New Dawn - A Reflection on Matthew 1:18-23

 


Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do 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 as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.”

Today we celebrate the feast of the nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, but I am going to talk about another character in today’s passage: Joseph. He is often relegated to the equivalent of a movie extra, which is a pity because there are some tremendous lessons that can be learned from his life. Joseph features very little in the Bible—this is probably the longest passage about him—but it still reveals so much about his character and nature. Like the narrative of the temptation of Jesus in the desert, this little passage is so sterile in the telling, one often misses the enormous battle that takes place in Joseph’s heart and mind.

 I want us to understand this battle, because it has relevance to our lives, especially to those of us who are finding it difficult to come to terms with the emotional upheavals we are facing. What’s the best way to understand them and deal with them? Be Joseph. For a few moments put yourselves in Joseph’s shoes—or sandals. You are betrothed to a woman, but before she comes to live with you you discover she is pregnant. What is the obvious conclusion? That she had an affair. Yes? What would you do? 

 

Probably cancel the wedding right away. And because of the hurt you feel—well, even though this woman is not formally your wife, you still feel rejected—you want to hurt her too. Isn’t that true? If you said “no” to that question, good for you, but unfortunately many of us become very vicious and vindictive when we are hurt. But Joseph is a decent man and he wants to save her public disgrace, so he makes arrangements to divorce her quietly.

 

But then an angel appears with some crazy story that the conception is by the Holy Spirit. First, you have to get your mind to accept this fact because it is weird. Then, you start to think about what people are gonna say. “What? He got her pregnant before being married?” Or worse, “I heard the baby is not even his. Who do you think the father could be?” Even if nobody actually says anything, this is how the mind works. Do you now see the battle that Joseph would have gone through?

 

But after what would have been a very dark night for Joseph, he wakes up in the morning feeling different. How? Because through this dark night, he has let go of all the doubts that torment him. He has let go of all the worries about what the neighbors will say. He has let go of all the questions that fill his mind.  He has let go of his inability to understand. He has let go of his fear. He has let go of who and what he is in society. He has let go of everything except one thing: his faith in the goodness of God. And the certainty that God would take him through it all. God does. And his foster son saves humanity.

 

If you are going through a dark night, may the dawn bring renewed faith as it did to Joseph. 


Watch a video of this reflection by Aneel Aranha here: https://youtu.be/Y9mUwamdGqQ

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