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In Nazareth, there is a church built over Mary’s childhood home known today as the Basilica of the Annunciation. Down a side alley across from the church is the Convent of the Sisters of Nazareth. They are very kind to open up their space to groups traveling through the Land of the Holy One.
When I stayed there, the abbess was kind enough to show our group some of the underground excavation that was going on at the convent site. Down there, we could see a tomb and a house. Now, there is no consensus as to whose house this would have been in Jesus’ time, but it apparently is ascribed to “The Righteous One”. That led the abbess to believe that this house belonged to Joseph, Mary’s husband.
It’s hard to imagine anyone else back in that day being quite as likely to be referred to as righteous. Just about the first thing we hear about him in our Gospel today is that he was a righteous man. Joseph’s story is, to say the least, an unusual one. There’s not another one quite like it.
Joseph’s story begins with Mary, his espoused wife, as it is traditionally translated (in that day and age that meant more than just being engaged), is found, suddenly, to be with child. The one thing that is known at this point is that the child isn’t Joseph’s.
What the world teaches us is that this is where the drama should kick in. There should be yelling and tables flips and all kinds of angry posturing. At the very least, there should be a public squabble leading to Joseph walking away as his relationship with Mary comes to a close.
In their day, a lot worse could happen too. Joseph, by the law, could have had Mary stoned to death. The best Mary could hope for is that Joseph’s public declaration of divorce would have left her seen by society at large as “spoiled goods”, and her hope for marriage, and thus financial support in society, would have been gone.
Joseph, from what we see, doesn’t harbor any ill will towards Mary. His plan is to divorce her quietly with as little drama as possible so she can go and just live her life.
Fortunately for us, Joseph’s righteousness extended to his spiritual life. He kept his ears open to listen to the Lord, and he is told in a dream not to divorce Mary, for the child she is carrying was conceived from the Holy Spirit.
Joseph wakes and listens to everything the angel in his dream told him. He takes Mary as his wife. He even makes sure the baby is named what the angel says he should be named: Jesus, or Joshua in Hebrew, which means “God is Salvation”.
Joseph does what many of us may find difficult to do: play second fiddle in the story. Remarkably for a prominent male in Scripture, Joseph does not play a major role in the Gospels. In fact, what we hear today is pretty much it. There is no other story about Jospeh’s role in Jesus’ birth in any of the other Gospels.
Joseph was, however, a righteous man. He also was a good listener to God. As Advent comes to a close, it would do us well to reflect on Joseph as an example. He sums up everything that we have spoken of this season. Joseph was not out for his own glory. He worked only to build the glory of the young Jesus, conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit. He listened and was prepared for God’s call to him.
Would that we too could be like Joseph. Would that we too could be solely focused on being servants of God. Would that we too could be truly righteous.