In Joseph's Shoes

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way.” The beginning of our Gospel lesson sounds so clinical, so matter-of-fact; and compared to the Gospel of Luke, Matthew does not say much about Christmas. What Luke takes over a hundred verses to talk about, Matthew boils down to the eight we have before us. But what Matthew has to say is quite a bit.

Mary and Joseph are betrothed to one another: unlike today where the vows take place the same day of the wedding, they have already promised their lifelong commitment before God and man, but their wedding day still lies in the future. They have pledged their faithfulness to one another—and now Mary is found to be with child. Such scandals are not unknown in the history of mankind, but Mary's explanation might be a first: she says the Child is from the Holy Spirit. Uh huh, replies the world; of course He is.

Given the evidence before him, Joseph could have Mary stoned to death; but he resolves instead to divorce her quietly. But as he considers these things, an angel of the Lord appears to him in a dream and says, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

So begins the Incarnation, and note Joseph's position from the very beginning: he can go by what his eyes see or what his ears hear.

Love, Doubt, and Angels

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The history of St. Joseph is a familiar one to us, albeit short. He is betrothed to Mary, finds out she is pregnant, the angel appears to him, he takes Mary to Bethlehem for the census, Jesus is born, they run off to Egypt, and that's about all we hear of Joseph.

We tend to think of Joseph as a hero of the faith. He is the husband of the Virgin Mary, the guardian of our Lord, the first defender of the Faith. He is the model of obedience to the Lord's command. But suppose we consider the situation more closely. They live in a small town, in a hyper-religious community. I know you know how fast news travels in a small town, especially news about scandal. Mary is found to be with child, and Joseph knows it is not his. He was probably heartbroken, and not a little embarrassed.