Sunday 17 December 2017

Advent 2017

16th December

Luke 1:56

Mary stayed with Elizabeth about three months and then went back to her own home.

Matthew 1:18-19

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.


"Joseph the carpenter.
Joseph, a common man caught up in cosmic affairs;
Joseph, known to his neighbours, yet so unassuming that he sinks swiftly from Biblical sight;
Joseph, more mute in the Gospels than Zechariah, since the words of the latter are recorded in talk and in song, but of the former there are no words remembered, none;
Joseph, husband of Mary, adoptive father of Jesus - Joseph is just a man.

Because the Evangelists say so little about him, each word must bear enormous importance: Joseph is an 'upright' man. For raising his child, Papa Joseph shall be the very model of a righteous man - not so much in what he says as in what he does.

'He resolved to divorce her quietly.' He will make no accusation at all, although he has every right to do so. Joseph resolves to keep the Law, yes, but with such lenience that Mary's life will not be destroyed in the process.

What then is righteousness? These two things: the obedience we owe to God and the mercy God grants us to grant to others. It looks first to god, second to the other, never to the self - yet the self experiences a most holy peace in these relationships.

Come Lord Jesus: Come, live in my heart as you lived in the house of Joseph. I yearn to be as righteous as he. O Lord, become the source of righteousness in me. Amen."
W. Wangerin Jnr,  Preparing for Jesus

With grateful thanks to Gabriel Olude, International Photographer, for the Muses.
TFL!
Bernie x


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