The hidden nativity character

We know them all so well, don't we? The angels, the shepherds, the wise men. But this year, I became aware of a hidden person, someone who must have been there, I think, but who was never written into the story.

A woman. I sense a woman at the scene. An older woman, a help-meet for Mary in her hour of need. I'm guessing that in the culture of that time, it would be a woman who would be the birth partner. I don't think Joseph could have managed on his own, though I'm sure he'd have tried to prepare himself, quietly seeking out the local midwife in Nazareth, swallowing his embarrassment, and asking her what he would need to do, far from home, in a city of strangers.

No. I don't think it was Joseph cutting the cord. Was it the Inn-keeper's wife? "You put them where? In the stable? She's about to give birth, for heaven's sake." Or another traveler? A woman staying at the inn who would willingly have given up her room, but only found out about Mary when she was a long way past being able to move from her bed of straw. Could it possibly have been Elizabeth, Mary's cousin? Did she meet Mary in Bethlehem, taking her own infant son with her? Or perhaps another member of Mary's family, who traveled the road from Nazareth to Bethlehem alongside Mary and Joseph?

I don't know. I'm guessing it was simply a local Nazareth woman. An older woman. A mother. She knew enough about childbirth to understand that Mary needed someone with her. She was there to hold her, to encourage her, to promise that the pains would pass. She helped ease the baby's head out, delivered his slippery body, cleared his mouth and nose of mucus, held her breath until he had taken his first. Then she wrapped him in the swaddling cloths which she had thought to go and fetch, before hunkering down in the stable at Mary's side. She took care of delivering the placenta, of cleaning up as best she could. She made sure Mary was warm, and as comfortable as possible, before leaving to go and tend to her own family.

I think she came back the next morning. Perhaps she came back several times. I think she helped Mary learn the skill of breast-feeding. I think she shared wise words about how to look after a newborn baby. I imagine they told her about the shepherds, and then later about the wise men, showing her the gifts, and enjoying her amazement. She was a trusted friend, by now, in that way that people become who meet us in the crisis points of our lives.

Did Mary and Joseph manage to get a message to her, when they slipped away urgently to Egypt, no time to linger, no chance to say good-bye? Did she wonder through the years what had happened to them, to the baby?

She has no mention in the Christmas story, but I'm sure she was there. Don't you agree? The Nativity Midwife.