I will miss many things now that Border’s Book Stores are closed; I will miss the time spent pouring over potential purchases with a good cup of coffee or two. I must admit however, that I probably did help put Borders out of business with my many purchases via Amazon. Hmmm, sorry about that. One of the things I will miss the most though, something you simply can’t do at Amazon (or at least it’s not nearly as much fun) is shopping the after-Christmas sale.
Oh how I loved to shop Borders for those great Christmas bargains! I have quite a few nieces and nephews for which my favorite gift to give is books (it’s my favorite gift to give anyone!). I am especially fond of Christmas books and would use that sale to stock up. At last year’s sale I actually purchased two stuffed moose (mooses? Moosi?) with Christmas lights on their antlers for two babies not yet born. Both these infants were to be the first-born child of two of my nephews and I wanted some fun things for their first Christmas (both families are big skiers in areas where moose are common). I almost couldn’t find them this year but finally dug them out and shipped them onto their six-month old recipients.
At last year’s sale I also picked up a book by Elizabeth Berg The Handmaiden and the Carpenter. And while I didn’t recall reading any of Berg’s books, I did at least know she was a well received author so I purchased the book with high hopes. For reasons I can’t remember, the book was packed up with our Christmas decorations and I only rediscovered it after lugging the boxes down from the attic a few weeks ago.
I have no problem with fiction based on the Bible and recognize the story of Mary and Joseph as one with great potential for a rich elaboration. Unfortunately, this book was one of those rare volumes that I simply could not finish. While we do not have a wealth of historical information about Joseph and Mary, we do have some insight. Berg chose to ignore all existing information on these two people. Rather than tap what we do know, Berg recreated Mary and Joseph into an oddly modern couple. It was trite, contrived and worse; it totally disregarded known customs and culture of the ancient people of Judea.
If Berg wanted to modernize this story, she should have put them in a different era, different location; she didn’t. She characterizes Joseph and Mary as two teens playfully courting in ways that are completely counter to the times. While they may have been aware of each other prior to their betrothal, it is highly unlikely that they spent any time alone together, let alone actually engage in the playful banter of Berg’s writings.
While the Bible is silent on Joseph’s age, most scholars writing at around that time, or about that time-period, strongly suggest that Joseph was likely much older than Mary; it is quite possible that he was a widow with children. Berg’s Joseph was 17 and a very restless young-man.
Both Mary and Joseph were devout Jews, familiar with Scripture and with the ways the Holy Spirit can intervene in one’s life. Joseph was from the Jewish royal line of David. Both were orthodox in their understanding of the Bible and how it guided, even ruled their life. (Joseph)…As an honorable and humble man, as well as faithful in his observance of the Israelite ordinances and feasts (Luke 2:21-24, 41). Berg not only ignores this but actually seems to want to flout the depth of this couple’s faith.
I appreciate what I think was Berg’s intent to give the back-story about Mary and Joseph, tell us more about what they must be feeling by relying on something we all could relate to…their humanity.
What could be a more common human experience than fear and doubt? While Berg attempts to explore these emotions, she does so in a way that diminishes their faith. Zechariah, Mary and Joseph all experience fear when they first learn of the events surrounding the birth of John and Jesus. And all were told by the angel Gabriel Be Not Afraid. Mary’s response to that command is was confusion but ultimately acceptance (where Zachariah doubts and gets himself in trouble). Accepting what she was chosen to do doesn’t negate her fear. Berg’s Mary was an I-can-do-anything sort of teenager. We have so much evidence of Mary’s true strength, strength that comes from her faith. This was a woman who watched her son grow up to be a rebel-of-sorts; she watched her son become despised and tortured. She stood at his feet, forced to watch is murder. Why did Berg need to create a Mary whose strength seems to come from being precocious and even contrary?
Mary was most likely around 13 years old, her marriage was probably an arrangement between the two families. And while this was customary and something she probably knew she was destined for her entire life (an arranged marriage), knowing what is coming does not negate her fear. This is who young Mary most likely was…full of Grace but also with some fear; humble yet strong; devout yet fragile. This is a complex woman, not the flirty teenager of Berg’s creation.
After Mary hears Gabriel’s message, filled with all these emotions, she heads out to see her cousin Elizabeth. …Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste (Luke 22). She beats a path to see her older cousin probably in search of comfort and to see if her older relative could shed some light on what was happening to both of them. I think that Elizabeth represents a safe haven for Mary in part because travel was definitely not easy at this time, so heading out in haste, without great preparation, wasn’t typical for the time period. It was an arduous trek but she needed/wanted to see her cousin. She was young and scared and not really sure of what was happening. Like all of us, when we feel overwhelmed, we seek out the comfort of a loving friend or relative.
Berg does explore Joseph’s understandable confusion and doubt. Much of her narrative centers on a conversation between Mary and Joseph as Joseph lay dying. I think the Bible does a good job telling us just how truly human Joseph was. His first reaction to Mary’s pregnancy was to decide he would “quietly” divorce her. What a good man. In a time when he could have had Mary stoned for adultery and the shame of her actions would have brought down her family if made public, he being an upright man, and not desiring to make her a public example, had a mind to break their brothel (Matthew 1:18-19). He could have just left; by law, he needed to be in Bethlehem. But he didn’t, he married her. Again his acceptance of God’s call doesn’t negate his fear or confusion. It is never made clear in the Bible if Joseph ever “got” who this child-Jesus was or was to become. We know that even as Christ makes his bar-mitzvah at 12 years old, Joseph and Mary still do not understand the God-nature of their son. Regardless of his confusion, Joseph was a father committed to his son, he taught him his trade that he would have a secure life.
Berg does much to down play faith in an effort to “disclose” the couple’s humanity. She uses doubt, anger and even sex to show us how human Mary and Joseph really are…but she misses the mark by far. Rather than expand on what the Bible and scripture scholars have shown to be their great humanity, she belittles their faith and takes a great story and writes it into a very poorly written tale with little imagination. I am far from a fundamentalist and I don’t believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible but I am guessing Berg has some issues with Christianity
No comments:
Post a Comment