Other tales of Christmas
God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a city in Galilee. The angel went to a virgin promised in marriage to a descendant of David named Joseph. The virgin’s name was Mary.
When the angel entered her home, he greeted her and said, “You are favored by the Lord! The Lord is with you.”
She was startled by what the angel said and tried to figure out what this greeting meant.
The angel told her:
“Don’t be afraid, Mary. You have found favor with God.
You will become pregnant, give birth to a son,
and name him Jesus.
He will be a great man
and will be called the Son of the Most High.
The Lord God will give him
the throne of his ancestor David.
Your son will be king of Jacob’s people forever,
and his kingdom will never end.
Mary asked the angel, “How can this be? I’m a virgin.”
The angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come to you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the holy child developing inside you will be called the Son of God.
Mary answered, “I am the Lord’s servant. Let everything you’ve said happen to me.”
Then the angel left her.
God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a city in Galilee. The angel went to a virgin promised in marriage to a descendant of David named Joseph. The virgin’s name was Mary.
When the angel entered her home, he greeted her and said, “Mother of a warrior! Elohim smiles upon you.”
She was startled by what the angel said and tried to figure out what this greeting meant.
The angel told her:
“Don’t be afraid, Mary. It is Israel’s enemies who should tremble.
You will become pregnant, give birth to a son,
and name him Jesus.
He will defeat the occupiers with sling and spear,
and he shall sit on the throne of his ancestor David.
The plowshare shall be flattened to a sword, and he will unite the 12 Tribes.
Your son will rule over a kingdom greater than Rome,
and his kingdom, forged in iron, will never end.
Mary exclaimed, “Our promised Messiah! But how can this be? I’m a virgin.”
The angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come to you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.”
Mary answered, “I am the Lord’s servant. May my son free us from the yolk of tyranny.”
Then the angel left her.
But as the child grew, Mary fretted at his peaceful nature. While the other boys wrestled, Jesus would walk through the lilies of the field, calling to the sparrows. Handsome as he was, he befriended rather than courted women.
As he entered his late 20s, Mary, clutching to the angel’s vision, and jealous of her relative Elizabeth, whose son some were calling Messiah, told Jesus what the angel had said.
Jesus was horrified. He could not believe this vision from his mother, could not imagine swinging a sword.
Mary told him, “You must find followers, Jesus, men as strong as stone who will help you overthrow the Romans.”
Then Jesus left her.
So it was that as Jesus preached in the towns of Galilee, when his mother came to make amends, he ignored her and told the crowd: “Who is my mother, and who is my brother?” And pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and brothers.”
God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a city in Galilee. The angel went to a woman promised in marriage to a common man named Joseph. The woman’s name was Mary.
When the angel entered her home, he greeted her and said, “Greetings! I have exciting news for you.”
She was startled by what the angel said and by his many eyes and wings.
The angel told her:
“Don’t be afraid, Mary. I have a proposition for you.
The baby with which you are pregnant is a boy, and you will name him Jesus.Yes, I know about the pregnancy. What would you expect?
Anyway, YHWH and ha-satan have had an ongoing debate about whether a human can be truly sinless and righteous.
We think based on the setting and his genetic makeu—er, his predisposition—that Jesus would be an excellent candidate. What do you say?
Mary asked the angel, “What does this entail?”
The angel answered her, “Basically you need to make sure Jesus never once breaks the Law of Moses, either in his heart or by his actions, until he dies.”
Mary said to the angel, “That seems like a lot of pressure.”
The angel answered her, “Oh yes, a ton. Especially on you!”
Mary said to the angel, “Have you tried this before?”
The angel answered her, “Many times. Obviously Adam was the first shot and we know how that went. We got pretty far with Job and some argue he was sinless, but YHWH was annoyed by the trial he called, so he crossed him off. Moses, David, and Judah Maccabee round out the leaderboard, but they all had fatal flaws.”
“Which were?”
“Moses struck a rock too aggressively—I know, I know, but it counts!—David slept with another man’s wife and had him put to death, and Judah tried to take over the priesthood.'“
Mary nodded and mulled this over. She asked the angel, “what happens if Jesus fails? If I fail?”
The angel replied, “Nothing really. Maybe Jesus will live a long and happy life, or maybe he’ll be crucified for some petty crime. It’s hard to say. He’s just a human, after all. But, if you succeed, you will solve a very old cosmic argument, and YHWH will be deeply pleased.”
Mary was confused but did not see how she could say no. Mary answered, “I am the Lord’s servant. May Jesus and I achieve everything you’ve requested.”
Then the angel left her.
So it was that Jesus grew up perfectly righteous and holy. When other boys would fight, he would counsel restraint. When the rabbi asked questions, Jesus would respond with precision and insight. His mother told him about the angel, told him that his expectations were different from other boys, and against all odds he succeeded in meeting them.
But Jesus began to notice the differences between him and others. He saw how the dirty fishermen used YHWH’s name in vain. He saw how the prostitutes sold their bodies out of wedlock. He began to feel his superiority, as if he had been born not of flesh but directly from YHWH’s holy spirit.
And so he told his followers, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Nobody comes to the Father except through me.”
And so Jesus sinned.
Mary woke from the dream, clutching her growing belly. Outside, the wind howled.
It was not her first dream of an angel, nor would it be her last.
She turned over in bed, trying to fall back asleep, but she could not stop thinking about what the angel had said.
When Yeshua was born, Mary like all mothers saw her son as special. Indeed, he was a sharper child than most and, as a young man, strong in body. She loved him dutifully, especially after Joseph was crucified. Every few years, she would dream of the angel again, and her conviction that Yeshua was unique grew.
Thus it was that as she knelt at the foot of her son’s crucifixion, shaking with grief, she cursed herself for her gullibility, for allowing herself to believe the words from her dreams.
Mary woke, clutching her growing belly. She blinked once, twice, three times before her eyes grew wide.
She was staring at an immense onyx square above her. No, not a square she realized, a pyramid. An upside-down pyramid pointed directly at her, or one that she was floating over, she could not tell. Vertigo started to seize her and she resisted the urge to vomit. Above - beneath - the pyramid pulsed and hissed like the storms she watched over the shore of Tiberius as a young girl. It must have measured 50 or 100 stadia at its base, with its summit perhaps 300 cubits away from her. She saw many-winged flying things slowly circling.
She jerked her head to the side. She was laying naked on a flat circle, her arms and legs spread in a Vitruvian embrace of the empty air between summit and body. The circle, like the pyramid, gleamed in black brilliance, a marble too fine for even the Romans, though it felt soft and molded — even warm — to her bare backside. She could see nothing beyond the edge of the circle, no horizon, just endless light. She could move nothing except her head.
Feeling the sharp-edged panic of this all-too-real dream, Mary screamed. She screamed again.
As she took in a ragged breath to scream a third time, the pyramid filled the air with sound. It started with a bass rumbling that sent the many-winged flying things scattering away. She saw that the pyramid had turned deep purple. The pyramid added octaves and fifths, sevenths and partial tones, each new harmony adding shades of blue, green, yellow, orange, and finally reds to its growing palette. Mary had never heard such music before, had never conceived of it. If had she tried to scream again, she would have been be drowned out by this sprawling fugue.
Suddenly, silence reigned again and the pyramid again turned black. For a full minute, Mary could hear nothing but the sound of her quick breath.
Then the pyramid spoke. It was not Aramaic, nor Hebrew, nor anything Mary recognized as language, yet its hisses and clicks and rumbled murmurs carried meaning to Mary’s brain nonetheless.
“The All-Spirit/Creator/Old One favors you.
Do not be afraid/stare widely, Mary/One Who Bears. You have been chosen/blessed/cursed.
The Pyramid/Device will illuminate/seed you with a boy/Adam, and you will call him Yeshua/Iesus.
He will be a great teacher/king
and will be called mortal/immortal teacher.
The All-Spirit/Creator/Old One
will give him insight/miracles.
His life/death will change your world/species.Then, after some time/eternity, We/I/Home will welcome/relate to your world/species.
Mary called out “who are you?” The pyramid resumed its non-speak.
We/I/Home observe. We/I/Home wait. We/I/Home choose.
Mary tried to figure out what this meant, then the sound began again. She realized she was moving — or the pyramid was moving. Either way, the summit slowly closed the distance as the sound grew louder and louder. She could see that the flying things had returned, moving faster now, their bodies, she now saw, covered with unblinking eyes.
As the distance closed to mere cubits, Mary tried to make herself writhe away, tried to move anything, but could only jerk her head. She started to scream again, but indeed made no sound against the rising musical noise that she would not hear again for many years.
The tip of the pyramid cut into her skin a few thumb-breadths below her belly button. Adrenaline or shock or something else left her feeling no pain.
Then the light disappeared, and the sound, and Mary woke screaming, sitting up in her bed. She tugged at the hems of her sleeping robe until it was above her belly. There, a few thumb-breadths under her belly button, was a small square scar, barely the size of a mustard seed, innocent as a birthmark.