likely he did not know its full implication when in the next moment he did not want jesus to die, and so on.

Putting ourselves in their shoes, they would probably be in the dark about who Jesus truly was. Looking at the Gospel narrative, they were exposed to the revelation day by day until the resurrection. The Church was even longer, perhaps many years later to really compile all of that into the deposit of faith.

That seemed to be true with Mary as well albeit for her, it was in a special way.

God bless.
 
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Very funny. We know nothing about Jesus life. I think all Christian denominations view this mystery time as Jesus living like one of us, but in a perfect sinless way. I think Jesus the human had to learn to speak, and do carpendary like all the rest. 😉
 
I personally think she did know He was God, and so too did Joseph. First of all, I’ve heard it said, though I can’t remember where or by whom, that Mary’s Magnificat was not something a simple, uneducated peasant girl could have formulated. This is a song of praise rich with Biblical imagery from the Psalms. Mary would have been very familiar with the signs and traits of the Messiah. Also, the relationship between Mary and the Holy Spirit is like that of a spouse. While Mary didn’t know every detail about the nature of God or the Trinity, what husband hides his true identity from his wife? What purpose would there be in hiding Jesus’ divinity from the very woman who would birth Him and the man who would protect and raise Him as a proper Jewish man?
 
Sure, Mary know it first, then her parents(not mentioned,but sure,you judge it) then Joseph, then Elisabeth.
Now, God want to save this world from sin,he created a body and entered in it and called the name Jesus. As Jesus, he had parents and by Gods revelation they know it. Once Jesus died and resurrected, he is God again, but its mentioned “he is siting at the right hand side of Father” bcz, Jesus mission is not yet completed, he have to come again.

As parents, everyone have the authority to order to their children, but here Jesus parents request and intercede bcz they are no more God parents.God is one and he don’t have parents.
Most of the Catholic call, “mother of Jesus” as “mother of God”, that’s a blasphemy and a sin.
God is always " I am who I am".
This is the reason Jesus call Mary “She” and entrusted to John as his mother before death bcz after Jesus death she is no more his mother.
 
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Truth4 said:
As Jesus, he had parents and by Gods revelation they know it. Once Jesus died and resurrected, he is God again, but its mentioned “he is siting at the right hand side of Father” bcz, Jesus mission is not yet completed, he have to come again.

As parents, everyone have the authority to order to their children, but here Jesus parents request and intercede bcz they are no more God parents.God is one and he don’t have parents.

Most of the Catholic call, “mother of Jesus” as “mother of God”, that’s a blasphemy and a sin.

God is always " I am who I am".

This is the reason Jesus call Mary “She” and entrusted to John as his mother before death bcz after Jesus death she is no more his mother.
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You are describing an early heresy in the Church that was resolved by the title given to Mary of Theotokos by the Council of Ephesus in AD 431.

Jesus did not cease to become God when He was incarnate, or become “God again” after he was resurrected.
 
Matthew 1:23 - “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”
2 Peter 1:1 (Jesus is the Redeemer) - “To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ”

Acts 20:28 - (God purchased us with His own blood)

Titus 2:13 - looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ
I can give more verses to prove.
 
I’m afraid I don’t see how those support your position. If anything, your position diminishes the divinity of Christ.
 
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