Fourth Sunday of Advent [A] – December 21, 2019 – Matthew 1:18-24<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A few days ago, a nativity scene went viral. The image is called \u201cLet Mom\nRest\u201d. The prominent character of this scene is that Joseph is taking care of\nthe baby Jesus while Mary is resting. This image presents to us untouched yet\npowerful aspect of Jesus\u2019 birth and thus, Christmas. Often, we focus our\nattention on Jesus with Mary, His mother. We honor Mary because of her\nwillingness to carry Jesus on her womb despite so many dangers and difficulties\nand to remain a faithful disciple of Jesus till the end. However, the image\nbrings us to another important character that we often overlook, St. Joseph, as\nthe man of faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If God has chosen and prepared the most fitting woman in human history\nto become the mother of His Son, the same logic governs also the choice of the\nfoster father of Jesus. The most suitable man is chosen for this massive yet\nwonderful task.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unfortunately, we do not know much about Joseph. Matthew only gave us\nvery little information, but from this little knowledge, we can extract some\nimportant truths. Firstly, Joseph is from the house of David. This means that\nany child that he begets or accepts legally shall be part of the house of David\nas well. Joseph is the link that connects between Jesus and David, and thus,\nJesus\u2019 birth shall fulfill the prophecy that the Messiah shall come from the\nline of David.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Secondly, he is a carpenter, and being a carpenter is not a promising\njob to survive first-century Palestine. Yet, Joseph well knows that hard-work,\nprecision, and perfection are parts of his trade. A tough life is nothing but a\ndaily routine for Joseph. God knows to raise His Son will require a tremendous\namount of sacrifice, and Joseph, the carpenter, is up to the challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To accept and to raise a child who is not his own, is certainly a tough\ncall, but Joseph obeyed the will of God that has been expressed in his dream,\n\u201cDo not be afraid to take Mary as your wife.\u201d Yet, more than that, Joseph made\nsure that this mission would be brought to completion. From the image of \u201cLet Mom\nRest\u201d, it seems that Mary just gave birth to Jesus and giving birth is\ncertainly a draining and tough process. Mary was exhausted. Joseph takes over\nthe responsibility to care for the baby Jesus, while Mary received her\nmost-needed rest. This is just one small concrete example of who Joseph\nexercised the God-given mission to raise the Child of God. Certainly, his duty\nis not only manifested in that event. He protected Mary and her Child from\ndangers, especially from the threat from Herod the Great who would kill Jesus.\nFor the rest of his life, Joseph would work hard to provide, educate and raise\nJesus as a man who is ready to give His life for all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Like Mary, Joseph did not understand also why he had to be a father who\nsomeone else\u2019s child, why he had to put his life and future on the line for a\nson who is not his own? Yet, like Mary, Joseph had faith and accepted the will\nof God in his life. Not only simply accepting God\u2019s will, but he also made sure\nthat he gave his best and made God\u2019s plan come to fulfillment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We often do not understand why God\u2019s plan for us. We do know where God\nwill bring us. Yet, like Mary and Joseph, we are called to be the men and women\nof faith, to receive God\u2019s plan as our own and bring His will into fruitful\ncompletion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A few days ago, a nativity scene went viral. The image is called \u201cLet Mom Rest\u201d. The prominent character of this scene is that Joseph is taking care of the baby Jesus while Mary is resting. This image presents to us untouched yet powerful aspect of Jesus\u2019 birth and thus, Christmas. Often, we focus our attention on Jesus with Mary, His mother. We honor Mary because of her willingness to carry Jesus on her womb despite so many dangers and difficulties and to remain a faithful disciple of Jesus till the end. However, the image brings us to another important character that we often overlook, St. Joseph, as the man of faith.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[57,58],"class_list":["post-9046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-renungan","tag-english","tag-sunday-reflection"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9046"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9046\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9047,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9046\/revisions\/9047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}