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In his
book Starlight, John Shea says at the end of the Advent season,
that is, on Christmas day, we can rediscover not only the light that is
God—the light Jesus came to bring into the darkness of our lives and
world—but also the light that is and has always been with each and every
one of us simply because we have been uniquely created to share in the
light of God. Just think about it: of all God’s creatures, we are the
only ones in whom the spark of divine light and love has always shone
and can always shine.
The
difficulty so many of us face day in and day out as we traipse through
our lives year in and year out—and most especially as all of our
responsibilities and obligations press in and weigh heavily upon us—is
to see the light of God shining in the darkness. For some reason, we
tend to focus upon the darkness—all of the gloom and doom we celebrate
at our candlelight pity parties—rather than God’s light. And, as the
darkness gradually comes to envelop us, a frown gradually displaces a
smile. A cold and steely demeanor then displaces a warm and friendly
bearing. And, too, harsh and negative, perhaps even extremely critical
and hurtful words resound from our mouths like the siren of an ambulance
or fire truck in the dead of night as we announce “bad news” to the
people God has placed around us, people desperately in need of hearing
some “good news.”
That
image—to herald the “good news” to people who are so desperately in need
of it—is at the heart of today’s gospel which started, “This is how the
birth of Jesus Christ came about,” Matthew says. Thinking about those
words, Fr. Shea invites his reader to enter anew into the story of
Christ’s birth not as we already have heard it time and again, but that
we might once again see the light of God in our own lives.
Unfortunately, our minds are all too quick to listen not to what Matthew
relates in his announcement of what is truly good news—a story about a
righteous man named Joseph—but instead what Luke relates in his
announcement of what is truly good news—a story about a virgin named
Mary. We hear nothing in Matthew about the Visitation. The truth is
that we need to be more attentive to the gospel, to “know what we hear,”
because we all too often only “hear what we know.” Matthew’s unique
perspective and focus upon that gives us insight not only into how we
should react to the birth of Jesus but also, and perhaps more
importantly, what this means in terms of changing how we must live our
lives. That is, if we are to be as God has created each and every one
of us, namely, people of the light.
It’s a
“guys” story not a “gals” story as Matthew constructs his complex
narrative of the birth of Jesus Christ around Joseph, painting Joseph as
a spiritual hero not to be admired but imitated. Living and working in
a very small, rural village where practically everybody knew everyone
else’s business—there were absolutely no secrets in Nazareth—Matthew
tells us Joseph was an “upright” man, meaning Joseph was not only
honorable and noble but also religious.
Those
are important characteristics Matthew wants us to consider.
Honorable…Joseph was known to be a man who, in his dealings with
others, was truthful and fair. Noble…Joseph was illustrious,
distinguished, and worthy of honor and respect as well as possessing a
lofty character revealing high moral virtue. Religious…Joseph’s
conduct indicated his belief in a divine power, his respect for the
sacred, and his conscious awareness of the bond uniting God and His
human creatures. These weren’t “Sabbath behaviors”—lived on
Saturday—but who Joseph was in his day-to-day life and work.
Honorable, noble, and religious convey the depth at strength of Joseph’s
character. In Matthew’s estimation, these provided rock solid
foundation upon which Joseph constructed his life in Nazareth. As
important as this was, these traits also strengthened Joseph to be able
to see the light of God shining forth in the darkness of his life.
These characteristics, then, are the solid bedrock upon which Matthew
reveals Joseph’s true spiritual heroism.
One day
(and Matthew doesn’t tell us what day it was), Joseph—probably around 14
years of age—made a promise to a young woman named Mary—who at the time
was about twelve years old. Joseph told Mary he would love, honor, and
be faithful to her for all the days of his life. While Matthew is
silent about Mary’s response to Joseph’s promise, Matthew tells us
immediately that before Joseph and Mary lived together, she became
pregnant. And, as we can infer from Matthew’s next statement, “but
before they lived together,” Joseph had nothing to do with Mary’s
pregnancy. Instead, Mary told Joseph she was with child through the
power of the Holy Spirit.
I
always thought of the argument Joseph and Mary must have had when Mary
broached the subject of her pregnancy. As difficult as this had to be,
there is a sense of irony inherent in the argument:
Mary: Joseph, I love you very much and I have some difficult news
to share with you.
Joseph:
Mary, you know that I love you, too. There’s nothing that can come
between you and my love for you. What’s the problem?
Mary: (sobbing) Joseph, I’m pregnant…
Joseph: (outraged) How can this be, Mary? We haven’t been together!
Who’s the father?
Mary: God.
Joseph: (mocking and sarcastic) God? As in the God of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob? The God who anointed David King of the Jews? What do you
take me for, Mary, some ignorant fool? I’ll tell you what: go and tell
that one to your parents! I can’t wait to hear what your father,
Joachim, has to say! No, let me tell him. “Hey Joachim, guess what?
You’re going to be a grandfather! And, guess what else, Joachim: the
baby’s father is God! The baby was conceived through the power of the
Holy Spirit.” I can’t wait to see the look on his face. How could you
do this to me, Mary? You’ve betrayed me and, on top of that, now you’re
lying to me? What do you take me for? I’m outta here, right now!
In
those days, young people—as early as age 13 for a boy and age 12 for a
girl—were betrothed to each other in a ceremony in the home of the
bride. The parents selected mates for their children and the period of
betrothal lasted for about one year. It had the force of marriage with
the one exception, namely, the couple didn’t live together. Instead,
the husband would visit his wife in her parent’s home. Jewish law
didn’t allow for divorce unless the woman was caught in adultery (in
Greek, πορνη). So, with Mary’s announcement, Joseph had a
choice: since the law stipulated that Mary should be executed by
stoning, should he take out revenge on her?
Think
of all of the questions that must have been running through Joseph’s
mind. Betrayal…“Why did Mary break her promise to me?” Anger….“How
could Mary have done this to me?” Embarrassment…“What are other
people going to think?” Loss…“Will I ever find a woman who will
love me as I love her?” And, perhaps even, blame-finding: “God,
everything seemed so perfect. Why did you let this to happen to me?”
Despite
feeling betrayed, angry, embarrassed, and looking to assign blame,
Joseph admitted to himself that he truly loved Mary and wished no harm
to come her way. So, it seems likely, Joseph sought out and found a
good and reputable Jewish divorce lawyer who worked out an amicable
divorce that would spare Mary’s life as well as that of her baby. Then,
with that done, Joseph probably went home, had a pint of good Egyptian
beer, and went to bed. “Now, I can put this whole darned thing behind
me and get on with my life,” Joseph must certainly have been thinking
when he fell asleep that fateful night when he was to become a true
spiritual hero.
We’ve
all been told, “God’s ways aren’t our ways,” and God certainly had
different plans for Joseph. Matthew tells us God sent an angel who
appeared in a dream, announcing to Joseph:
Don’t
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.
As
Joseph’s life unravels and the darkness was enveloping him, the light of
God suddenly shines. Because Joseph was an “upright” man—honorable,
noble, and religious—he did something many of us would find it extremely
difficult to do in the darkness of our lives. Joseph took notice of the
light, listened to God’s word, and allowed its power to transform
Joseph’s quite understandable feelings of betrayal, anger,
embarrassment, and blame-finding into obedience to God’s will. “Don’t
be afraid. Take Mary your wife into your home.” Unfortunately, for
many of us, we turn and run away as soon as the word “obedience” alights
on the horizon.
Indeed,
while Joseph may have felt alone in his anguish, he certainly wasn’t
alone. No, God was with Joseph as he made the heroic decision to take
Mary to be his wife despite the scandal and knowing that her child was
not his. But, that wasn’t the supremely heroic part of his decision;
no, what ultimately was supremely heroic was Joseph’s decision to
entrust himself obediently to the light shining brightly in the darkness
of his life. And, in this way, Joseph has become a sign of the hope and
power that are won through obedience to God’s will. Think about what
this meant for Mary, for Jesus, for the Jewish community, and for all
humanity. At that fateful moment when everything seemed so bleak,
Joseph realized that “God is with us” (Emmanuel, in Hebrew)—the
light shining in the darkness of our lives.
Christmas didn’t just happen. In his narrative about how the birth of
Jesus Christ took place, Matthew reminds us of how it took a courageous
act of obedience on the part of Joseph for Mary to bear God’s only
begotten Son. The challenge today’s gospel places before us, then, is
to “know what we hear” in the reading of Matthew’s gospel because it is
all too easy for us to “hear what we know” and to miss entirely the
point Matthew is making. As Fr. Shea reminds us in Starlight, on
Christmas day, we can also rediscover the light that is God—the light
Jesus came to bring into the darkness of our lives and world—the light
that is and has always been with each and every one of us because we
have been uniquely created to share in the light of God. According to
Matthew, the truly amazing and astounding good news—the gospel—is
Emmanuel, which means “God is with us.”
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HOMILY
