Fourth Sunday of Advent

Dear brothers and sisters,

This is the Fourth and last Sunday of Advent and, a few days from now, we are going to celebrate the birthday of our Lord Jesus Christ. In Luke’s Gospel, there is an angelic Annunciation to Mary. In the first chapter of Matthew, we learn that Joseph gets one too. Like Mary, Joseph’s claim to fame is also his faith. He too was also told the unbelievable and dared to believe. His response of faith entailed taking action – he changed his plans, received Mary into his home, and accepted responsibility for this special child.

God carefully selected the woman who would be the mother of His Son. But He must have been equally careful in His selection of the foster-father. For genes are not the only thing parents impart to their children. Jesus, in His humanity, had to grow in wisdom, age, and grace (Luke 2:52). Joseph must have been responsible for a good deal of this growth. It was Joseph who was Jesus’ male role model.

There are many important things that Jesus learned from Joseph. For Joseph was a just man, an honest man, a courageous man, a man of integrity. His betrothed was pregnant, but not by him. Imagine the shame, the hurt, and the anger that he must have experienced assuming what anyone would assume in such a situation. His integrity would not allow him to marry an adulteress and pretend the child was his. Neither would he expose the woman he loved to shame and punishment. He did not procrastinate or waffle. He made the difficult decision to divorce Mary quietly.

Do you think he may have been tempted at some point to second guess this experience, especially when things did not go smoothly? After all, when a plan is from God, are not doors supposed to open? Yet when they arrived in Bethlehem, the door of the inn was slammed in their face. If this were God’s child, wouldn’t God provide a room? And if this were really God’s son, wouldn’t God have turned back Herod’s hitmen?

Then the angel shows up again in another dream: “flee to Egypt with Mary and the baby.” Wasn’t the 70 mile walk to Bethlehem with a pregnant woman enough? If this was God’s doing, shouldn’t there be an easier way?

Joseph may or may not have thought these things. I would have. The point is, Joseph believed and acted. And when the angel came a third time and told him to make the long trek back to Nazareth, he acted again. Joseph certainly did a lot of walking. From Nazareth to Bethlehem to Egypt and back again. Paul said we walk by faith, not by sight. Joseph is a model of faith because he keeps walking, even in the dark.

*Reflection taken and edited from the blog Justmehomely

Fr. John Samuel