3rd week in Advent -- Thursday Matthew 1:18-24
Joseph
Joseph . . . Contrary to the
place that Mary has firmly etched in history, Joseph has been relegated to
oblivion; forgotten, except as a figure needed to make the Nativity Set look
complete.
This rough-hewn carpenter must
not have had an easy role to fill. He
married a girl perhaps half or a third his age.
She soon announces that she’s pregnant!
What does he do? What are his
options? He could publicly humiliate her
by breaking their engagement. He could
have dragged her through the streets and had her stoned to death for her
presumed infidelity.
But he chose instead to believe
her. Moreover, he chose, despite all
human symbols to the contrary, to believe God.
His trust in God’s mysterious ways of working is a patient quality of
faith that we all could use in our lives.
O Lord:
We sometimes think that, unless
we are “important” in the eyes of those around us, we cannot serve you as we
should. Help us to remember the “Josephs”
in our world -- all of the people who serve you, who trust you, who follow you
without thought for what anyone else will say or do or remember; in Christ’s
name we pray. Amen.
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