By Colleen O’Sullivan
Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will
raise up a righteous shoot to David. (Jeremiah 23:5a)
(T)he angel of the Lord appeared to (Joseph) in a dream
and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into
your home. For it is through the Holy
Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him
Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the
Lord had commanded him and took his wife into this home. (Matthew 1:20b-21, 24)
Piety
How silently, how silently
The wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of His heaven.
No ear may hear His coming,
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive Him
still,
The dear Christ enters in.
(from “O Little Town of Bethlehem”,
Phillips Brooks, 1868)
Study
Nowhere
in the Gospels are we told much about Joseph, but we can imagine how painful
this situation with his betrothed wife Mary must have been. Yes, their families had had a part in
arranging their marriage, but Joseph had grown to love her. They had dreams for their life together. We can imagine Joseph’s thoughts:
I can’t believe this. My whole world is falling apart. Mary says she is going to have a child! We’ve never been together, so how can this
be? She’s even told me a crazy story
about a visit from an angel who says the child has been conceived by the Holy
Spirit. She must be really desperate to
come up with that! But besides being
unfaithful, is Mary a liar as well? I
never thought so before.
What to do? What to do?
My family will be dishonored. I
will be ruined. I love Mary, but… I don’t want to hurt her, but maybe I should
just quietly divorce her, get out of this whole mess.
And
then Joseph is visited by an angel in a dream.
Everything Mary has told him is true, the angel says. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he
wonders: How can this be? But if we’ve
both been told the same thing…
We
don’t have much in the way of facts, but what we know for sure about Joseph is
that he is faithful and trusts in God.
On the word of the angel, he is willing to step outside his comfort
zone. He agrees to stand by Mary and to
watch over and raise the child whose name means “God saves.”
Our hope and prayer this Advent is that our hearts will be as open
and welcoming as Joseph’s was when Jesus seeks to enter in.
Action
Take a few minutes today to reflect on times when God has asked
you to step outside your comfort zone, to walk out in faith. What was your reaction?
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