Joseph was in charge of the country; he sold grain to all its people. His brothers came and bowed down before him with their faces to the ground. When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he treated them like strangers ~ Genesis 42:6-7
Joseph and his father’s household remained in Egypt. Joseph lived 110 years. ~ Genesis 50:22
On Tuesday, we left Joseph and Maroula at their lowest points, bereft of all dignity and loved ones.
But they were not alone.
We all know Joseph’s story. We know how after languishing in prison, God gave him the wisdom to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams. He was then exalted by Pharaoh to second in command of Egypt as they prepared for the seven years of famine. Then, his long lost family came to Egypt to buy grain once the famine hit, and they were reconciled.
Joseph didn’t know any of this. Joseph could have turned his back on a God who allowed all these terrible things to happen to him. But he didn’t.
Maroula’s story parallel’s Joseph’s story. The tale clearly has pagan roots (which is why it includes the “mother of Erotas”); however, there was a clear attempt to Christianize it. Rather than destroy an ancient tale, I think it adds poignancy to it…
Maroula’s Miracle
In the middle of the tale, when all seems lost for Maroula, a messenger of God enters the scene. Maroula meets a monk to whom she tells her woeful tale. The story does not say, but I choose to believe that the monk shared the Gospel with her; after all, if he was a real monk, he would have done so.
The monk opens the sack of sinful shame hanging around her neck – the sack containing her children’s bodies and her hands. He takes out the heads of Maroula’s children, reattaches them, and restores them to life. He then takes Maroula’s severed hands and reattaches them. Last, he strikes the ground with his staff and a palace appears for them to live in.
He then disappears, for he was actually an angel in disguise.
To us, it seems a romantic, fanciful tale; but if Joseph’s story wasn’t in the Bible, wouldn’t we disbelieve it, too? God works in romantic – dare we say fanciful? – ways. He is a romantic God, seeking to woo each individual heart by redeeming what was lost.
Maroula could have turned her back on God – saying what sort of God would allow such evil. But she didn’t. She embraced Him, and he redeemed all that had been lost.
But He is not simply a God of redemption; He is also a God of reconciliation.
Maroula’s Reconciliation
Just as Joseph was reconciled with his family, so Maroula is reconciled with hers. Her husband and his friends “happen” to be traveling in the area, and they stop for the night at Maroula’s palace. Maroula has each of her children roll a ball out to where they are eating and say “May it be well for our father, but horrible for our grandmother, who, incited by the mother of Erotas, induced our father to cut off our mother’s hands, even though she herself murdered us.”[1] I’m not sure why this works, but it does.
Maroula is thus reconciled with her beloved husband. Like Joseph, she forgives him his crimes against her.
The prince’s mother, however, is not so lucky. The prince holds a banquet for his friends upon his return, tells them the tale, and asks what his mother’s punishment should be. “Everyone unanimously decided that he should put her in a barrel lined with pitch and then toss her into the sea to be burned.”
I’m not sure how such a strange fate was “unanimous,” but, that’s what happened. Apparently the “mother of Erotas” felt Maroula had suffered enough, “and thus allowed her to live unchallenged.”[2]
And thus, like Joseph, Maroula is able to live out her days in peace, quiet, and plenty with her family. All that was lost was redeemed, and all was reconciled.
Sources
[1] Heidi Anne Heiner, “Maroula and the Mother of Erotas,” Sleeping Beauties, 157.
[2] Ibid.
