Joseph

What will become of this child?

This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

Matthew 1:18-25

What will become of this child?

What will become of us?

What is going to happen?

Listen, we've just come back from the Temple and extraordinary words have been spoken once again... Well, extraordinary, perhaps, but also worrying and even terrifying... Wait till I remember:

Luke 2:34-35

*This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. *

And, speaking to my dear Mary:

And a sword will pierce your own soul too...

So, what will become of this child?

Excuse me, but I'd better start at the beginning. All these events have upset me.

My name is Joseph, and I'm a carpenter from Nazareth. My father, my grandfather, were carpenters in Nazareth. And until recently, I would have told you that my son is going to be a carpenter in Nazareth. But now I'm not so sure.

Mary and I are engaged to be married.

In fact, the whole thing started one fine morning, when Mary told me... that she was expecting a child! She explained that it was an angel who had given her the news, and that the angel had told her:

Luke 1:35

The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.

That's right... and I'm the high priest!

Worst of all, Mary seemed so convinced of her case that there was not the slightest trace of shame in her words or attitude. I was so furious that I left without saying a word.

I hardly slept that night, and finally decided that the best thing to do was to break up with her secretly. There's no need to add to her disgrace: the people of our good town of Nazareth will take care of that enough...

And then, in a dream, an angel appeared to me... to me, Joseph, the carpenter from Nazareth.

The angel said to me: “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.

Obviously, if it's God himself who's running things, that changes everything. It's an immense privilege to be part of God's plan for his people. This also explains Mary's attitude and conviction.”

And, honestly, I was glad I didn't have to break up with her!

Anyway, I rushed over to her house. There she was, calm and completely peaceful... it was as if she were quietly awaiting my visit. I approached her. I hugged her. I could smell her perfume...

I'm sure she understood right away what had happened. I simply told her that we were going to get married after the child was born, that we were going to take the best possible care of him together, and that we were going to rely on the grace of the God of Israel.

It was a wonderful moment...

The problem, of course, was that not all of Nazareth had been visited by an angel.

In fact, it was really difficult. People laughed at us because Mary was expecting this child. The kids sang when they saw me: Joseph, the old cuckold. Joseph, cuckold before he gets married.

People in the neighbourhood would look at us with the smirk of those who want to show they know more, but prefer to keep quiet. And every time we approached a group, the conversation would stop, as if they were talking about us and we were interrupting them.

In short, the situation became unbearable... Especially for Mary, who found the whole thing really distressing - it's clear to her (and to us) that this child comes from God, so it's all the more difficult to be confronted with so much wickedness.

Luke 1:39-45Finally, we decided that Mary would go away for a while to stay with her relative, Elizabeth, in the mountains of Judea. It would do her good to get away from Nazareth.

The story of Elizabeth is also quite a story... but maybe I'll tell you about that another time.

In any case, it did Mary a lot of good to get away for a few weeks... She came rested, and you could tell it had done her good to be with an older woman for a while.

When Mary returned to Nazareth, we had to leave again.

The Romans, you see... The emperor Augustus ordered a census of the entire population - my guess is that those dogs think we're still not bringing in enough taxes, and want to make sure nobody avoids their damned taxes.

In any case, we had to go south, to Bethlehem...

I told you earlier that my family are carpenters in Nazareth... But if you go back much further, there's royal blood running through my veins: I'm from the family of David, the great king of Israel. Since we had to register in our home town, that meant we had to go to Bethlehem, David's home town.

The problem was that Mary was due to give birth soon... it wasn't possible for her to make the journey on foot.

So I had to arrange with Yacob, a neighbour, to borrow his donkey. He asked me to repair the hole in his roof for the price of renting the donkey.

I'd been telling him for a long time that something had to be done, and he let it drag on, saying he didn't have the money. Things got worse, and now it's urgent to get the repairs done before the rainy season. In short, he took advantage of the situation... and I myself didn't have much choice.

We'll see when we get back!

In any case, we left for Bethlehem, Marie, the donkey and me... thank God, the trip went well.

I wish you could have been there with us when we arrived in Bethlehem.

You see, King David had a lot of children. And Solomon, his successor, even more! So it was as if half of Israel had gathered in Bethlehem to register. People came from all over the places.

We met many from the north: from Capernaum, from Chorazim, from Cana and even from Caesarea Philippi. There were many from Jerusalem, of course; they didn't need to travel far. And a few from the south, with their odd accents, from Kerijoth and even Beer-Sheba. Many came on foot, with their families in small groups. Some had donkeys, like us. Some even arrived on camels.

People recognized each other, meeting up with friends and family they hadn't seen for a long time. Compliments were paid to the children, who had grown... and to the fathers, who had put on weight. As it was time for the evening meal, the whole town became a kind of gigantic barbecue where people who had met up invited each other to eat together.

Bread was plentiful. Some had meat, others fish. It smelled of food everywhere... I even saw people eating pistachios as if it were a feast day. People were chattering and laughing all over the place. Children were screaming and running around.

In short, it was chaos... imagine a market day in Nazareth, but 10 times... 20 times bigger.

And there in the middle was the Roman centurion. The poor guy... Caïus, as he was called. He had his little notepad and was trying to register people... can you imagine?

“Levi ben Shlomo? Is there a Levi ben Shlomo here?”

And someone shouted: “Levi ben Simeon? Yes, that's me!”

And Caius shouted: “Ben Shlomo, Ben Shlomo!”

And another replied: “Your Excellency, are you looking for Alpheus ben Shlomo? It is me.”

It was quite a mess...

It must be said that we Jews love to cause trouble for the Romans. And you have to admit, the way they pronounce our Hebrew names, the opportunity was too good not to take advantage of it.

Suddenly, Maru gave a little cry and took my hand. I turned around and saw that she was barely able to sit on the donkey; she was white as a sheet, and she was holding her womb: “The baby is coming! The baby is coming!”

This was a lot less fun, because with so many people in town, it wasn't going to be easy to find a place to give birth. We knocked on every door we could think of: the Star of David Motel, the Inn of the Man after God's Own Heart, the Hotel of the Great King... all to no avail! There was no room for us anywhere.

Eventually, I remembered that Ephraim, the little nephew of my cousin's father-in-law, worked in one of Bethlehem's hotels. Oh, it was a very small hotel, at the end of a side street. When we went to knock on the door, Ephraim recognized us (lucky for us) and went to see his boss to check what he could do for us.

Of course, there wasn't any room left, or even any space in the common room. In short, the only place we could take refuge was in the stable, with the animals.

And that's where Mary gave birth, with the help of a hotel maid. She was really brave, because the circumstances were not easy.

Thanks be to God, everything went well, and the baby was delivered in good health.

It was extraordinary to see him there, full of life... so beautiful yet so fragile. We bathed him, wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in the manger.

I had prepared the best possible place for him, and he fell asleep like a blissful child.

Poor Mary was exhausted and soon fell asleep too, right next to Yacob's donkey, who continued to chew his straw as if nothing had happened.

Finally, there was some calm... I stayed awake... There was too much going on in my head for me to sleep.

To be honest with you, I would have loved to have offered Mary a better place than a stable for the birth of this child. If he really comes from God and if he is as important as the angels said...

Why should he be born in such a miserable place?

Why is his cradle a manger, and why is his mother recovering from childbirth in the straw beside a donkey... that doesn't even belong to us?

Why choose us, the little people of Galilee, to care for such a child? Couldn't God have chosen one of the great noble (and wealthy) families of Jerusalem? They could do the job so much better than us.

And then there's the question of the future: what's life going to be like in Nazareth, with a child born before our marriage? How will people react? Will they understand at last that it was God who sent us this child, and that we've just accepted his plan without even really understanding what's going to happen?

And later, what will become of this child in a world where the Romans dominate us, crushing us more and more every day... this census is just one sign that the nation of Israel is living under the occupation of foreigners, pagans... that we have not been masters of our own destiny for far too long.

And above all: where is our God in all this? Where are the promises He made to us so long ago? Reality shows exactly the opposite of the deliverance He promised us through the mouths of His prophets.

So what will become of this child? He's so small, so weak. Mary and I are just poor people from Nazareth, without any influence, and our people, Israel, is crushed by the yoke of the all-powerful Roman Empire...

That's where I was in my reflections when there's a knock on the door.

Who could come banging on a stable door in the middle of the night? I open the door, trying not to make too much noise so as not to wake the sleeping Jesus and Mary... and there I come face to face with a gang of shepherds.

The only thing worse than seeing one shepherd in the middle of the night is seeing several. These people are vagabonds who spend their time with their sheep and sleep outside. They see civilization only to steal things from the world before disappearing who knows where into the countryside with their flocks.

And there was a whole gang of them. They were standing next to each other, as if they were looking for something... as if they were as surprised to see me there as I was to see them.

I try to intimidate them, so I could close and lock the door.

I use my biggest possible voice: “What do you want?”

One of them replies in an insecure voice: “We...we're looking for the messiah.”

“He's not here, get the hell out!”... and I tried to close the door.

But of course, all this made a lot of noise and what was bound to happen happened: Jesus woke up and started to cry.

And then, all of a sudden, the shepherds' faces lit up, they almost trampled over me, all talking about angels at the same time, and they rushed over to Jesus.

They looked so happy to see the child that I gave up trying to throw them out.

Then Mary woke up as well. You could see she was still very tired, but... she wanted to understand what was going on. She started asking the shepherds questions: “Who are you? Why have you come here?”

So they settled down. They took some sheep's cheese out of their bags, and I had a bit of bread left over from supper. So we had a little picnic together, in the middle of the night, in the stable, while Jesus went back to sleep.

They told us that an angel had appeared to them, too, and told them about the child. They were afraid, of course, when they saw the angel, but he reassured them, and this is what he told them:

Luke 2:10-12

Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.

This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.

Then, along with this angel, a multitude of other angels appeared to sing the praises of God.

As a result, these shepherds decided to come to Bethlehem in search of the child. That's how they came to us, and that's why they were so surprised to see me open the door, and so happy when they saw Jesus.

Mary didn't miss one bit of the discussion, despite her tiredness. You could see that she was thinking hard about everything that was going on, and since then I've often seen her lost in her thought... and in those moments, her eyes shine... and I know she's thinking of the child.

We stayed in Bethlehem for a while longer; Mary had to rest, of course. And I still had to register with those pesky Romans.

Eight days after his birth, the child was circumcised, as required by our law. And we officially named him Jesus, as the angel had commanded us.

So we stayed in Judea until the time for Mary's purification had passed - it wasn't worth making all the way to Nazareth to come back a few weeks later.

And so today we went to the Temple to present Jesus and offer our burnt offering and the sacrifice of atonement.

Of course, when the priest saw that we were Galileans with little money and could only offer a dove for the holocaust instead of a lamb as the rich do... he rushed through his ceremony as quickly as possible.

But as we prepared to leave the Temple, a little disappointed to be honest with you, we met Simeon... you know, that righteous old man whose faith in God is so fervent.

He came up to us and took Jesus in his arms. This tiny baby in the arms of an old man, it was truly a special moment. You could see that Simeon was moved, tears glistening in his eyes. He kissed the child and held him at arm's length above him, saying in a loud voice:

Luke 2:29-32

Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
you may now dismiss your servant in peace.
For my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:
a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and the glory of your people Israel.

So, what will become of this child?

I don't know... but I'm sure that, somehow, God has a plan, a project of salvation for him and also for us, his people. I don't know how God is going to do it, but I'm sure it's no coincidence that this child is called Jesus, which means the LORD saves.

Remember this name: Jesus of Nazareth. I wouldn't be surprised if, one day, you heard about him, even as far away as Jerusalem.

Come on, we've got to get going. It's a long way back to Nazareth and I have to give Yacob his donkey back: he might ask me to add a floor to his house if I'm too late.

Numbers 6:24-26

The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.