Joseph
This is perhaps not the most profound post of Christmas, but it seems people often ask, Why was Mary picked to be the mother of Jesus? Could it be she was picked because she was engaged (betrothed) to Joseph? Maybe Joseph was the target. Considering the male-centeredness of culture at that time, it makes sense. Joseph was a descendant of David as much or maybe more than Mary. Joseph would be the one under whose protection Mary and Jesus would be. Joseph could have easily divorced Mary but didn't, because he was a "just" man, a adjective that puts him in the category of many other OT saints. Joseph was shamed, too. Joseph had to flee to Egypt and live away from home, finding work in a different country for a few years. In fact, in the Matthew narrative, Joseph is the main character.
The other night at church a woman in the choir program did a monologue about (spoken by) Mary, and in it she says, "Joseph was the only one there and delivered the baby." I am perplexed by this assertion (also portrayed in the move The Nativity Story that came out last year.) I seriously doubt that Jesus was born at the last minute and delivered by Joseph, as if it were a sitcom or a taxi-cab delivery. It makes much more sense to see them as getting there with plenty of time to spare (read the text, for goodness sake) and a midwife as delivering the baby; it just wasn't done by the husband, and they were around people, not in the middle of the woods. So I don't know why that idea is perpetuated. However, if I'm wrong, that makes Joseph even more a saint, because he did something never done by the men and also risked ritual uncleanness.
Protestants and Catholics and Orthodox Christians differ on how they view the place of Mary in theology, but all of them respect her greatly. Why isn't Joseph offered this same respect? It's time he stop being relegated to the figure of an old man in the Renaissance and Baroque paintings, a man too old to want his wife. The text clearly said they had a normal married life and more children afterward. But before that, he did what few could be expected to do but what God knew he would do--faithfully obey when none of it made any sense.
The other night at church a woman in the choir program did a monologue about (spoken by) Mary, and in it she says, "Joseph was the only one there and delivered the baby." I am perplexed by this assertion (also portrayed in the move The Nativity Story that came out last year.) I seriously doubt that Jesus was born at the last minute and delivered by Joseph, as if it were a sitcom or a taxi-cab delivery. It makes much more sense to see them as getting there with plenty of time to spare (read the text, for goodness sake) and a midwife as delivering the baby; it just wasn't done by the husband, and they were around people, not in the middle of the woods. So I don't know why that idea is perpetuated. However, if I'm wrong, that makes Joseph even more a saint, because he did something never done by the men and also risked ritual uncleanness.
Protestants and Catholics and Orthodox Christians differ on how they view the place of Mary in theology, but all of them respect her greatly. Why isn't Joseph offered this same respect? It's time he stop being relegated to the figure of an old man in the Renaissance and Baroque paintings, a man too old to want his wife. The text clearly said they had a normal married life and more children afterward. But before that, he did what few could be expected to do but what God knew he would do--faithfully obey when none of it made any sense.
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