At this point, as we near the end of Advent and prepare the twelve day feast of
Christmas, our thoughts often turn to Mary.
And for good reason. There are two great people in Scripture that we often turn
to as examples of how to be strong in our faith. Abraham, the father of the
Jewish faith and thus of our faith as well. And, of course, Mary herself.
And to understand why, put yourself in her shoes for a bit. You are a young
woman, probably 13 or 14 at the oldest. You are engaged to be married, as is the
custom at that time. In the meantime, you live with your parents, as also is
custom, until your wedding day arrives. And you go about your normal life.
And then one day, as you go to fetch water from the well as you normally do, an
angel comes out of nowhere. And this angel tells you that you are pregnant by
the Holy Spirit.
And a lot of thoughts would be going through your brain at that point. One being
that if this is true, that you are pregnant, then your life is in danger. After all, in
this day and age, women can be stoned to death for becoming pregnant by
another man.
What would you do here? Would you lash out at God? Would you refuse to take
on the risk to your life for something unasked for?
This is where Mary acts as an example to us. She knows the risk. She knows the
danger her life is in. And yet, she trusts that this is from God. And she trusts that
because this is from God, even though she is in danger, all will be well. And so
she says, “Let it be to me according to your word.”
I mention all this because I don’t want to downplay the Virgin Mary. She is
important to us. She is a great example to us.
But we often forget the other side of the Holy Family in this story. And I don’t
mean God. I mean Joseph. Because Joseph is also a great example to us. He is an example to us, really, of
how to live our lives. And again, I would ask that you put yourself in the midst of the story. This time
in Joseph’s shoes.
In this case, you are a man, getting ready to get married. Maybe you’re excited.
Perhaps even a little nervous. And then the rumors start. Your bride to be is
found to be pregnant. And you know for a fact that the baby is not your child.
You know the law. It allows you to be as vengeful as possible. If you wanted to,
you could drag your fiancée out into the streets. You could tell everyone how she
is a terrible woman and how she has been unfaithful. She would forever be
marked with shame. And in breaking off the engagement, you would make sure
that no one would ever want to marry her again.
Or, if you were feeling especially vengeful, you could call others together to
stone her to death. You could ensure that she could never be unfaithful to anyone
ever again.
And here’s the amazing thing. Joseph doesn’t do any of that. As we hear in the Gospel, he acts righteously.
Although he thinks that she has done wrong by him, Joseph refuses to allow her to face public disgrace and scrutiny. He refuses to be vengeful. Even though he would be perfectly fine to do so under the law. Even though he could without any repercussions.
And if Joseph’s nobility here wasn’t enough to win us over, he goes a little
further to be an example of good and righteousness to us.
It turns out that Joseph has a special ability. He receives prophetic dreams. And
in one of these dreams he is told the truth by an angel. He is told that Mary, in
fact, has not been unfaithful to him. Instead, she bears a child by the Holy Spirit.
That she bears the child destined to save us from our sins. And he is told not to
be afraid to take Mary as his wife.
Again, put yourself in Joseph’s shoes. You are told that God has put you in a
difficult situation. Not only is your wife-to-be pregnant, but you are essentially
being asked to raise a child who is not even your own.
And how would you react here? Would you yell at God for what He has done?
Would you ask why He hadn’t asked you for your say in any of this? Would you turn your back on Him, and thus Mary and the unborn Jesus? Would you allow
yourself to grow cold, bitter and angry?
Joseph does none of this. He wakes up and immediately does all that the angel
asked of him. He even does more than he is asked, and is so respectful that we
are told that “he had no marital relations with Mary until she had borne a son.”
And, most importantly, He takes Jesus in as his own son. He takes Him in and
loves Him.
In many ways, we could say that Joseph is the patron saint of step-parents. Jesus
may not be his son by blood, but he treats Jesus with the same love as if He
were. He still acts to protect Jesus, and His mother. He still helps raise Him. He
still shows Jesus love and compassion.
This is the very same thing that God has done by coming into the world as Jesus
Christ. He has opened the way so that, as we heard in the Gospel, we will be
saved from our sins. He has opened the way so that, even though we have denied
and rejected Him time after time, we might still be received as adopted sons and
daughters into His kingdom. That we might be heirs with The Son to all that the
Father has to give us.
Joseph, in his gift of love to Jesus, is an example to us pointing to the very same
love God has for us. But he also gives us an example of the love we are to have
for each other.
There will always be those we would rather not have to deal with. To be in
communion with. But we are called, like Joseph, to love all. To be respectful to
all, even those we believe have wronged us. And we are called to accept all into
our family.
As we get ready to enter the twelve day feast of Christmas, I hope you all will prepare your hearts to allow the Spirit of Christ Jesus to enter in to mold and change you. My hope is that you will feel the same love and compassion for Him that Joseph had. And I hope that you in turn will take the love and turn it towards all those you may meet along your way.