I am totally taken by Joseph’s willingness to listen to his conscience. Matthew's gospel calls him a righteous man. I call him a bad ass superhero. He didn’t have to go through with his marriage to Mary, and yet he did. He became the protector of Mary and her unborn child, Jesus. Stronger people with more resources should be the protectors of the vulnerable. That is just the way it should be, I believe.
We don’t know so many of the specific details of the Christmas story. We are left with questions. It’s okay to wonder, imagine, and put ourselves in the place of the different characters. What would we have done in Joseph’s place? In Mary’s? Perhaps we have experienced circumstances somewhat similar to these in our contemporary lives. Would we be so brave?
These bible stories are a wilderness. We walk in faith that the stories can be anchors for our lives, but often there are unanswered questions that concern us. Perhaps that is the point. What if we were to walk into the wilderness of the holy scriptures with all our questions, sticking with them despite (maybe even because of) our uncertainty? That seems to be what Joseph did. One courageous step at a time, he did what he knew was the next right(eous) thing. And thank God he did.
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