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It may have been a coincidence, but a few months after the exciting but
short affair with that Roman soldier Mary's belly had started to grow.
It became clear to her family and friends that Mary, a beautiful young
single female, was no doubt pregnant.
This pregnancy could definitely not be attributed to her closest friend
Joseph, for their relationship had been purely platonic.
Precisely for this reason —or was it from sheer jealousy?—
Joseph had been terribly disappointed in Mary and his first reaction had
been to break with her immediately.
Yet, whether it had been Mary's mother imploring Joseph not to leave her
daughter, or something else, Joseph had later given in.
They have not only remained friends, an official wedding, too, was
arranged last month.
Practically no-one (other than her close relatives and friends) would
suspect Joseph of not being the biological father of the baby on the way.
Even Joseph himself seems to have forgotten the exact course of events.
Now, with the advent of their first child there is enough for a new
couple to look forward to and to deal with, or even worry about.
One of these things, a side-issue for some, a main issue for others, is
the child's name.
Joseph, to whom Mary is legally married, in spite of what went on before,
asks her on a quiet day:
"Mary, what shall we call the child?".
Without any hesitation Mary answers:
"Immanuel, Joseph. 'Immanuel' means 'God with us' — I am
adamant that we should give him that name."
A little bit irritated and suspicious, but most humbly, Joseph asks:
"But that's a boy's name.
What if it's a girl, Mary?"
To this Mary replies resolutely, as if reciting a written text:
"I am with child, and I shall bear a son, and we shall call his
name 'Immanuel'."
Then she explains herself in a friendlier way, but not less pregnant:
"If it were only a gift of God, Joseph, it could, of
course, also be a very attractive girl, but this child will be so much
more.
He will be like ... God Himself in our midst."
One month later, Joseph, with whom Mary is united in matrimony, asks her
again:
"Mary, what shall we call the child?".
Mary, slightly surprised, answers:
"Immanuel, Joseph.
You asked me before.
If you want God Himself to stay with us, this must be his name.
No other name will do.
Haven't you learnt to reject the wrong and choose the right, Joseph?"
However, just before the contractions start Joseph asks her again:
"Mary, what shall we call the child?".
Mary, much more surprised now, and feeling rather anxious, answers:
"It was, it is and it will be Immanuel, Joseph.
As I said before, reject the wrong and choose the right, Joseph.
Any other name would be a disgrace to this particular child."
The child is born. Luckily, it turns out to be a son, and a stable
character at that.
Being Mary's husband and the legal father of the child, Joseph has to
report the birth of their son to the authorities, yet he seems to be lost
in thought and hardly moving, when he asks Mary again:
"Mary, what shall we call the child?".
One moment Mary is too flabbergasted to say anything, then she flies into
a rage and shouts at him:
"Jesus, Joseph. I told you so many times already! Now,
go to the registry at once!!"
55.LSW-74.MSE1
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The first version of this story dates from the fifty-fifth Late
Southwest month after the end of the Second World War.
At the time i (not a Supreme Being or anything of that Ilk) made the
Mary character insist on calling her son "Matthew", which means 'Gift
of Yahweh/God'.
Almost 19 years later, however, i read Arthur D'Adamo's article How
Christianity's Preeminent 'Prophesy' is a Fraud in Free Inquiry
(August/September 2019, Vol.39 No.5, pp.49-51).
I then decided to change the name Matthew into Immanuel
(Emmanuel in Greek), the Hebrew name used in the Bible,
Isaiah 7:14.
This second version of the story was written in the seventy-fourth
Mid-Southeast month, during the days when it coincides with August 2019
on the Gregorian calendar of the Christianist Era.
It contains several smaller and larger additions and revisions besides
the change of the child's name as ordered by the Mary in this story.
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