25 Days of Adventনমুনা

Advent -- Day 17

Matthew 1:18-21

This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph, her husband, was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

Matthew 2:13-15

When [the Magi] had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod.

Matthew 2:19-23

After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.” So he got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth.

Meditation

Before Mary got pregnant, Joseph had an impeccable reputation. That is not something to be taken lightly. He had spent his life becoming a tsadiq, a righteous man. He studied the Torah; he obeyed its precepts. He recited every day, “Hear O Israel...the Lord thy God is one God....” He followed food laws and knew to love the Lord his God with all his heart and soul and mind and strength.

Now, he had to make a choice: to stand by his betrothed or to maintain the reputation he had spent a lifetime earning. There was no keeping both. But all of that Torah he had internalized had made him forgiving, filled him with grace, and led him to a strict obedience to the call of God. And it is only because of this that he could endure what he was about to go through, the complete and utter destruction of his reputation that ended with him running for his life.

Joseph was preparing to divorce Mary, to disengage from her in the gentlest way possible, when an angel entered the scene and delivered a message from God. What Mary is saying about this baby is true, and, though no one will believe him, Joseph sacrifices everything and follows the call of God. Yes, people will think badly of him, but he has chosen the approval of God over the approval of people. And that will be the best choice he ever made.

Prayer

Lord God, as I read the stories of the Bible, I see again and again that you call your people to do things that, at the time, do not seem to make any sense at all. I also realize that the reason your will did not make sense to them is that our vision is limited -- we cannot see the ends you have in mind. Show me in my mind and heart that I cannot even know what my own best interest really looks like, because I would need to know the future, and only you know that. Because my own perspective is bounded, may I learn to trust you and do what you ask me to do, because that will always work out for my greater good. Then trust can overcome fear, and I can risk everything, banking on your character and living into the purposes which you have ordained for me. As I embrace this posture, may it change my priorities and my practices. In Christ’s name I pray. Amen.