+JMJ+
May the Word of the Lord be in our minds, in our hearts, and on our lips.
Greetings, one and all! I hope that you had a very good Easter season.
It is not well known to anyone except biblical scholars, but there is a theory that has been around for quite some time that there was a common, possibly written, source for the Gospel writers, due to the striking similarities of some of the Gospels, especially Matthew, Mark and Luke. This source is called "Q" (for the German word
Quelle, or "source.")
This theory has had many variations, including that there may have been more than one common source, maybe 2, 3 or even 4, by some theories. It has been debated for so long that the various theories have almost gotten silly. But, the basic idea, is that the "Q Source" contributed many of the words of the Gospels.
Now, as Christians, we can easily say, "well, yeah, the common source was the Holy Spirit! God inspired their writings so of course they will be similar." And this is very true.
And while I do not know if there is actually a specific source behind the theory of "Q," I am certain that one person contributed much to the stories in the Gospel, as they were the only person present during many of the stories of Jesus' life. That person, of course, is Mary, the mother of Jesus.
Luke 2:51-52 51Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them.
But his mother treasured all these things in her heart.
52And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.
The above is from the story where Jesus was presented at the temple. Is it a surprise that Mary would keep all of the details of Christ's life in her heart? It is no surprise that I am not the son of God, but my own mother kept a daily diary of the first 5 years of my life. Now, let me ask you, dear friends, if you knew, as Mary did, that you were about to give birth to the Son of God and raise Him until adulthood, don't you think you would go out of your way to remember everything that happened? Everything He did? Of course you would. This was not just her child, this was the Son of God Himself that she was raising! His life growing up was pretty darn important, and as Luke says, "she kept all of these things in her heart" as He "grew in wisdom and stature."
As I said earlier, there was only one person alive during the time of the Apostles who was also there during many of the stories that they recounted in their letters, and that was Mary, the Blessed Mother. The Apostle John was even adopted as her son, via the command of Jesus at the cross. You can rest assured that the apostles would be asking all sorts of questions about Jesus' childhood, wouldn't you? And who else was there, that was still alive during the time of the Apostles, when Jesus was born? When the wise men appeared? When they fled into Eqypt? Those are some very detailed stories, and only Mary could recount them, as Jesus was too young to remember, and Joseph had since passed away.
And it is certainly possible that Joseph wrote many things down along the way, as well, although the bible makes no reference to that as it does Mary keeping these things in her heart.
But only Mary could have told the apostles the details of Jesus' birth and childhood, they were not there, yet. So, it is clear that she contributed much information to the authors of the Gospels of the New Testament. Does this make her the "Q Source?" That's hard to say, but her contributions are obvious, so it is not beyond possibility.
Godspeed!
Eric
WWJD?
