FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT

A little boy asked his father, “Dad, where did I come from?”

Dad squirmed a bit but thought it was time that his son learned the facts of life.  So, his father told him about the expression of intimacy through lovemaking and how that resulted in the beginning of life.  He explained how life developed in the womb and finally how a child was born.

The son's eyes widened. “Wow, that's really neat,” he said.  “That certainly beats what Joey told me.  He said we came from Philadelphia.”

While I want my life to be simple, predictable and smooth, I know from experience that God likes to go off road with twists and turns that seem to defy my endurance and understanding.  But every sharp turn strengthens our faith as we know God is in control and God has called us.

The God of Surprises sent an angel to Mary, asking her to be the mother of our Savior.  The angel explained that she would conceive by the gift of the Holy Spirit.  No wonder she was panicky and frightened.  She was nervous about telling Joseph, but she had no choice.  She was about to marry him.  She had to tell him she was pregnant and that he wasn't the biological father.

When Mary told Joseph, he didn't believe her at first. 

• He knew he never took advantage of her; he respected her too much.
• He thought she was a virgin; at least that is what she had told him.
• He had always been faithful to her and never cheated on her.
• How could she let herself get pregnant?

He was more than confused; he was deeply troubled.

Joseph had betrothed himself to Mary. According to Jewish law, being betrothed means entering into a legally binding agreement to marry another person.  This is not the same thing as our understanding of an engagement.  You may propose to marry someone, but the proposal and the engagement are not legally binding. 

Because Joseph was betrothed to marry by Mosaic law, Joseph was required to do three things after he learned she was pregnant and not by him:

• Publicly break off the binding agreement.
• Publicly expose her to shame.
• Subject her to the death penalty for adultery.

Joseph went to bed that night thinking the unthinkable, that he might not marry her after all.  He tried to fall asleep, but he couldn't.  He was too upset. How could she have been unfaithful to him?  How could he condone her infidelity and adultery?

Once he decided to divorce her as quietly as possible, he was able to fall asleep.  Once asleep, he found himself dreaming.  Or was it a nightmare?

In the dream, an angel (a messenger of the Lord) was carrying on a conversation with him:  “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.”

The dream only confused and troubled him more.  The Angel even told Joseph that Mary would bear a son and what the boy's name would be!  In today’s Gospel from Matthew, we hear again the words of Isaiah from today’s First Reading, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’”

Don't miss this important detail of Matthew’s Gospel:   Emmanuel means God is with us. God never abandons or deserts us.

In Tom Brokaw's book, The Greatest Generation, a story is told of Mary Wilson, the first woman to receive the Silver Star.  She was in charge of 51 nervous nurses while on the island of Anzio in Italy.  The German bombs and artillery were ripping through their makeshift hospital tent.  The nurses were told they would have to evacuate, but Nurse Wilson would have none of it.  She refused to leave in the gravest hour and told Brokaw, “How could I possibly leave? I was part of them, I would never abandon them.”

Our God is an awesome God who is always with us.   God does not desert us in our hour of need. Christmas is how God came to us, and He has never left us.

Because Joseph was a righteous man, he listened to God’s messenger and did as God asked.  He prevented Mary from being stoned to death or being shamed.  He became the father of Jesus, fulfilling the Messianic prophecy that the Messiah would be from the family of King David.

One of the many qualities of Joseph that I most admire is how good he was at accepting the unexpected, the unpredictable and even the unbelievable.

How well do you and I deal with life-changing events that turn our lives upside down, such as an unexpected pregnancy, an unpredictable accident, the death of a family member or an unbelievable loss?   How good are you and I at really trusting in the Holy Spirit when our worst nightmare becomes a reality?

Joseph is a model for us in cooperating with our God of surprises.  He didn't have all the evidence or knowledge to know what the future held.  He chose to let justice and compassion guide his decisions.  He dared to believe.  He took the high road.

This event not only changed history, but more importantly, it changed the way you and I know God the Creator.  He became one, just like us.