December 21/Fourth Sunday of Advent
Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly. ~ Matt 1.19
What does it mean to be “righteous?” In our time, the word holds a slightly pejorative connotation, having been elided with that smug self-righteousness that so often characterizes our discourse (particularly on social media). But both Judaism and Christianity – which intersect early and often in the Gospel of Matthew – have a very different conception of the word. It has the basic meaning of someone or something proven true. To be a righteous person is to be right with God – as Psalm 25 puts it today, to have “a clean heart” and to “desire not what is vain.” For Joseph, a devout Jew, it means to keep God’s will as conveyed in the Torah. Hewing to righteousness in this predicament – his betrothed pregnant by another – would mean, at minimum, to follow the Levitical laws by divorcing Mary. But God, it turns out, interprets righteousness more expansively and more creatively. As Jesus will show through his life and ministry, the law of the Lord is perfect when it becomes the law of love; Jesus came not to abolish righteousness but to fulfill it, and that movement starts right here. It may be difficult for us to place ourselves in Joseph’s sandals and imagine how this message must have landed: God, through the angel, is asking a traditional, Torah-oriented Jewish man to embrace a radical and life-changing notion of righteousness, one that involves compassion, boldness, and absolute trust in God. Like Joseph, we may need to sacrifice old notions of God’s “rules” and open ourselves to new definitions of how we are to live, to love, and to serve in this world. God’s plan is broader, higher, and more generous than we can imagine, and if we surrender ourselves to it, we too will be fulfilling the law of love.
O righteous and loving Lord, May I follow the commandment of love today, tomorrow, and always. Amen.
For today’s readings, click here: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/122125.cfm
To hear VOCES8 sing “Joseph lieber, Joseph mein” by Hieronymus Praetorius, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibG6FmiiXv4
