Isaiah 7:10-14
Romans 1:1-7
Matthew 1:18-24
Sacred Scripture tells us very little about St. Joseph, it tells us that he was betrothed to the Blessed Mother and calls him her husband, it tells us that he raised Our Lord as if the Lord Jesus were Joseph's own son, and the Scriptures tell us that Joseph was a carpenter, because the people of Nazareth refer to Jesus as the Carpenter's son. Perhaps the most important thing we are told about Saint Joseph, however, occurs in the Gospel today. We are given the Gospel account in Luke of the Annunciation as well as Joseph's reaction to it in today's Gospel from Saint Matthew, and then it is explained to us how the Holy Spirit revealed to Joseph that the baby Mary was carrying would be the Messiah. The Gospel uses a simple description of St Joseph, God's Word refers to him as "a just man."
Another way to translate this would be to say that Joseph was a righteous man. Just as Mary said yes to God with her fiat in the Gospel, St. Joseph also said yes to God when he woke up from that dream and took Mary into his home. After all, we can only assume based upon the biblical text that Joseph initially believed that Mary had been unfaithful to him, but Joseph was unwilling to expose Mary to shame, the Bible tells us. What that meant in reality was that Joseph was unwilling to see Mary stoned to death.
We do not see Joseph as a character throughout the New Testament, but we do see him in some very critical places in the early stages of Our Lord's life on Earth. We know that he was betrothed to the Blessed Mother, and that as the text says here, he recognized God's voice and God's call on his life to be the Foster Father of Christ. We know that he sheltered the Holy Family from harm by taking Jesus and Mary into Egypt when Our Lord's life was in danger, and then returning safely home to Nazareth. It is there that we know that Joseph was a carpenter, and taught that trade to the young man that his neighbors knew to be his son. We know that St. Joseph played a critical role in the early life of Christ, enough that he is remembered with a place of honor on the Church's calendar, and in the Canon of the Mass itself.
Yet we know a little about this man's life beyond those few details, but even knowing that, there is much that Saint Joseph can teach us about humility, and even the Advent season which we see drawing to a close today.
St Joseph truly took the role of spiritual leadership of the Holy Family, he took charge of a delicate situation and he made the very most of it for the sake of the Kingdom of God, when the easy thing for him to do would have been to walk away, and had he done so, we might not have known the wiser. Instead, he did the hard thing, he took on a child that was not his to raise, and a family he didn't have to take on for fear of scandal. He did this because he understood that this was the will of God and he wanted to live by it.
We get a glimpse of Mary's humanity as well, because Scripture does not tell us that Mary didn't question what was going on. She asked the angel the obvious question: "How can this be, considering that I haven't been with a man." Mary was not merely asking this question in order to get the direct answer, although the angel gave it to her. Mary was fully aware that there was a great possibility that her neighbors, her friends, her family, and her Betrothed would all believe that she had committed adultery, and Scripture indicates that that's what Joseph thought at first. We have the benefit of viewing the situation in hindsight, and with the eyes of two thousand years of Christian faith. They didn't have that benefit in those days, most people would have believed the evidence they could obviously see.
But through the messages of the angel of God, Mary and Joseph were made aware of the plan of God, as surely as they were aware of the risks that they would both be taking my carrying it out. As melodically beautiful as the song is, Mary's very response tells us that she knew exactly what she was getting into, she and Joseph were asked to answer God's Eternal call for their lives, and the unique role that they had in the plan of Salvation. Because they willingly put themselves at risk and answered God's call, because Mary and Joseph willingly said yes to God, today we call Mary the Immaculate Mother of God, the Queen of Heaven, and we remember Joseph as a hero of the faith and Foster father of the Messiah.
All of us, if we are willing to take up the mantle of Christ, have a role to play in the plan of Salvation. We may not be fully aware of all of the details of what that role is in this life, but if we are willing to say yes to God, all of us have a place in promoting the Salvation of Souls, and the growth of the Church until the end of time. Everyone of us can say yes to God and be filled with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, to be a witness to Jesus Christ according to our state in life.
Just like Mary and Joseph, we are all called to say yes to God and to play our role in the promotion of the Gospel. There is no believer that God does not ask to step out in faith, to trust in Him, and to be used to advance the Kingdom of God.
At its very heart, this is what Advent is truly all about. Every year, in the first weeks of the liturgical year we are reminded of two great truths of our faith. The first is that Christ will one day return to judge the living and the dead, that he will judge every man and woman according to their works, and one day the secret of all hearts will be revealed. The second great truth is that to save humanity from our own rejection of God, God sent His Son into the world not to condemn the world, but so that the world through Him might be saved. God used a Galilean peasant girl and a carpenter from Nazareth, who said yes to lives of uncertainty in order to step out in faith and be part of the plan to save all of us.
Advent reminds us that Christ came once, and he came in order to give humanity a second chance. Mary and Joseph were given the opportunity to say yes to God, and we remember them because that is exactly what they did. We are all given the same opportunity, the opportunity to say yes to God and yes to the plan of Salvation and our role and place in it. Let us answer God in the same way that Mary did. "Be it done unto me according to thy Word."
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