Today’s Scripture Readings

Gospel Reading

NRSV

and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah. Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘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.’ When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife,

Joseph never speaks in the Gospels. God speaks and Joseph listens. But what he hears from God is strange and overturns all the plans he may have had. He’s told that his fiancée has conceived by the Holy Spirit; he hears Simeon prophesy that the child will be rejected; he’s told to take mother and child down to Egypt and then eventually back to Nazareth. In saying yes to God, Joseph’s life is turned upside down.

We are told that he wakes up; and Joseph’s awakening is more than physical. It’s a slow awakening to what God is doing and what this requires of him. In this sense, he is like Abraham who says yes to God, even though he doesn’t know where God is leading, and who puts his trust in God’s promise, even though it seems impossible. In what God says to Joseph, the promise made to David and his dynasty is fulfilled, though in a way that could never have been foreseen.

But Joseph isn’t imprisoned by his own expectations. He moves beyond his own expectations, even abandons them, and follows wherever God calls. He is as much our father in faith as is Abraham. It’s also why he’s called the patron of the universal Church. He may not speak but he certainly acts – and he acts on our behalf.