The boy inside the man - ii

A last Advent reflection.

Everyone is familiar with the story in Luke of how Gabriel came to Mary and explained how she would be the handmaiden of the Lord, the one who would miraculously bring Jesus into the world, a Son to God. We are quite familiar with Mary's wonder, but there is another part to this story, and Matthew hints at it - Joseph's sense of rejection.

Joseph was Mary's betrothed, and at that point in time, that was something more than it means today, as betrothal was a certainty. Matthew tells us that Joseph was a "righteous man" who was going to quietly break his arrangement with Mary until the angel appeared and told him this:

"Joseph, son of David,
do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.
For it is through the Holy Spirit
that this child has been conceived in her.
She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus,
because he will save his people from their sins." (Matthew 1:20-21)

Up until that moment, Joseph is basically out of the loop. The woman he loved, someone who I'm sure he planned for a normal life with, was pregnant. The unexpected shock would have hit him like a ton of bricks, and buried in emotion, it is unlikely he would have heard a word of her explanation, even being a righteous man. Yes, he was unwilling to expose her to shame, and that speaks much of his character, but his plan was basically to leave her. Did he feel abandoned? Left out of a future he thought was his to share? Unloved by the one he loved most?

I imagine he felt all of those things.

But the angel told him that he was not left out, not in any way at all. "You are to name him Jesus" He was told. God trusted His son, the son who would save the world to Joseph's care. The strong but gentle hands of a carpenter were to be trusted with the weight of the world. A simple man would be role model and guide to the saviour who became the role model and guide for the billions of Christians who have lived since. Not only was Joseph included, he was included wonderfully, so wonderfully that Joseph had no idea I am sure that people would still remember his gentle service every time a boy with a staff and a fake beard led a stuffed donkey up the aisle of a church for millenia to come.

So it is with you, with me, with everyone. We are all included with God. Included wonderfully in a way we cannot yet anticipate. And someday we will know fully, even as we are fully known, as St. Paul might say.