Joseph

I wonder what it must have been like for Joseph. Many historians say that he was married previously and had children which meant that he was a widower. How fortunate he must have thought he was to find, fall in love with and then engaged to marry Mary. How lucky he must have thought he was to have lost the love of his life, his partner and the mother of his children, and find another woman to be his wife, partner and mother.

Then he discovers that Mary is pregnant. He must have been thrown into the throes of confusion. Do I keep Mary as my wife? Or do I quietly let her go? He resolves to let her go. The measure of Joseph is that he chooses to let her go quietly so that she is not disgraced. Still, he must have been conflicted. It all comes to a head one night; in a dream God speaks to him. God says that he should still marry Mary.

When Joseph awakes, he returns to Mary and reaffirms his desire to wed her. We can only imagine the joy that both of them felt. Mary's interaction with the angel was affirmed by Joseph's dream. Excitedly they wait for the baby. And then they learned that they must travel to Bethlehem. It's no easy road to Christmas for these two people. It's no easy road for us either: the shopping, the malls, the rushing from here to there; the parties; the relatives; and the tree. How can we forget the tree?