Father Stephen P. KelleyThere’s a popular meme that floats around social media this time of year that says, “One unplanned pregnancy saved us all.” Of course, the message is that if Mary had reacted to her unplanned pregnancy the way many young women are advised to do so today, the Christ child would have been killed in the womb, and sinful humanity would have remained in the darkness of sin, having aborted its hope for redemption.
But a friend of mine who is a Catholic youth minister had a beautiful response which really ties our readings together. He said: “I have noticed several posts floating around lately that call Jesus’ birth an ‘unplanned pregnancy.’ However, I offer up to you that it was very much planned!” If it were unplanned, God would have simply impregnated Mary without her consent, and then, nine months later, she would have been like “Oh my gosh, I’m really having God’s baby!” Could you imagine the devastation that would’ve had on the Holy Family? How hurt and betrayed Joseph would have felt? How ashamed and used Mary would’ve felt? IF it had gone down that way?
But it didn’t. God planned it. Then God sent the archangel Gabriel to ask Mary if she would agree to her proposed role in God’s plan. She enthusiastically said yes! And when Joseph learned the truth, he agreed to his part, too. God gives each of us free will. Mary and Joseph could have just as easily said “no” to God’s plan. He wasn’t going to force either of them to be enslaved to His way. But they accepted, even if they didn’t have all the answers at first. This Advent season, imagine what the Lord could do in our lives if we just joyfully offered our “Yes” to His will.
Usually when we hear the story of the birth of Jesus, we hear from St. Luke, who gives us Mary’s Annunciation. But today from St. Matthew’s Gospel, we hear Joseph’s side of the story. Mary was betrothed to Joseph. That means more than that they were engaged. Betrothal was the legal commitment to marriage. So, Mary then returns pregnant from her visit to Elizabeth, and Joseph knew it was not by him. He’s got a dilemma. The law required that a woman who committed adultery must be publicly stoned. But Joseph struggled with the tension of being just and being merciful. So, to preserve his righteousness, and her life, rather than denounce her publicly, he decided to divorce her privately, that she might go live some place where her apparent adultery was not known. Such was his intention.
“Then the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David.’ Joseph would have been called “Joseph, son of Jacob,” his father’s name. So, whatever the angel is about to tell Joseph, it has to do with his lineage all the way back to King David. “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.” The angel calls Mary his wife. And he is to continue their betrothal and take her to their home, and accept the child in Mary as his own.
“For it is through the holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.” Now that’s gotta be a tough pill to swallow. Perhaps Joseph struggled with that. I mean, this is a dream. And the angel continues, and perhaps this is enough to sway Joseph from his doubt. This is a pretty well-developed dream. “She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” In the bible people’s names or titles are often given by God related to their personal role in the divine plan. The patriarch Abram, “exalted father.” God says, “your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.” Abraham means, “father of a multitude.” Simon, whom Jesus renamed Peter, based on the word for “rock,” saying, “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church.” In our gospel reading the Hebrew name “Jesus,” (“Yeshua”) means “God saves.” The angel tells Joseph to name the son, Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. In ancient Israel, the father naming the son is the father accepting legal fatherhood for a child. I think Joseph being called “the legal father of Jesus” is far better and more accurate than calling him “the foster father of Jesus.”
Something interesting here is that many Church Fathers and ancient commentators on the scriptures speculate that Joseph was in fact the unknown true king of Israel—that when the Davidic dynasty was disrupted by the Babylonian exile, and the Davidic line never again mentioned, that Matthew tracing the lineage from David down to Joseph was tracing the royal title. And so Joseph, unknown probably even to himself, was the rightful king. So that when Jesus is born to the wife of Joseph, and legally claimed by Joseph to be his son, that upon the death of Joseph, Jesus inherited the title as the true King of Israel, King of the Jews, through his human and legal father Joseph, while he was also the true King of Israel through his divine father, God.
Then Matthew cites this instruction as the fulfillment of a prophecy from Isaiah, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’” So, Jesus, who will save us from our sins, is connected to the assurance that God is with us.
Joseph then awakes from his dream, confident in Mary’s innocence and the miracle of her unborn child, and does as the angel instructed him, taking his wife into his home.
The prophecy that St. Matthew quotes is, conveniently, our first reading from the Old Testament prophet Isaiah. King Ahaz, king of Judah, descendant of King David, is being pressured by neighboring kings to band together as a coalition against the powerful Assyrian Empire. Ahaz refuses, so the neighboring kings turn their forces to overtake Judah. Now Ahaz is being told by his court advisers to make a treaty with Assyria. The prophet Isaiah confronts Ahaz, who is not particularly virtuous or faithful, and Isaiah tells Ahaz that God is with them, will uphold them, as long as they rely on God, and not on the help of Assyria.
Isaiah says, “Ask for a sign from the LORD, your God; let it be deep as the netherworld, or high as the sky!” So, God gives Ahaz a blank check. Ask for anything to prove to you that I will protect you, and I will give you that proof. But Ahaz had already made up his mind to go to Assyria. So, leveraging the appearance of piety, Ahaz answered, “I will not ask! I will not tempt the LORD!” Now, Isaiah knows what kind of person Ahaz is. It’s like a politician who promotes legislation contrary to Church teaching then proclaiming what a devout Catholic he or she is. Isaiah responds, “Listen, O house of David! Is it not enough for you to weary people, must you also weary my God?” The sign God will give is no longer to fortify Ahaz’ faith, but to shame Ahaz’s failure to be faithful. And indeed, Judah is almost completely wiped out, with Jerusalem itself being besieged, but not conquered.
Lastly: The Isaiah’s prophecy itself. The word being translated as “virgin” is the Hebrew word Halma. Critics love to point out that Halma doesn’t mean virgin, but a young woman. True, halma, in Hebrew, is better translated into English as “maiden,” a young woman, unmarried, and so presumably still a virgin. But halma could also refer to a young woman who was married but who had not yet had her first born. The prophecy of Isaiah, in our reading, is that Ahaz should trust in God, because by the time a young woman gives birth and before the child reaches the age of reason, these attacking nations shall be laid low. In the literal/historical sense, Isaiah was speaking about the birth of King Hezekiah, the first-born son of Ahaz in the womb of his young wife Abia, and Hezekiah would later go on to be a great and holy king of great faith and success. And so, Isaiah is calling the birth of Hezekiah the sign of Emmanuel, God with us.
Isaiah didn’t know his prophetic words meant more than that. Yet the Holy Spirit inspired Isaiah to use those words, and the Holy Spirit knew that he would later also inspire Matthew to grab hold of those words and that, while they were fulfilled directly by the birth of the royal son of David, Hezekiah, they would also later be fulfilled by the royal son of David, Jesus.
Isaiah was faithful in speaking the words the Holy Spirit gave him. Mary and Joseph were faithful in accepting their role in God’s plan of salvation, a plan he had known since the beginning. Ahaz had not been faithful, he had already made up his mind despite God’s plan, and it did not go well for him. On this fourth Sunday of Advent, we’re asked the same question again: Will we be faithful in accepting God’s plan, or have we made our plans without God? Are we willing to surrender our plans to accept God’s will, plans that might be completely different (but far more wonderful) than ours? That’s what God does, if we give him our permission to bring his kingdom into our hearts. We know God is with us. The question is, are we with God?
(Father Stephen Kelley is the pastor of St. Patrick Parish in York and Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Spring Grove.)
By Father Stephen P. Kelley, Special to The Witness
