Fourth Sunday in Advent (December 18, 2022): Isaiah 7:10-16; Romans 1:1-7; Matthew 1:18-25; Psalm 80:1-7, 16-18
The story is familiar; we hear it every year. An unmarried woman receives a visit from an angel, who tells her she will bear a son, and the Holy Spirit will impregnate her. Her fiance, who is rightly concerned that his allegedly virginal intended wife is pregnant, gets a visit from an angel in a dream telling him that Mary is pregnant not by some local man, but by the Holy Spirit. I think he would be reasonably justified in responding with incredulity.
This is a weird story. In one of the great understatements of scripture, Mary’s response to the angel is “she wondered what kind of greeting this might be”. Both Mary and Joseph accepted visions which they might legitimately have dismissed as unreal. Both took actions which put them at odds with social norms: Mary agreed to be pregnant outside of marriage, and Joseph agreed to marry her (and delay sexual activity) while she was pregnant by the Holy Spirit.
We are so familiar with the story that it is easy to forget how strange it is. Today’s gospel gives a sense of the context in referencing Joseph’s initial decision to “dismiss Mary quietly” so she wouldn’t be subject to public disgrace. But the Lord appeared to him in a dream, and he changed his mind. We are used to honoring Mary’s acceptance of the Holy Spirit. But Joseph too accepted a vision from the Lord, and did something hard in marrying a pregnant woman.
There’s a medieval English carol, The Cherry Tree Carol, which tells the story of Joseph and Mary traveling, when the pregnant Mary has a craving for cherries. An exasperated Joseph responds, “Let the father of the baby gather cherries for thee”. Needless to say, the highest branch of the cherry tree bends down so Mary can reach the cherries. I’ve always loved the carol, because it portrays Joseph and Mary as normal people. Medieval peasants expected Joseph to resent the situation because they would have.
Over the centuries, we have become accustomed to the Christmas story, but it is worth remembering how strange it is, and how both Joseph and Mary acted with courage against the expectations of their culture. What they did was hard. May we, like Joseph and Mary, also be willing to say yes when the Lord calls us.