It is our Fourth Sunday in Advent… and the coming of our Lord and Savior is very close. As events come along we all look forward to the coming of big and exciting things. As we get to this reading, the furthest away Christmas can be is 6 days. This year it is 3… So the excitement throughout the entire universe is growing.
We think about our past
We naturally think back to the events that brought about the event we are about to experience. Here we have a birth of a child. God always picks the most straight-forward and easy to see… He gave us 7 sacraments and we can easily see and the form that the sacrament takes is easy to see. For example, Water and oils for Baptism, Water and oils are readily available and there is plenty of it around everywhere.
And here God chose to have the birth of a child be the way He brings his Savior into our Midst. The birth of a child brings out the best in everyone. The Mother while a few moments ago was in extreme pain, now is filled with the joy of her new child. The Father seeing the pain of his wife and possibly the most hurtful thing to a man is not to be able to do a single thing to help her…. Now is focused on his new child. Over time the parents will join together realizing that they, with the help of God did the most amazing thing … they brought new life into the world. And remembering that God is at the center take their child to the Church. That child is baptized in blessed water and blessed oils again creating something new… a Child of God
While all of this is going on both the mother and Father think back upon all the events that led up to the gift of their son or daughter. They look to each other for love and support from each other and they do their best to give the child a good home with the support they need.
Of course we talk of Mary and Joseph
It was no different. Is it any wonder that the stories of both Mary and Joseph play such a big role in the Nativity of Jesus? The usual way that pregnancy comes about was not there… but Mary has held Jesus in her body for 9 months Joseph supported and took care of her through that entire period. What Father here does not know that feeling? What mother here does not know that feeling? Today we are focusing on Joseph He was working out in his mind the proper thing to do in a situation He thought he figured out. It says he was righteous and did not want to expose her to shame.
How often in this world do we do the exact opposite??? How often just because we have a legal right to do something to another, do we try to destroy another person’s name or dignity? Oh he looked at me the wrong way… destroy! HE cut me off while I was driving… let me try and embarrass him and race around him!!! Oh we do thing like this all the time… But why? Not to show off our righteousness… but to show off our might! And while this may feel good for the fleeting second or two…
Our Pride again
If we would let the feelings and emotion of the moment fade away … we could almost laugh at our silliness….
But, we keep holding onto that anger or pride… We just keep holding onto that sin seeking to justify ourselves…. We are never justified by Sin !
Joseph was righteous so he was trying to work out a way that everyone wins… Mostly, works out best for Mary and the baby. He knew what the punishment was in this circumstance. He didn’t like that option…
Like us, Joseph thought he knew all the facts…. Joseph though was open to hearing another option. He was seeking the solution that only God could answer fully… On one hand, came a possibility that he would have never thought. One though, he and his family had been waiting for…. for centuries! The Messiah? The one Isiah called for? The one that started out with a walk from Ur? One that dealt with slavery in Egypt, Assyria, Babylon? Was foreshadowed by the kings and Prophets and priests of the Jerusalem Temple? Emmanuel?? God is going to be with us????
Our thoughts turned around
The world that had had sin brought into it, by Adam and Eve would be saved by a child born of a Virgin in 3 days from now! We are celebrating that day soon… but for right now… we look back at the story of how things came about… the Holy Spirit was with them… and the Holy Spirit is with us. Joseph heard the word of God and he acted upon it. He did what God asked of him. He was righteous.
Let each of us be righteous, like Joseph. Let each of us take some time today to hear what God is asking of us. We started Advent looking for a change of heart…. We have done reading or praying or gone to Confession… We can take all that and now we have to do the amazing… we listen to what God is calling us to… It may be seemingly simple… or it can be as deep as the netherworld or as high as the sky. But he asks something from each of us…
Let us answer Him with our love and our righteousness.