Together on the Journey: A Weekly Blog from Fr. Andrew Sheldon
The last few days I’ve been thinking about Joseph. I referenced this at the Midweek Christmas Eucharist we had this week, and began my reflection with the story of how when Jesus is a teenager Joseph decides to tell him that technically- and biologically-speaking Joseph is not his father. Jesus is incredulous. He can’t believe it. He asks who his father really is. Joseph explains to Jesus that he’s the son of God. Jesus can’t even comprehend this. He can only manage to stammer out, “No way.”
Joseph looks at him and says, “Yah – weh.”
And with this bit of humour aside, it must be noted that there is nothing comical about the Joseph story. A husband-to-be is told by his betrothed that she is pregnant. Bad enough. But then to be told that the father is not some neighbour but the Holy Spirit. Now that’s a claim to get eyes rolling. So, Joseph is seemingly faced with one of two possibilities: either Mary is unfaithful, or she is unhinged. Whether you are laughing or crying, it’s quite a mess!
And, the consequences are dire. If Joseph does what he first considers doing – putting Mary away – then even if she does not find herself stoned to death she will still be ostracised and, for all intents and purposes, ruined. The honourable thing would be to marry her immediately and hope the neighbours are bad at math.
After the angel visits him, Joseph does do the honourable thing and marries Mary and, well, you know the rest of the story.
Joseph had a choice: He could walk away, abandoning Mary and the child, or he could stay, marry Mary and raise the child. If he left, he could probably get on with his life. If he stayed, his life would be disrupted in ways that would challenge the best of us. Well, we know what he did. He stayed. He raised the child. And the child he raised grew up to be an adult who called God ‘Father’, ‘Abba’, ‘daddy’. And I wonder if the reason Jesus called God ‘Father’ was precisely because all the love, mercy, and grace he associated with God was to be found in his father Joseph? For me, I think so.
We know what Joseph did, but what will we do?
Jesus disrupts. He makes claims on our lives that challenge us to the limit. Like a baby entering into a family, he turns our lives upside down, demanding our attention, and costing us in so many ways. Do we stay or do we go?
God continues to offer us the same choice God offered Joseph, and indeed, Mary. Will we stay or will we go? Will we nurture Christ in us and deliver that good news to the world or put it away and get on with our lives?
May our response to this invitation be that of Joseph and Mary: “Let it be with me according to your word”.
Andrew +