Sunday, November 29, 2015

18 The Infancy Gospel of James - 1

18 The Infancy Gospel of James - 1


Today we return to our long-abandoned series on the Gnostic Gospels with this Christmastime review of The  Infancy Gospel of James. This is a very interesting book from many perspectives. It vividly shows the ancient Biblical figures in all their human frailty, and nobility, as they negotiate the difficulties the Jews had accepting the miracle of the virgin birth. There are hints about the secret spiritual society of the Essenes, as well a complexly interwoven portrait of belief, tradition, mysticism and pragmatism.

To be clear at the outset, the book of James is not primarily concerned with the nativity of Jesus, but, rather with the nativity of Mary. I intend to read long passages from the book as a way of substituting the traditional Christmas stories with these somewhat fresh accounts, which include many details not included in the Synoptic Gospels. There will also be comparisons with the stories in James with the stories in Luke. For now, I think I’ll just jump in with some opening scenes:  

CHAPTER 1 begins with the man Joachim, a righteous man, but childless. On a special feast day he is denied entrance to the synagogue because he has not given children to Israel.

“(9) Then, Joachim was extremely frustrated and did not appear to his wife, but gave himself to the desert and pitched his tent there. 
(10) He fasted forty days and forty nights. 
(11) All the while, Joachim was saying to himself, "I will not go down for food or
drink until the Lord my God visits me; prayer will be my food and drink."
CHAPTER 2
(1) Then, his wife Anna mourned and lamented greatly for two reasons, saying, "I lament that I am a widow and I lament that I am childless.”. . .

(7) So Anna also became extremely frustrated and removed her mourning garment,
washed her head and clothed herself with her wedding dress. 
(8) Around the ninth hour, she went down to her garden to walk around. She saw a laurel tree and sat down under it. 
(9) And after a rest, she petitioned the Lord, saying, "God of my ancestors, bless me and hear my prayer, just as you blessed our mother Sarah and gave her son Isaac to her."
CHAPTER 3
(1) And Anna looked up to the heavens and saw a nest of sparrows in the laurel tree.”

[Sidebar: I love this image, “nest of sparrows in the laurel tree”. Is that archetypal or what?

Back to James:]

“(2)Immediately, Anna cried out mournfully, saying to herself,
"Oh me, who gave birth to me? What womb caused me to grow? 
(3) For I was born cursed in front of the children of Israel. I am reviled and they treat me with contempt and cast me out of the temple of the Lord my God.
(4) "Oh me, what am I like? I am not like the birds of the sky, for the birds of the sky are fruitful before you, Lord.
(5) "Oh me, what am I like? I am not like the domestic animals, for the domestic animals are fruitful before you, Lord.
(6) "Oh me, what am I like? I am not like the wild animals of the earth, for the wild
animals of the earth are fruitful before you, Lord.
(7) "Oh me, what am I like? I am not like these waters, for these waters are fruitful before you, Lord.
(8) "Oh me, what am I like? I am not like this earth, for the earth produces its fruit in season and blesses you, Lord."
CHAPTER 4
(1) Suddenly, an angel of the Lord stood in front of her, saying, "Anna, Anna, the Lord God has heard your prayer. You will conceive and give birth and your child will be spoken of everywhere people live."
(2) And Anna said, "As the Lord God lives, whether I give birth to either a male or a
female child, I will bring it as an offering to the Lord my God and it will be a servant to him all the days of its life."

Notice how identical this angelic interview is to the familiar interview between Gabriel and Mary found in Luke:

Luke 1:26-38
“26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 
27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 
28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 
30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 
32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 
33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called[a] the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 
37 For no word from God will ever fail.”
38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.”

Back to James:

CHAPTER 5
“(1) The next day, when he was presenting his offerings, he said to himself, "If the Lord God will be reconciled to me, he will make it clear to me with the priest's metal disc." 
(2) And Joachim presented his offerings and paid attention to the priest's metal disc until he went up to the altar of the Lord. And he saw no sin in it. (3) Joachim said, "Now, I know that the Lord God has been reconciled to me and has sent all my great sins away for me."
(4) And having been justified, he departed from the temple and went to his house.
(5) And his wife's pregnancy came to term. After nine months, Anna gave birth (6) and she said to the midwife, "What is it?"
(7) The midwife said, "A girl."
(8) Anna said, "My soul exalts this day." And she put her baby to bed.
(9) After her days were completed, Anna cleansed her menstrual flow 
(10) and gave her breast to the child and gave her the name Mary.
CHAPTER 6
(1) Day by day, the child grew stronger. 
(2) When she was six months old, her mother set her on the ground to test whether she could stand. And after walking seven steps, she came to her mother's breast. 
(3) And her mother picked her up, saying, "As the Lord my God lives, you will not walk on this earth again until I take you to the temple of the Lord."
(4) And she made a sanctuary in her bedroom and would not permit anything common or impure to pass through it. 
(5) And she called the pure daughters of the Hebrews and they played with her.
(6) When the child's first birthday came, Joachim held a great celebration. He invited the high priests and the priests and the Sanhedrin and the whole nation of Israel. 
(7) And Joachim brought the child to the priests and they blessed her, saying, "God of our ancestors, bless this child and give her name eternal fame among all generations."
(8) And all the people said, "Let it happen, amen."
(9) And he brought the child to the high priests and they blessed her, saying, "Exalted God, look upon this child and give her a final blessing which will not be succeeded."
(10) And her mother took her up to the bedroom-sanctuary and gave her breast to the child. 
(11) And Anna composed a song for the Lord God, saying, "I will sing a holy song
to the Lord my God because he has examined me and removed my horrible disgrace from me. 
(12) And the Lord God gave me the fruit of his righteousness, of one nature, but
manifold before him. 
(13) Who will proclaim to the sons of Reubel that Anna nurses a child? Do you hear? Hear this, twelve tribes of Israel: Anna nurses a child!"

What a wonderful song, so full of deep mystical images like, “the fruit of his righteousness, of one nature, but manifold before him”. And what do you think is meant by “my horrible disgrace”? Can this possibly refer to the original sin passed down through the generations by Adam?

“CHAPTER 8
(1) And her parents went down, marveling at and praising and glorifying the Lord God because the child had not turned back to look at them. (2) While Mary was in the temple of the Lord, she was fed like a dove and received food from the hand of an angel.”

The dove motif is continued in the opening of Chapter 9:

“(1) Throwing down his ax, Joseph went out to meet them. 
(2) And after they had gathered together with their rods, they went to the high priest. (3) After receiving everyone's rod, the high priest went into the temple and prayed. (4) When he was finished with the prayer, he took the rods and went out and gave them to each man, 
(5) but there was no sign among them. Finally, Joseph took his rod. 
(6) Suddenly, a dove came out of the rod and stood on Joseph's head. 
(7) And the high priest said, "Joseph! Joseph! You have been
chosen by lot to take the virgin into your own keeping."

[Sidebar: When I read this I was a little confused by this mention of the “rod”, so I looked it up and found this paragraph concerning the Jewish rods, and the prophecy concerning the Messiah and His  “rod”:

“AARON'S ROD. By: J. Frederic McCurdy, Louis Ginzberg
A rod which, in the hands of Aaron, the high priest, was endowed with miraculous power during the several plagues that preceded the Exodus. In this function the rod of Moses was equally potent. Upon two occasions, however, the singular virtue of spontaneous power, when not in the grasp of its possessor, was exhibited by Aaron's Rod. At one time it swallowed the rods of the Egyptian magicians, and at another it blossomed and bore fruit in the Tabernacle, as an evidence of the exclusive right to the priesthood of the tribe of Levi. In commemoration of this decision it was commanded that the rod be put again "before the testimony" (Num. xvii. 10). A later tradition asserts (Heb. ix. 4) that the rod was kept in the Ark of the Covenant. The main fact, however, is thus confirmed, that a rod was preserved in the Tabernacle as a relic of the institution of the Aaronic priesthood.

The Bible ascribes similar miraculous powers to the Rod of Aaron and to the staff of Moses (compare, for example, Ex. iv. 2 et seq. and vii. 9). The Haggadah goes a step further, and entirely identifies the Rod of Aaron with that of Moses. Thus the Midrash Yelamdenu (Yalḳ. on Ps. ex. § 869) states that "the staff with which Jacob crossed the Jordan is identical with that which Judah gave to his daughter-in-law, Tamar (Gen. xxxii. 10, xxxviii. 18). It is likewise the holy rod with which Moses worked (Ex. iv. 20, 21), with which Aaron performed wonders before Pharaoh (Ex. vii. 10), and with which, finally, David slew the giant Goliath (I Sam. xvii. 40). David left it to his descendants, and the Davidic kings used it as a scepter until the destruction of the Temple, when it miraculously disappeared. When the Messiah comes it will be given to him for a scepter in token of his authority over the heathen."


Several miracles populate the account of Mary’s formative years as a chosen favorite in the synagogue, but the plot thickens when Mary, at age sixteen, is visited by an angel herself. Again, I want to emphasize how colorful and full of detail is the story-telling in James compared to the comparatively bare bones narrative in Luke:

“CHAPTER 11
(1) And she took the cup and went out to fill it with water. 
(2) Suddenly, a voice said to her, "Rejoice, blessed one. The Lord is with you. You are blessed among women." 
(3) And Mary looked around to the right and the left to see where this voice came from. 
(4) And trembling she went into her house. Setting down the cup, she took the purple thread and sat down on the chair and spun it.
(5) Suddenly, an angel stood before her saying, "Do not be afraid Mary. You have found grace before the Lord of all. You will conceive from his word."
(6) Upon hearing this, however, Mary was distraught, saying to herself, "If I conceive from the Lord God who lives, will I also conceive as all women conceive?"
(7) And the Angel of the Lord said, "Not like that, Mary. For the power of God will come over you. Thus, the holy one who is born will be called son of the most high. (8) And you will call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."
(9) And Mary said, "See, I am the servant of the Lord before him. Let it happen to me according to what you say."
CHAPTER 12
(1) And she made the purple and the scarlet thread and carried it to the high priest. (2) And taking it, the high priest blessed her and said, "Mary, God has magnified your name. You will be called blessed among all the generations of the earth."

The mention of purple and scarlet thread is interesting—it indicates Mary’s place as a functioning element in the rituals of the Synagogue, and confirms her high status in the hierarchy of the spiritual community. 

“Why did the tabernacle use the colors blue, purple and scarlet?

I see a lot of blue in the tabernacle, and when moving it. For example:
Then they are to cover the curtain with a durable leather, spread a cloth of solid blue over that and put the poles in place.—Numbers 4:6
There is also scarlet used in the tabernacle:
They are to spread a scarlet cloth over them, cover that with the durable leather and put the poles in place. —Numbers 4:8
The special use of purple is used to cover the altar:
They are to remove the ashes from the bronze altar and spread a purple cloth over it.—Numbers 4:13

What is the meaning of blue, purple, and scarlet in the Tabernacle?

Exodus details the materials used to construct the Mishkan (aka Tabernacle). They include blue, purple, and scarlet fabric (or thread), goat hair, and skins. This isn't just an assembly manual. Each element has spiritual significance. For example, the gold represents righteousness and perfection. Silver represents blood and redemption. Bronze or brass represents judgment, and iron represents power and force. Purple is usually associated with royalty and status because it was incredibly expensive to make. Blue dye (technically indigo) was also expensive for the same reason purple dye was: it was difficult to obtain from nature. It's likely that the specific shade of scarlet used was also expensive, though reddish dyes are fairly easy to obtain from natural sources.”

The expression “my soul doth magnify the Lord” has many interesting ramifications. a roundabout interpretation I have come up with begins with a specific definition of this word “soul”. The word “soul” is very freely bandied about; many people confuse the word, and use it to refer to various,  sometimes very different, dimensions of being. I agree with the interpretation of the word “soul” I have learned from Jeanette. If I understand correctly the, soul is the container of the spirit body, rendering it not unlike Steiner’s “astral body”. Soul is not the essence, it is the container. As such, how does the soul magnify the Lord? Let's take the word “magnify” at its literal meaning, which is “to make bigger”. You might say make present. And thus it was that bringing into presence the soul container, Infinity takes this essence and expands in into visible proportions that can be appreciated by human intelligence.

I ran across this interesting diversion in the Secret Gospel of James concerning the soul as a magnifier:

“Therefore, you must be in want while it is possible to fill you, and be full while it is possible for you to be in want, so that you may be able to fill yourselves the more. Hence, become full of the Spirit, but be in want of reason, for reason belongs to the soul; in turn, it is of the nature of soul."

This verse makes a clear distinction between spirit and soul. Furthermore, it warns us against thinking because thinking is in the nature of THE CONTAINER and not of the spiritual essence.


This has a direct bearing on the miraculous process of Immaculate Conception. If we say that the essence of God is in all of us, then it is not unreasonable to suppose that some people have the ability to plumb the depths of innermost being and make contact with the essential God, and in magnify it into appreciable manifestation..

I have always operated on the premise that the father Creator God is within the essence. I have never been able to make myself strong enough to reach all the way down. And thus it is that people like Steiner, Cayce, and Blake — people who have been able to make contact with higher dimensions, people who were born with a talent for reaching into those dimensions — I am forever humbled before them. I hope, when I shuffle off this mortal coil, I will be better able to appreciate the God within me, Whom I can feel right now, but can't really know.

At this point it is necessary to re-read the familiar annunciation story from Luke:

“26 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named 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 came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
29 And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.
30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.
31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus.
32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
34 Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?
35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
36 And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren.
37 For with God nothing shall be impossible.
38 And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.
39 And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Juda;
40 And entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elisabeth.
41 And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost:
42 And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.
43 And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
44 For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.
45 And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.
46 And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord,
47 And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
48 For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
49 For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name.
50 And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.
51 He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
52 He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.
53 He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.
54 He hath helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy;
55 As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever.”


Next week we will continue with James—more Advent material especially concerning Joseph, who encountered a lot of problems with his women.


Let us pray: Jesus, the spirit of the season always catches us by surprise—we wonder that every year the old stories vibrate in our hearts with new significance and resonance. Thank you for this time of renewal, and prepare out hearts for the coming birth—for the coming re-birth. Amen.

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