A reflection on the Gospel reading for Sunday 22 December 2024
Fr Jeremiah
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Matthew 1.1-25
The book of the Genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Aram, and Aram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asa, and Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amon, and Amon the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon. And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Salathiel, and Salathiel the father of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ. So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.
!8 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit; and her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit; she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel” (which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took his wife but knew her not until she had borne a son; and he called his name Jesus.
Genealogies can seem a bit confusing. It is enough here to note that the Evangelists St Matthew and St Luke thought it important to include them; and that the Fathers very much agreed with them! Indeed, the Fathers go into great detail discussing these genealogies, not just in a general way but verse by verse. I won’t go into that here, but they are available online and worth reading when you have the time. I intend to look only at the passage from verse 18 on, beginning at ‘Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way’. In particular, I want to look at St Joseph’s reaction when he first became aware that the Holy Theotokos was with child: ‘and her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly’. The Fathers tell us that the situation presented St Joseph with something of a dilemma. He did not, at this point, understand that she had conceived by the Holy Spirit; so, not surprisingly he thought that she had conceived in the usual way. Knowing that he was not the father of the child, he was surprised and disappointed. The Holy Theotokos, as Holy Tradition tells us, had been a virgin living in the Temple until her betrothal to St Joseph; and this was certainly not the behaviour he expected of one who had always lived such a holy and blameless life.
What was he to do? Clearly, he did not think it appropriate to say and do nothing. So he decided to divorce her. However, he was also unwilling to do so in a manner that would expose her to public disgrace, or perhaps worse. Remember, the penalty for adultery was death by stoning in that time and place. Were that to happen he would be responsible for her death, as the one who denounced her. And the Fathers tell us that was something that he did not want, that he did not want her blood on his hands.
So he resolved to do so quietly. There were implications to that also, of course. The Fathers tell us that people might well have suspected his reasons for divorcing her. Why else would a man set aside his much younger, pregnant wife? But suspicion is not proof. And what if they didn’t think this was the reason? It occurs to me that if they didn’t suspect the Holy Theotokos to be guilty of wrongdoing, then St Joseph would have seemed like a very hard-hearted man indeed, to abandon a young woman who was with child.
It did not come to this, as we know. Before he could make his intentions public, an angel came to St Joseph in a dream and informed him of the truth of the situation. And so the day was saved.
But it is good, I think, to remember St Joseph’s initial reaction and how he intended to resolve it. Despite being hurt by what he thought that the Holy Theotokos had done, and quite naturally so, he still planned to deal with the matter in the kindest way possible. Justice was on his side, or so he thought; but still his plan was to try and set matters right, while ensuring that the least harm was done to all the parties involved. This is an approach we should all think about deeply. When someone does us some injury, must we really ensure that the one who injured us is punished as severely as possible for their transgression? When we hear of crimes being committed in our communities, should we always clamour for the harshest punishment the law provides? And when terrible things take place between nations, even when it seems clear to us where justice lies, must we do our best to help the side we support destroy the other? St Joseph planned to merciful in circumstances where no one would have blamed him for showing none. Should not we, who know ourselves to be in need of mercy, and live in the hope and expectation that mercy will be shown to us at the end of the ages, show mercy to others in this present age? Amen.
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