Joseph's reaction to Mary's news
I wonder how you react when things go pear-shaped and all your dreams are suddenly in ruins?
Here was Joseph on the threshold of great happiness, he was betrothed to a lovely young woman, who would hopefully give him many children, and continue the pure bloodline of his truly impressive family tree. He had a job, a hopeful future, he had a home. Not only that he was probably well thought of in the village, an upright, solid and righteous man.
And then the girl of his dreams, the woman he was betrothed to announced she was pregnant, and his marriage has not yet even been consummated!
When we try to envisage Joseph's reaction to this news, I imagine that Joseph went through all the classic symptoms of bereavement …Speechlessness, shock, horror, tears, anger, panic, anxiety…a mind that goes into overdrive.
In one moment all of his dreams had dissolved. All that he had built up, was washed away. His all important lineage, his reputation, his name, his future!
Not only this, his betrothed is trying to tell him, that the child has come about through the Holy Spirit!
Just imagine having a daughter, who comes home and announces she is pregnant through 'a religious experience,' what would our reaction be? …that she was lying? Worse still that she had flipped her lid?
Perhaps this was God's test for Joseph, as to whether this man was a suitable substitute father for his Son? Will Joseph react violently or even give her over to those who would stone her for her adulterous behaviour?
Matthew tells us that he was unwilling to expose her to public disgrace.
His protectiveness and his love for Mary shine through.
Then it says he made up his mind to dismiss her quietly.
This action actually shows he had some integrity and pride.
Did he wonder why should God tell Mary, and not inform him! If all this really were of God, then God would surely have let him know, or perhaps revealed a word through the Torah.
In George Bernard Shaw's play Saint Joan, there is a part where one of the officers asks,
'How do you mean? Voices?
The maid replies,
'I hear voices telling me what to do. They come from God.'
The weakling King Charles exclaims,
'Oh your voices, your voices. Why don't the voices come to me? I am king not you!'
Joan answers, 'They do come to you, but you do not hear them.
You have not sat in the field in the evening listening for them. When the angelus rings you cross yourself and have done with it; but if you prayed with your heart, and listened to the thrilling of the bells in the air after they stop ringing, you would hear the voices as well as I do!'
Perhaps the reason why Joseph didn't at first hear God speaking to him of this is because his mind was suddenly so full of panic at Mary's words. Human responses can block out our communication lines from God and to God.
There are times in our own lives, where things don't turn out as we had expected; all of a sudden disaster strikes and we're totally unprepared. We blame God, and ask what is He playing at, we even question whether there is a God in all this!
And so God sent an angel in a dream to Joseph, the only place where his mind was still and receptive.
'Joseph Son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her IS from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for He will save his people from their sins'
And so the ancient scriptures were fulfilled,
Look the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
And they shall name him, Emmanuel.' Which means 'God with us'.
So let us apply that same message of God to our own situations of panic, fear and anxiety.
'Don't be afraid, everything is in hand, I am at work, and I am in your situation. Just be patient and see my hand at work. Trust me'.
And so the family tree continued to be written, emblazoned in glory, for the world to read and hear….
Eliud the FATHER of Eleazar,
Eleazar the FATHER of Matthan,
Matthan the FATHER of Jacob,
Jacob the FATHER of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.