During our service this morning, we had traditional Advent readings and a selection of carols. As I was listening to Matthew’s account of the angelic dreams Joseph experienced, a thought occurred to me.
Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.
Matthew 1:18-21
The overarching narrative of the Bible is about the relationship between God and humans. God being perfect, and wanting good things for His creation, wants us to be free moral agents. However, being free, we are capable of making evil choices, and these choices have impacts, like ripples, across creation.
This structure leads to a tension between law and grace. Both are facets of goodness, and are interestingly manifested in the story of Joseph, the adoptive and legal father of Jesus of Nazareth.
Joseph was a good man in both senses of the word: he knew and reverenced the law, but he was also capable of great compassion. Remember, before the angel visited, he had no reason to believe that special circumstances applied to Mary. As far as he could tell from the available facts and the usual course of events, Mary had been unfaithful.
Unfaithfulness is morally wrong. If we do not recognise moral failings, then we deny justice and take a step further away from the ideal to which we aspire: a world in which people consistently make good choices.
However, we are also loving. If we punish moral failings, but do not show compassion, we create a world in which rights and duties matter, but the underlying reason for them is forgotten. In short, we create a world without joy.
Joseph was thus faced with a dilemma, and he opted for a compromise. To administer some element of justice, but to temper it with compassion. This was as far as he could go. He could not solve the problem of sin – Christ was born for that purpose.
The story is important as a reminder of our real-world lives. At times the events of the Bible seem very removed from our daily lives. Most of us are not kings like David or wandering prophets like Elijah or warriors like Samson. Most of us have not seen obvious miracles like the Parting of the Red Sea.
But we do all have interpersonal relationships. Marital breakdown in some form affects most of us: whether as spouses, children, relatives, friends, or workers. The Joseph story, in its own way, is a good nutshell for the Gospel message. Something to think about in the remaining days of Advent.
All Along the Watchtower 
Same readings for us Nicholas. Funny, but my mind wandered to the difference in our idea of engagement (betrothal) and marriage as it was in the Jewish Law. Since Joseph did not ‘know’ Mary in the Biblical sense he obvious thought that perhaps she had committed adultery which is a bit worse in Judaic terms than was infidelity. But the angels announcement makes it clear: “. . . fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife”. In other words, they were married according to Jewish law via betrothal. So there is a disconnect between our idea of betrothal and theirs which was identical with what we call marriage. It is the charge of adultery that could have gotten Mary stoned under the law but not her infidelity. That was usually settled by a monetary sum given to the father of an unwed mother by the offending male.
Had Mary not “known” man as stated in the Bible then she was obviously the promised virgin mother of the Messiah.
It amazes me how many Christians speak of Mary as an ‘unwed’ mother which is not true.
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Yes, Scoop, in ancient Judaism, Mary and Joseph were considered to be married;however, the marriage is two-step process. So, she was a married Mother.
Nicholas makes some keen observations about the life of Jesus. It’s some that Fulton Sheen makes in his titles work. Jesus shows is the sanctity of normal live.
Also the ripples is interesting thought, it’s like an unfolding plan. They ask jesus has this man or his parents sinned to cause him his pain, but Jesus explains that the man’s sorrow is starting point to show the glory of God. It’s an interesting expression from Jesus because in the Book of Numbers, we’re told that the sins of past generations effects children, but perhaps this is just practical observation.
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The sciences do tell us that the sins of the fathers and mothers do reach down through the generations (at least a few). What is left unsaid is that the good of the parents also does. We are all products of what our parents and their parents did, said, and believed. And our children and even those young people we come in contact with carrying our beliefs on into the future.
That, of course, is the basis of what Burke talked about as the contract between the dead, the living, and the unborn. Very much the same concept. Although with a more secular feel to it.
I had a pastor when I was 20 ish that had three lovely daughters, his comment on the story was that we do believe in the virgin birth, but frankly, he would need the reassurance of the Angel if Cindy told him that story. He has a point, and his point magnifies Joseph’s compassion even before the Angel explains the situation.
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The interpretation of John 9 that the man’s blindness occurred for the glory of God depends upon the way the punctuation is applied in the English text and at times in some translations also upon the addition of a few words, not in the Greek text.
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