| Joseph was in a very difficult position. How could this | | | | often a small scene depicted in the lower left corner: |
| have happened, that his betrothed should become | | | | Joseph, sitting and glumly listening to a man talking to |
| pregnant before their marriage had properly taken | | | | him. Sometimes, the iconographer depicts this man |
| place? What would people think? In those times, the | | | | with some sinister-looking attributes, and sometimes |
| stakes involved considerably more than some social | | | | just with the kind of expression one might see on |
| embarrassment and loss of face. By the law codes | | | | one of the town's gossips. Other times, the artist |
| of that time and place (Deuteronomy 22:20, 21), it | | | | portrays this character as an imp, or a small devil. He |
| was very possible that Mary could have been | | | | represents this temptation, of social obligation and |
| condemned as an adulteress, taken out to a public | | | | public opinion, that Joseph was feeling pressured by: |
| place, stripped, and stoned to death by the mob. | | | | "What will people think?" |
| In fact, Joseph may well have been under some | | | | This Joseph would have known the words of Psalm |
| pressure, as a responsible adult male, to uphold the | | | | 80, with its sadness: "You make us the scorn of our |
| laws and traditions, to make an example of Mary, so | | | | neighbors; our enemies laugh among themselves" |
| that other young girls would think twice before | | | | (verse 6) and its calling upon God: "Restore us, O |
| showing up pregnant. | | | | God; let your face shine, that we may be saved" |
| This was largely up to Joseph and what he decided | | | | (verse 3). This Psalm mentions an earlier Joseph, who |
| to do about this unexpected pregnancy. Back then, | | | | also had dreams sent by God, and who also was |
| that was the way things were. Clearly, Joseph cared | | | | merciful, as God had shown him how to be merciful - |
| about this particular, vulnerable young girl enough that | | | | mercy far beyond what we think we may hope for, |
| he couldn't bear to see her life end in such an | | | | as that ancient Joseph's brothers thought and feared |
| "example" to others. | | | | (see Genesis 37, 39-50). |
| But, what would people think? If he ignored this | | | | The doubts and anxieties of social obligation were |
| shame on his own honor, how could he hold his head | | | | behind the ethnic and religious divisions between Jews |
| up in town? He had another option: he could "dismiss | | | | and Gentiles - the "circumcised and uncircumcised" in |
| her quietly" (Matthew 1:19, NRSV). While this was not | | | | Rome - that Paul was addressing in the text of |
| a death sentence, realistically, it was a sentence to a | | | | Romans. He urges them to remember the abundance |
| life of wandering and destitution for Mary. No one | | | | and inclusive generosity of God's love, through Jesus. |
| would want to marry her, with a child born out of | | | | In the Revised English Bible, the text emphasizes how |
| wedlock. She would be "damaged goods" in a society | | | | the power of the Holy Spirit transcends all human and |
| where there was no safety net for such women. | | | | national boundaries and rules: "On the human level he |
| She would be - terrifyingly - on her own. The best | | | | was a descendant of David, but on the level of the |
| she could hope for would be a life of servitude in | | | | spirit - the Holy Spirit - he was proclaimed Son of |
| someone else's home. | | | | God by an act of power that raised him from the |
| "What would people think?" - In Buddhist tradition, | | | | dead: it is about Jesus Christ our Lord" (1:3, 4). |
| one of the three temptations the Buddha resisted | | | | This is the Good News -"it is about Jesus Christ our |
| was social obligation, and what we would now call | | | | Lord." In Jesus, we share in the surprising, generous |
| "public opinion." When we resist the calling of the Holy | | | | mercy of God - far beyond what we think we may |
| Spirit in our lives because we think people will be | | | | hope for - in the resurrection power of the Holy |
| outraged or scandalized by our behavior, we are | | | | Spirit. This is the source of our Advent hope, and our |
| succumbing to this temptation. | | | | Christmas joy -"It is about Jesus Christ our Lord. |
| In Eastern Orthodox icons of the Nativity, there is | | | | |
