Fourth Sunday of Advent, Year A

When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him;
~Matthew 1:24
 
Dreams, angels, the subconscious, principalities, powers. Call it what you will. There is likely more we don’t know than we do about what literally to make of these stories. But most of us know something about those inner voices that speak to us with prescience, of warning, of promise, of a deep sense of what is or what is coming. We know about dreams and dreaming and hope.
 
Immediately after Joseph resolves to quietly dismiss Mary to an uncertain and fraught future without him for the child that is not his, he is confronted with a counter call to courage, to faith.
 
And he listens!
 
Joseph listens—like Mary, like Elizabeth, like Zechariah before him, girded by the 42 generations of ancestors Matthew lists just before this story—including Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba—four remarkable grandmothers of faith who knew a little bit about scandal, and the pressures of shame, and the kind of gracious, gritty faithfulness that comes from outside the system to bless it.
 
Joseph listens and responds with courage. And the result seems to be a developed ear for faith. He gets two more visitations that steer him and his family from the danger that awaits as the story unfolds. He grows an ear for the God who comes to him with goodwill promising a future that will unfold in blessing and safety—accompanied by the soundtrack of Mary’s daring song about a world about to turn.
 
Most of us know something about that inner voice, that voice that speaks good, not harm, that sets our future path. Let us train our ears and tune our hearts to the promise of the birthing, saving, rising, loving one Advent promises.
 
 
Readings: Isaiah 7:10-16 † Psalm 80:1–7, 17–19 † Romans 1:1-7 † Matthew 1:18-25
 
About the Art, La Tour, Georges du Mesnil de, 1593-1652. The Angel Visiting Joseph in a Dream, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=46742 [retrieved December 12, 2022]. Original source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Georges_de_La_Tour_022.jpg.

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