Mary was an unmarried virgin girl when God sent the angel Gabriel to give her a message (Luke 1:26–27). She was engaged to a man named Joseph, but they had not had sexual relations (Luke 1:34; Matthew 1:18, 25). She became pregnant as a virgin through the power of the Holy Spirit, so that the Child she carried had no earthly father (Matthew 1:20; Luke 1:35). An angel also visited Joseph and told him to go ahead and take Mary as his wife, so they married and Joseph became known as the father of Jesus, even though he was not (Matthew 1:21–24; 13:55). The rest of the Christmas story found in Luke 2 gives us glimpses of Mary as she gives birth to the Savior (verse 6), is visited by the shepherds (verse 16), and is eventually found by the wise men from the East (Matthew 2:7–12).
Mary was present at the crucifixion, as recorded in John 19:25–27. She watched her holy Son be tortured and crucified. From the cross Jesus turned to His disciple John and asked him to take care of His mother from then on. So we know that John took Mary into his own home. Jesus’ choice of John to care for Mary may have been due to the fact that Jesus knew His own brothers were not yet believers and He wanted His mother to be with someone who believed in Him.
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