St. Matthew gives us a great gift today (1, 18-24), unique to this Gospel. The gift is Joseph. In St. Matthew’s Gospel, the central human character is not so much Mary. It is Joseph who receives a message from an angel. St. Matthew calls it a “dream.”
St. Matthew always has one eye on the Old Testament – where there is another dreaming Joseph who ends up in Egypt. During a famine he saves his family. Life was rough for that first Joseph: his brothers betrayed him; they threw him in a well; and then they sold him off to some men headed to Egypt.
Let’s be aware that things get rough for this new Joseph, too. Even if he may have been happy about the news delivered by an angel of God, things did not work out very easily or smoothly. Instead of security and comfort, he and Mary found themselves facing a treacherous journey during the last stage of her pregnancy. So much for the plans any father would want to make: no place to stay, no family around, and no friends. Later, with the first ceremony in the Temple, there is an ominous prediction from an old seer, Simeon, that Jesus would be rejected and his wife’s heart and soul would be pierced. How many times did Joseph need to remember the words of the angel, “do not be afraid?” How many times do we need to be reminded of the same?
For reflection: Joseph never says a word in all of the Gospels. There is not one quote ever recorded. But he stands before us, still, and his actions speak loudly with a simple message: worry less and pray more. God can and does work great wonders out of chaos, confusion, and disappointment. Fear has no place in the hearts of those open to the will of God. Lest we think that the Kingdom of God depends upon someone sinless or immaculate, there comes today Joseph to remind us that without people like Joseph, people like us, God’s plan would never have a chance.
