Our idea of Christmas is often one that is painted in cards and sung in carols – the picture of a “silent night” where “all is calm and all is bright,” of angels singing, “Gloria in excelsis Deo” while shepherds watch their flock… Behind the romanticized story of Christmas, however, lies a human drama so raw and intense that it inflicts untold pain in the hearts of its characters.
Today’s gospel tells the story of Christmas as seen from the eyes of Joseph. A carpenter from Nazareth and belonging to the tribe of David, Joseph is betrothed to a young girl named Mary. In the Jewish culture, betrothal is an engagement that legally binds a man and a woman as husband and wife although they do not yet live together until they are formally joined in marriage. Thus, when Joseph discovers that Mary is pregnant, he must have been torn in utter confusion, anguish and maybe even anger.
Surely Joseph has his own dream of a beautiful family with his loving wife and lovely kids. Nothing extraordinary or ambitious really, but just a simple and happy family for simple people like him. All this suddenly crumbles with the disconcerting discovery of Mary’s condition, leaving Joseph totally devastated.
Being a “just man” and a keen observer of the law, Joseph does not want to have anything to do with a child that is not his own. At the same time, his love for Mary is such that he would not allow her to be exposed to public shame and possible death. Adultery is punishable by stoning. In the face of such painful dilemma, Joseph decides to divorce Mary quietly.
In a dream, the angel of the Lord tells Joseph not to fear but to take Mary as his wife for the child she bears is conceived by the Holy Spirit. He is to name him Jesus for he will save his people from their sins. All this happens to fulfil what has long been written in the scriptures.
The gospel closes by saying that as soon as Joseph wakes, he does what the angel has commanded and takes Mary into his home.
The version of Christmas in Mary’s eyes is pretty much the same as Joseph’s. Mary too is perplexed when the angel reveals God’s plan for her, and she is overwhelmed. Without fully understanding how it works, she bows in surrender and says, “Be it done to me according to your word.“
Like Joseph and Mary, we too have plans in life – plans which we carefully and painstakingly design for we desire nothing less than the best for ourselves. There are times, however, when it feels like God interferes with our plans. Initially we resist and insist on our own.
The story of Joseph reminds us that God has no intention of spoiling our plan but of perfecting it. He asks us to expand our hearts so he can bring our plan to a higher level that can benefit not only us but many others. He asks us to trust him even when his plan makes no sense to us or defies logic. We can be sure of this – that the best plan we want for ourselves is nothing compared to the best plan he wants for us.
God did not break the engagement of Joseph and Mary, nor did he crush their dream of building a home and family together. When they accepted God’s plan, their own plan expanded to make way for the Son of God to come into the world and become man, the first-born of the new humanity. Although Joseph did not have a natural son of his own, he became the legal father of the Son of God to whom he gave the name Jesus. And because of Joseph, the prophecy that the Messiah would come from the line of David was fulfilled in Jesus.