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We know almost nothing about Joseph. There are legends
and stories, of course, but the Scriptural evidence is, to say the
least, meagre. Yet some very powerful spiritual themes emerge in the
accounts of Joseph, all of which focus on the birth of Jesus.
Let me highlight just a few figures from Jesus’ family
tree. Matthew tells us that the Messiah was descended from Jacob, a
great patriarch and hero of Israel, and also a man who wrestled with
God. In a lyrical passage from the 32nd chapter of the book of Genesis,
we hear that Jacob struggled all night with the Lord and was wounded
permanently in the process. I imagine that there are some reading
these words who have wrestled all their lives with God, questioning,
doubting, wondering, struggling mightily with the Lord, perhaps even
bearing spiritual wounds as a consequence. Well, the Messiah came
forth from Jacob and was pleased to be a relative of this fighter.
First, we look at the sadness and the quandary of
Joseph. He had become betrothed to Mary and this union had been,
according to the religious law of the time, blessed by God. And then
he finds that his betrothed is pregnant.
There is something terribly universal and contemporary
about this scene and about the psychological dynamics involved. An
engagement that has to be called off: how embarrassing and difficult
that is in itself. What will people say?
But there is more. It has to be called off because of an
irregular pregnancy. For someone who is law-abiding and concerned
with his status in the community, this would be the profoundest kind
of embarrassment. And more to the point, this must have pained him at
the deepest emotional level: the feeling of betrayal by one he had
loved.
It is a wonderful tribute to the piety and goodness of
Joseph that he didn’t vent his frustration in a way that almost
everyone would have understood and countenanced. He swallowed his
pain and looked to the feelings of Mary. “Unwilling to expose her to
shame,” he resolved to divorce her quietly. Still, this must have
been an emotional maelstrom for him. At the deeper level, it is a
spiritual crisis. What is God up to? What does God want him to do?
Joseph can’t see a good way forward.
Then the angel appears to him in a dream and tells him,
“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into
your home.” Joseph realizes at that moment that these puzzling events
are part of God's much greater plan. What appears to be a disaster
from his perspective is meaningful from God’s perspective.
Next we read, “He did as the angel of the Lord had
commanded him and took his wife into his home.” Joseph was willing to
cooperate with the divine plan, though he in no way knew its contours
or deepest purpose. Like Mary at the annunciation, he trusted and let
himself be led.
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