December 19, 2004: “Do Not Be Afraid, Joseph”

The Fourth Sunday of Advent


We come today to the fourth and last Sunday of Advent. Christmas is now just around the corner. At this time, 2,000 years ago, as we all know, Joseph and his wife Mary were getting ready to make the 70-or-so-mile trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem for the census; perhaps they were already on the road. But as the Gospel today suggests, there were some rocky moments just a few months before . . .

According to the wedding customs of the time, Joseph and Mary were already betrothed, or legally bound, to one another even though they weren’t yet living together as husband and wife. It was more than what we call a time of engagement which could have been broken off without too much difficulty for just about any reason. Rather, this was a real marriage, although in a provisional sense. The popular Jewish term was tenayim, which literally means “conditions.” The marriage was made, but the parties could have anywhere from a month or two up to a year to live up to all the terms of the premarital arrangements, especially settling the dowry with the bride’s father and working out the penalties should there be a breach. Then, when everything was finalized, a lavish ceremony and celebration would take place, the bride would move in with her husband and they would start a family.

Besides being a testament to love and faithfulness, Jewish marriage was also very much a celebration of fertility. God’s command, “Be fruitful and multiply!” was always at the top of the list of the precepts of the Law. In fact, as the bridesmaids helped the bride to dress for her wedding, they would sing to her, “May God bless you and make you the mother of ten thousand children!”

So imagine Joseph, filled with joy and hope and great expectation at the prospect of his marriage to Mary, learning that his wife was already with child!

Joseph reacts with fear to this news. We know this because the St. Matthew tells us that the angel appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.”

Given our modern way of thinking, we might assume that Joseph was afraid because he thought Mary had committed adultery. Mary knew, Joseph knew, of course everybody knew, how babies are conceived. Joseph loved Mary, and he could therefore be afraid of exposing her to the law to be accused, tried and most likely put to death by stoning. And at the same time, he could have been afraid to take on the responsibility and burden of supporting another man’s child, so he might simply divorce her quietly and go his own way. He might then even be afraid of being alone again . . .

But actually, the Scriptures are speaking of a very different kind of fear that Joseph had. He was a righteous man, we’re told—a pious and trusting follower of God. Just as Mary believed and had faith that she could conceive by the Holy Spirit, so did Joseph. Mary would certainly have repeated to him the words that the archangel spoke to her: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the Child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.” Joseph well understood that for some mysterious reason, God had chosen to reserve Mary, his wife, to Himself; so of course Joseph would be afraid of her sanctity. How could a mere man touch, much less marry, what belongs to God? Think back to the days of Moses when no one could so much as set foot on even the very base of Mt. Sinai, because it was holy ground . . . or to the days of King David when to touch the Ark of the Covenant containing the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments would mean death. But this! This is no inanimate object set apart by God . . . but the holiest vessel imaginable holding God’s very own Son!

In biblical Hebrew, there was no word for “bachelor.” There was no need for such a word, because the idea of celibacy was unthinkable. The Talmud—the commentary on the Jewish Scriptures—said this: “An unmarried man lives without good, without a helper, without joy, without blessing, and, finally, without atonement.” In other words, you’d live and die miserable—cursed!

Yet what was Joseph to be? Somehow married to Mary, yet afraid to approach her! Wanting to obey God’s command to be fertile and multiply, yet somehow being called by the Lord to something else that everyone always assumed was a horrid state of life.

With the help of the angel, Joseph resolved this quandary and chose celibacy within his marriage—something unthinkable in the ancient Jewish world. . . but how could this righteous man of God have chosen otherwise? Indeed, everything that the Talmud said would be lacking to the celibate, was actually given to Joseph many times over! That is always how God operates; He will not be outdone in generosity when we do His will.

So good and holy Joseph rose humbly and superbly to the challenge. In the Scriptures, Joseph stays pretty much in the background. Not a single word that he spoke was ever recorded. But this doesn’t mean that his role was of no consequence. Hardly! He took the Virgin into his home. He exercised authority given him by naming the Child as the angel instructed. The name itself is significant, too: Jesus, the one who would save us from our sins. He would fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy of Emmanuel, God-with-us. Joseph caring for this Child and rearing Him as his own perhaps raised some eyebrows . . . perhaps evoked some wonder. But Joseph did not shrink from this awesome task. After all, the angel had reassured him, “Do not be afraid.”

To think about Joseph is truly to experience the splendor of God. Mother Teresa once remarked, “If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans.” No doubt, Joseph had his life all planned out—but didn’t the Lord have fun throwing in a monkey wrench!

Each and every one of us, to some extent or another, is called and challenged to be a mini-Joseph: to be righteous, to listen for the voice of God and obey it, to expect the unexpected, to roll with the punches, to have a deep faith and a healthy fear of the Divine . . . and most of all, not to be afraid because Emmanuel, God-with-us, is coming very soon to save us.

What a breathtaking story. And it’s mine and yours.



Today’s Readings:
Isaiah 7, 10–14
Psalm 24
Romans 1, 1–7
Matthew 1, 18–24