Dec 13 – Joseph, grace, downward mobility
2009 October 20
Week Three Dec 13 Mt 1:18-21, Is 42:1-6 Joseph is a just man whose sense of justice grows out of the Servant Songs of Isaiah…this saves Mary’s and her unborn child’s life. He is a man of courage, who withstands the culture of his day. His is able to reprocess his anger into grace. Our character is not judged by God on our wealth, status or power but our heart and actions. INVITATION: To look at our character and reflect upon its poverty or wealth
“Our character is not judged by God on our wealth, status or power but our heart and actions” and in the prophetic tradition, we’re judged precisely by what we do with our “wealth, status, or power.” This is replete in Amos, Jesus, etc.
Are we conjecturing that Joseph’s sense of justice grows from his familiarity with the Servant Songs? Of course, we simply cannot know this. Interestingly, when the angel appears to Joseph, the angel doesn’t quote the Servant Songs as proof of what Joseph ought to do. The angel does say “this will be the Messiah” and that would have meant a certain thing in first century Palestine that it may not have meant in the days of the Isaiahs.