Today is the fourth Sunday of Advent, two days before Christmas. Generally, when we read the Christmas story, we use the Gospel of Luke. There is nothing wrong with that it is a very good account of the Christmas story. But the Gospel of Matthew tells us something important too. Matthew tells us that while they were betrothed, Joseph discovered that Mary was pregnant. For those of my readers unfamiliar with it, being betrothed is something like being engaged, but with a lot more commitment and a lot more final. Generally, the bride still lived with her parents and the groom with his parents (although, since the groom was generally older than the bride, perhaps in his own house). However, ending a betrothal required a divorce just as ending a marriage does (although in that day getting a divorce was remarkably easy for a man).
So, Joseph discovers that Mary is pregnant. We are not told how he finds it out. She may have told him. Someone from her family may have told him. Perhaps there was gossip going around. He knows that he is not the father so he reaches the only logical conclusion. Mary must have been unfaithful to him. She must have had another lover. Joseph was betrayed. But, we are told, Joseph was a good man. Perhaps Mary had her heart set on someone else. Perhaps she wanted to marry the father of her child. There could be many reasons why she had betrayed him. Joseph would have been within his rights to demand that she be shamed in front of the whole community, even stoned for her unfaithfulness. Instead, he decided to divorce her quietly. That way if there was someone she would rather marry, she would be free to do so. He would not bring any additional harm to her reputation, or her life. If he married her anyway, everyone would “know” that he was the father, that he was unable to act appropriately. Either that or he was so desperate for a wife that he would take as a wife a woman who would betray him.
Having made his decision, he received a vision. An angel appeared to him and told him not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife. The child within her was from the Holy Spirit. Now, I don’t know about you, but I would have found that hard to believe. I would have wondered how I would know it was really an angel. But the passage in Matthew tells us that Joseph believed the angel, that he had faith in what the angel told him. Except that it doesn’t say that. How do I know that Joseph believed? Because the passage tells us that when he woke up, “he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded and took Mary as his wife.” That’s right, we know that Joseph believed because “he did.” He trusted God and acted on that trust. Joseph was willing to take the risks involved in following what the angel had told him to do. He was willing to risk the damage to his reputation. He was willing to be viewed as a fool, or desperate. Are we willing to take the risk of trusting God?
