Joseph

 

The Spiritual Waiting Room

Joseph

Earthly   Father

Obedient   Spouse   Fulfill

Message of an Angel

Emmanuel

(Photo and poem by Kathy McNamara)

Scripture:   Matthew 1:20

Joseph had found that Mary was with child and was thinking about divorcing her quietly.

An angel came to Joseph in a dream and told him,

"Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. This child has been conceived by the Holy Spirit."

Reflection

What is your image of Joseph?

Matthew presents him as an extraordinary husband who goes out of his way to accept Mary in a situation where most people would be upset and angry with her. He becomes an earthly father to Jesus when most of us would walk away and leave Mary on her own path.

What makes the difference for Joseph is his ability to be obedient, to listen in the midst of his anger and confusion. We notice his goodness in his decision initially to divorce Mary quietly rather than to expose her to death by stoning which would have been the usual path to follow and the typical punishment.

He is obedient to the angel who comes to him in his dream because he is a holy man who realizes that the voice he must listen to is the voice of God and not the voice of his fellow villagers and friends who will be shocked at his willingness to take Mary into his home as his wife. This simply was not done and, in the minds and beliefs of those around him, should never be done.

Mary will become his spouse because this is what God wants. This was not Joseph's plan. This was not what the law demanded. God had a different way.

How many times does this happen to us? We think that we have it all figured out. We know what we should do to be successful. Then God points us in a different direction, and we are faced with a choice. Should I do what I had planned, or should I follow what God wants for me?

Joseph decides to fulfill what the angel has told him to do. He knows that he will face mockery and embarrassment, but that does not stop him. God comes first, and he believes this is what God is asking of him.

How do we react when God asks us to do something different and unusual? It is hard to face ridicule and rejection from others. It is so much easier to follow the expected route.

The message of the angel has made the difference. Joseph feels that this is God speaking to him. He makes his choice.

As a result of his choice and Mary's choice, Emmanuel is born. God has become one of us. God will dwell with us.

We will experience how deeply our God loves us and cares for us. God works through two human beings who did the unexpected in their day and time.

God works in the same way today through you and me. When we follow the ways of God and reject the false wisdom and common customs of our day as Mary and Joseph did, we are incarnating God in our world.

Come, Lord Jesus!

1. What do you think enabled Joseph to realize that God's voice was speaking to him through the angel?

2. How difficult was it for Joseph to reject the usual path of the law in taking Mary into his home after he found out that she was expecting a child?

3. How hard is it for you to reject the customs of our day and instead to put God first?

4. In what ways do you see Emanuel present in our world today?

5. What do you feel as you see Kathy's photo?

(Scripture adaptation, reflection, and questions by John J. McNamara)