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The Advent text for this last Sunday before Christmas involves somebody who gets little press during Christmas, and we don’t read about him at all after the story of the boy Jesus getting lost at the Temple. But if there is anyone who deserves a pat on the back for his trust, it’s gotta be Joseph.
In the text for this week (Matthew 1:18-25), we read this whole story so easily, but let’s remember that Joseph had to live this story before it reads so well to us. I wonder how Joseph had first heard the news, that his fiancée was pregnant? I wonder if he had walked into the poolroom and heard the guys talking, and that’s how he found out? Or maybe his momma had heard the news from Mary’s momma, and she broke the news to her son? No matter how Joseph found out the news, it had to have left him heart-broken, mad, maybe even a bit desirous of revenge for what Mary had done. My guess is that before all this news broke, Joseph had been dreaming of some big plans for his wife and him. Maybe he had already spotted that nice starter home down the block, maybe he was already figuring out how to ask his boss for a raise when babies would come along…. But now Joseph’s thought about “baby” was anything but joyful.
But then Joseph had a dream….My, how things change.
You got any thoughts on this? I’d love to read them.
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i like the way you put this in perspective or wonder how joseph’s perspective was shaped. it is curious to think of how perspective can shape how you endure a trial. it reminds me of this positive psychologist i heard who talked about how when you use your imagination, it is easier to withstand pain. for instance, the speaker talked about his little sister fell off a bed and started crying. he knew that she thought of herself as a unicorn when she was jumping off the bed. he then twisted her pain as being a unicorn who leapt into dangerous waters who was rescuing a small child. somehow, the kid stopped crying as she thought about what that pain might have meant.
i think that is a lot of what the christian faith is – not so much rationalizing the pain that we have – but understanding that the pain we endure is part of something greater. and when we understand that through the pain, we have a change to glorify god so that others might have transformative experiences of god in their lives (and we might be transformed too), we can better get through the news that our girlfriends are pregnant not with our child, that we are sick during holiday season (that is me), or that our best friend and his family is too far away (me too).
random thoughts – sorry to be so rambly today
Comment by Audrey Connor December 14, 2010 @ 2:50 pmI hadn’t thought of Joseph in this light before. I always just believed that Joseph really could have done no less than he did…that old bug-a-boo fate you know. But thinking about Joseph as a pool hall hangout kind of guy makes me wonder about just what kind of guy would Mary gravitate to. Did she attract a seedy kind of guy or a gentleman? Or did she just find a man who loved her so much that she could do whatever and he would still love her? I speculate that Joseph was a man such as I. And, I think every man thinks of himself as a “Joseph”. When we are first married, we think the person we are marrying is perfect…at least a man does. However, as time goes on over half of us realize that the person we married is not what we thought she was. Obviously, Joseph was among the other fifty per cent that loved her til the end. It is not that unbelievable that a man could love a woman for ever…soul mate if you will. We always seem to focus on the failed marriages around us, and not on those that are successful. From a personal stand point, I don’t know what my wife would have had to have done for me not to want to marry her and that includes being pregnant. I’m just saying, I don’t think it is all that remarkable that Joseph loved Mary just like Romeo loved Juliet.
Comment by Robert Orr December 14, 2010 @ 7:33 pm