A Secret Name

This is an imagined scene where Jesus learns his name Emmanuel, God with us. It's not based on any true event except fro the Enunciation(when the angel came to Mary). Just my imagination.

The desert sun shone brightly on the little town in Egypt. The river nearby glittered under the brilliant glare. It reminded Mary of those wings: soft, white, and glowing with a radiance so thrilling and awful that she'd fallen to her knees.

Mary was standing in the doorway of her little home. Little Joshua would be home from synagogue school in a few minutes. Today was his sixth birthday! And, oh, how he'd grown! His little voice was calm and sweet, and never raised in anger. He had become someone the town could depend on, even as young as he was. Joshua was once given charge of a lamb to care for while a man left on an errand, and when the man forgot to return, Joshua had led the little, bleating thing tenderly back to the man's house. He had received a denarius for his trouble.

Mary had made him a little robe, and Joseph was putting the finishing touches on the carved toy he was making. But Mary had another gift, a gift that had not been given by her. She glanced down the hill to the well, surrounded by palm trees. It was there he had appeared, in a robe like the fine linen Roman officers wore...

Little shouts echoed down the roads of the Jewish community. Synagogue school had let out, and all the boys were heading home. Mary tensed, waiting for her little boy to walk through the door.

Joshua came in, first touching the box with Scriptures inside it hanging on the doorframe. It was custom to do this in Jewish society. Joseph came in from the workshop, the toy clutched in his hand. Mary respectfully drew back, for these were the men of her house.

"Here, son," Joseph said, holding out his hand, "something for you on your sixth birthday." Joshua took the small thing. It was a beautifully carved shepherd, holding a lamb close to his breast. Joseph looked proud of his skill. He ws not normally a good carver, but somehow he had made a masterpiece worthy of the palace of the officials of Egypt, Mary thought proudly. The image of the great, white, marble building rose before her eyes. Then, she remembered his face, shining with that same light...and that star...

The star had followed them wherever they went. Finally, three kings had approached the village where Joseph and Mary were staying, and given little Joshua rare gifts: gold, incensce, and myrrh. Some of the gold had been spent already, and the incensce had been donated to the synagogue, but Mary treasured the myrrh. She kept its jeweled vial carefully hidden behind a loose stone in the garden.

Then, Joseph had pulled up the little family and moved to Egypt. Mary was glad that they had: the ruler of Judea had given orders shortly thereafter to kill all the baby boys two and below. Little Joshua might have been slaughtered...

Joseph returned to his workshop, distracted by a prospective customer wearing a linen toga. Mary turned to her little son.

"Come, Joshua," she said, "There's something I must tell you!" And without waiting for an answer, she snatched his tiny hand and whirled away. Joshua followed, clutching his shepherd boy in the other hand.

Mary looked warily around as she went to the well, watching for any sign of others. Finally, they approached the palm-groved well. No one drew water in the heat of the day, so Mary knew they were alone.

"Joshua, there's something you need to know," she said. She looked at the foot of the well. It seemed just the other day when she had stood up from lifting the water- and there he had been!

"You shall call his name..." the wind whispered through the tops of the trees. Mary bent down.

"Your name is not just Joshua, son of Joseph," she whispered. "You see, a man of God visited me, in Galilee, before you were born. He told me I would have you as my son, though I was not yet married to your father. And he told me...your name is 'Emmanuel'."

"Emmanuel..." the word rolled off his little tongue. "...'God with us'."

"But you must never allow anyone to know this name," Mary said urgently. "People are waiting for the Messiah, and we don't want trouble, now, do we?" The words of prophecy echoed in her head, burned into her through years of sitting in the synagogue. "The virgin will be with child..."

"No, mother," the little boy said. "Not unless my Father commands me."

"Run along and play," said Mary. Joshua turned and left, running with boyish joy. She looked again at the ground by the well. And she seemed to see his footprint in the crumbling sand.

"Yahweh is with you! You shall bear a Son, and shall call his name Emmanuel."