Saturday in the Third Week of Advent, December 18, 2021

Matthew 1:18-25

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the Holy Spirit. Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly. Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means “God is with us.” When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home. He had no relations with her until she bore a son, and he named him Jesus.

This passage of the Scriptures reminds us of the necessity for understanding the customs of a given place and time in order to have clarity on the action in a historical narrative.  For instance, “When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together.”  The marriage itself took place in the bride’s home and consisted in the bride and her family consenting to be a man’s wife.  No vows were exchanged, no promises made, no processions took place.  After this, the groom would begin to make preparations for a wedding feast to be held at a later date in his house, at which point the bride and groom would take up house holding together.  And from the time of the marriage contract or agreement, the man and woman, now husband and wife, could engage in intimate relations.  St. Matthew writes carefully and clearly of the fact that Mary is married to Joseph at the time she conceives by the Holy Spirit.  To all outward appearances, as the Child grew within her, nothing was untoward.  No scandal arose on account of this.  The married woman Mary had become pregnant, and her friends and neighbors would have understood that Joseph was the father.

Joseph, however, was stunned by the news of her pregnancy — not that he suspected her of adultery, but because she had conceived by the Holy Spirit following an apparition on an angel.  Now, miraculous pregnancies were a part of Israel’s heritage but the mother had been either older or barren or both. And the mother always conceived in the natural way.  The husband played his natural part in the conception of the child.  In the case of Mary’s pregnancy, the angel had spoken to her alone and had not so much as mentioned him.  After Joseph received from Mary the news of her pregnancy with the Son of God, Joseph wondered what he was supposed to do.  What does the righteous man do, faced with this reality?  He wanted to support her and to take care of her as a Jewish man should take care of his wife, but the fact that he himself had received no instructions caused him to feel like an intruder on a sacred mystery.  One thing he would not do: blaze about the news that Mary had confided in him.  The angel had not enjoined secrecy on them, and the whole nation was anxious for the coming of the Messiah, but Joseph remained silent.  God himself would reveal this mystery in his own time.  But Joseph considered that he was not meant by God to be a part of it and so resolved to depart from her quietly so as not to inadvertently interfere with its fulfillment.  Since he and Mary had not set begun to live together, he could release her from her marriage to him and she could remain in the home of her parents.

It is at this point that the angel of God appears to him in a dream and declares to him that he is not to fear to take his wife into his home: he, as her husband, is to care for her and the Child.  Indeed, he is to give the Child his name, claiming him as his own.  The angel tells him this while acknowledging that the Child was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and so Joseph, the righteous man, sees his duty.  Upon waking, Joseph goes right to work, arranging for the feast that will welcome Mary into his home when she returned from staying with her kin in Judea.  

It is into this family dedicated to sacred duty and righteousness that the Lord Jesus is born.  While the Son of God will preach and act according to the will of his Heavenly Father, he will do so according to the manner in which his earthly parents spoke and acted and lived.