Jospeh, Guardian of Jesus

 Today, the Church remembers Joseph, Guardian of Jesus

The appointed Reading; Matt. 1:16, 18-21, 24a

In recent weeks, I’ve been preparing a study on what the Bible says about justice, so I seem to see it at some level running through many of the appointed readings, but maybe that shouldn’t be surprising. When we read about doing justice, not far removed we also tend to hear about righteousness, mercy, kindness, acts of healing, helping those in prison… Are you sensing a theme? And, so it is with the appointed reading for today. In this short account of Joseph, we come face-to-face with a man who is righteous, one who does justice. When Joseph found out Mary was pregnant., Matthew says this of him;

…being a righteous man…unwilling to expose her (Mary) to public disgrace planned to divorce her quietly. …But…he took her as his wife.

Joseph was unwilling to cause Mary embarrassment when he would have been within his rights to have publicly humiliated her. But, he went even further! He married her. When we consider our sins, it is easy to claim God’s grace for those specific acts we have done that hurt others, but how often do we also acknowledge our need for grace for failing to act justly, for failing to love, to show mercy, even if it is within our “rights” to act otherwise? Jospeh’s example shows us how life changing doing justice, loving kindness, showing mercy can be.