Fourth Sunday of Advent |
|
|
|
Scripture |
Matthew 1:18-25 18 Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. 20 But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: 23 “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
|
Devotional |
TThe opening scene begins as the reader learns some things have already occurred. Mary and Joseph are already engaged. Mary is pregnant but we learn that “she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.” Joseph discovers the pregnancy but did not know the divine source. Joseph being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace makes plans to divorce her quietly. Then an angel appears to Joseph in a dream explaining the situation. Joseph awoke and did as the angel commanded him. What do we see in the example of Joseph? Rabbi Abraham Heschel wrote, “A Jew is asked to take a leap of action rather than a leap of thought. He is asked to surpass his deeds, to do more than he understands in order to understand more than he does.” God asks something beyond Joseph’s thinking. God ask him to take a leap of action. God says, “Don’t just stand there do something.” What God ask Joseph to do was much more than he would understand but he did it anyway. Alyce McKenzie describes the action. “The Spirit seems to act in two capacities: to test and challenge those who are in their comfort zones, and to confirm instances of active faithfulness. We would do well today to be sensitive to the Spirit’s working in the depths of our lives in both capacities.” 1 The Spirit causes Joseph to move our of his comfort zone but also confirms his faithfulness. Today we have many comfort zones in which the Spirit could test and challenge us. Joseph is an example of how we can be confirmed in our active faithfulness. We become involved with our own Christmas story and forget the two people in our story could be a young teenage girl and a boy which could also be a teenager. How the Spirit used these two to influence so many people in two thousand years. “Joseph never speaks a word in the Gospel, but his action is crucial to God’s work of salvation through Jesus.” 2 How can we make our action crucial to God’s work of salvation through Jesus during this Advent season and beyond? How does the Spirit call us our of our comfort zone?
|