Love is the theme for the fourth Sunday in Advent. Love is more than a feeling. Love is something you do. Much has been written about the role of Mary as the mother of Jesus, but what about Joseph’s situation? A few verses in the first chapter of Matthew explore what was happening for Joseph.
He is described as a righteous Jewish man who was to marry young Mary. All the arrangements were in place, and then there was a ‘spanner in the works’. Mary was pregnant. The law gave Joseph two options, either to publicly divorce her on the grounds of adultery or to quietly call off the engagement. Either decision could be justified for he was certain that he had not fathered that child. A messenger of God helped him see another option. Mary may have been blessed among women but Joseph was embarrassed among men. Joseph made a loving choice and that gave a measure of protection to Mary and the child.
God’s plan to take on human flesh was full of vulnerability and risk. As Charles Wesley put it, ‘Our God contracted to a span, incomprehensibly made man.’
Grace and peace, Kaye.
