Wednesday, December 18, 2024

Wednesday of the Third Week of Advent

(Jeremiah 23:5-8; Matthew 1:18-25)

Catholic exegetes point out that the clause, “He had no relations with her until she bore a son…” does not mean that Joseph had sexual relations with Mary after Jesus was born.  Evidently, the Greek word for until does not have the same nuance as in English.  As the text says, Joseph was a righteous man who meticulously carried out the Law in matters of its purview and discerned God’s will in other matters.  It is presumed that Joseph honored Mary’s virginity after Jesus was born as before.

As preoccupied with sex as our generation is, the question of one’s sexual activity is asked of most people.  Yet many forego sex for various reasons.  Sometimes it is done from necessity as when spouses are incapable of having sexual relations.  It is not unheard of that a man will say that he loved his wife more in abstinence than he did on the day they were married.

Love is much more than sex.  It is the giving of oneself for the good of the other.  We find this self-giving in Joseph’s love for Mary, in spouses who take care of invalid counterparts, and in the many chaste single persons who dedicate themselves their professions, the Church, and many other kinds of service.  They deserve both prayers and esteem because they strive against the current of a hyper-sexualized society.

Wednesday, January 18, 2019

Wednesday of the Third Week of Advent

(Jeremiah 23:5-8; Matthew 1:18-25)

Everyone dreams.  Not only that, but people have different kinds of dreams.  At night a person’s dreams contain the overflow of emotions experienced during the day.  If one was threatened during the day, the person may dream of being pursued by a ruffian.  Dreams during the day envision the culmination of one’s hopes efforts.  Martin Luther King dreamt of a nation which judges persons by their character, not skin color.  Today’s gospel tells of another type of dream, rare but not unheard of in salvation history.

Joseph, the husband of Mary, is not the first dreamer with that name in the Bible.  Joseph, the son of Judah, had dreams of his family submitting to his authority.  These dreams revealed the future of Israel.  The dream of Joseph in today’s gospel reaches even farther into the unknown.  It tells of how Joseph’s wife will conceive a child through the Holy Spirit.  The child will save people from their sins so that they may live holy lives. For this reason God will never leave His people.  Thus the child, named Jesus, may also be called “God with us.”  This dream is neither the overflow of emotion nor the high hopes of a people.  It is God revealing His audacious plan to give humans everlasting life.

We should never separate Christmas from the Easter event.  Jesus was born to suffer and die that sin and death might be overcome.  There is plenty of reason for joy in Christmas.  But there is also motivation to contemplate the ultimate purpose of Jesus’ birth.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Wednesday of the Third Week of Advent

(Jeremiah 23:5-8; Matthew 1:18-25)

Six months ago Pope Francis made a subtle change in the Mass.   A Vatican decree, authorized by the pope, mandated the inclusion of “blessed Joseph, (her) spouse” after mention of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Eucharistic Prayer.  The decree said that Saint Joseph was so kind and humble that he serves as a model for all men.  With all respect to the Vatican, another quality of Joseph may be specified which seems even more significant.  As the gospel reading today makes clear, Joseph was a “righteous man.”

One has to know the context of the situation to appreciate the righteousness of St. Joseph.  He almost certainly paid a dowry to marry the Virgin Mary.  So when he hears of her pregnancy, he has the right to divorce her in public in order to reclaim his offering.  However, before the angel in his dream tells him that Mary has conceived by the Holy Spirit, Joseph decides to divorce her in secret.  His righteousness does not permit him to expose Mary to public disgrace from an open hearing.  In this way Joseph not only complies with the letter of the law but also fulfills its spirit.  For the purpose of the law is to make a person as merciful as God.  In the Sermon on the Mount, delivered later in the same Gospel of Matthew, Jesus will command his disciples to be perfect as God.  Here Joseph exemplifies how this is done.

We live in an era when the world seeks justice with the claiming of rights.  Seeing the subhuman condition in which many people live, this effort cannot be trivialized.  But often the claims of some people clash with those of others to such an extent that it is impossible to determine whose is greater.  Do the poor in underdeveloped countries have more right to emigrate than the people in their countries of destination have right to maintain good order within their borders.  Or does a family in the United States have more right to a second car than a family in Tanzania to a motorcycle?  Questions such as these are nearly impossible to adjudicate, and it is often harder to implement the judgments once made.  To go beyond the impasse we have to let go of some of our rights claims.  In other words, we have to sacrifice ourselves for the good of all.  To do so is not a regular function of human nature; it is the product of God’s grace.  It is true.  Justice is the product of grace. 

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Tuesday of the Third Week of Advent

(Jeremiah 23:5-8; Matthew 1:18-25)

An old priest was describing his father. He said the man was the most honest person he had ever known. When asked if his father was religious, the priest responded, “Yes, he is the reason why I became a priest.” Joseph, introduced to us in the gospel today, is such a man.

Joseph has reason to make a public case against Mary. Not only does it seem that she has been unfaithful to him, but also Joseph would be able to keep the dowry he likely was given for Mary. But Joseph, being “a righteous man,” that is one who always follows God’s loving will, prefers to divorce her quietly. He is acting as if he just decided that the marriage wouldn’t work out. Thus, he saves Mary the humiliation of public inquiry into her pregnancy. Of course, the revelation by the angel provides Joseph reason to take Mary into his home despite her already having child.

In being born a human of Mary, the wife of Joseph, Jesus will provide us the grace to act like his righteous foster-father. He will teach us God’s ways and then die on the cross dispensing the Holy Spirit so that we may stay on that sometimes difficult road.

Friday, December 18, 2009

December 18, 2009

(Jeremiah 23:5-8; Matthew 1:18-25)

In the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston hangs an illustrative painting of the holy family in Egypt. Mary holds Jesus in her arms with a sphinx as protection from the wind while Joseph reclines at a distance keeping guard over his precious charges. This picture may be contrasted with a popular, contemporary sculpture of the holy family with Mary holding Jesus snuggled in the arms of Joseph. The museum painting intimates the perpetual virginity of Mary while the contemporary statue suggests sexual intimacy.

Today’s gospel saying, “He (Joseph) had no relations with her (Mary) until she bore a son...” seems to imply that after Jesus’ birth Joseph and Mary had normal marital relations. However, John Meier, one of today’s foremost gospel scholars, comments that the word for until in Hebrew and Greek “need not mean that there was a change in the situation after Jesus’ birth.”

The issue is important although, perhaps, not critical. We find it in the First Letter to the Corinthians where Paul writes, “It is a good for a man not to touch a woman” so that he or she (certainly the same holds for a woman) might dedicate himself or herself completely to the Lord. We certainly think of Mary as so dedicated. Of course, the elevation of virginity does not disparage marriage. Indeed, some married people live far holier lives than virgins who think of little else than having sexual relations or, for that matter, the unmarried who prefer to remain single out of self-serving independence.