hey, it could have happened.

Consider: A group of aliens parks themself in synchronous orbit around the earth. They monitor the goings-on here, see the political status of the planet, see that there is a need for some change, and decide what to do.

They uncloak their ship, which appears as an unmoving star in the east. Day and night it can be seen, a glowing star brighter than any other. Geosynchronous orbit means it STAYS in the east, there is no “eastern sky” or “Western sky” to astronomers, even at that time, the constellations are alternately in the east and west at any time of the year. So a geosynchronous earth orbit would make the Eastern Star very plausible. In any event, it disapears after Christ’s birth.

Next: THey choose Elizabeth to bear a child. Genetically enhanced, elisabeth’s bloodline gives them the characteristics they want, but something goes wrong. So they look for a close relative. Mary is an excellent candidate, young, strong, but not “legal” so to speak. SO they get her ready anyway, a little work while she’s under sedation. It takes, and they have to make her understand so they show themselves to her. All of this stuff is perfectly possible with today;s technology, by the way. Anyway, if you think of what clothing was like then, and hygeine, a clean shaven, clean, nice looking man wearing a perfeclty pressed, bleached white tunic, would seem like an apparition to someone then, and that talk in the garden to Mary could have been just that. Joseph has to bne convinced inthe same way. Later, as Elisabeth’s son John the Baptist grows, we see his flaw, he has the skill of compassion and understanding, but he’s clearly not all there. Jesus acknowledges him as his predecessor, John acknowledges Jesus as “he who came after”. The aliens program Jesus’ DNA to make him very smart, very savvy, and build in a mechanism to watch and learn until he’s about thirty, then to tear the place up. Which he does quite nicely. THe very few glimpses we have of Jesus’ life before thirty, he is clearly a precocious child. When he is hung on a cross, the seeds he has planted will continue to grow for two thousand years and more.

hey, it could happen. Again, all the technology I have posited is more or less possible right this very minute.