The Vigil of Christmas 2023

St. Matthew 1:18-21

December 24, 2023

Joseph is in agony. He’s spent the very first season of Advent contemplating divorce. Joseph is betrothed to Mary. Some Bible translations render it “engaged,” but it’s much more than that. Betrothal is a legally binding marriage that is not yet consummated. Today, you can break an engagement without any consequence except the down payment on the reception venue. But Joseph and Mary are not engaged, they are betrothed, and the only way out of that is divorce.

That’s not what Joseph wants. He knows what is written in the prophet Malachi: “For the LORD God of Israel says that He hates divorce” (Mal. 2:16). Why? He calls it an act of violence. Divorce rends asunder what God has joined together.

The ancients were not fools. A virgin conception was just as preposterous to Joseph as it is to our allegedly scientific age. Joseph had kept the Sixth Commandment, which is what? You shall not commit adultery. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we lead a sexually pure and decent life in what we say and do, and husband and wife love and honor each other.

Joseph knows the Baby is not his. Thus, he is within his rights to divorce her. And this would bring shame and humiliation on Mary. It could even lead to her execution.

Would we call a man in Joseph’s position unfair to divorce her? We could not call him unfair. We could not call him unjust.

But learning how Joseph handles this problem, we learn something about the true meaning of justice. In the character of Joseph, we see a hint at what God Himself is like. St. Matthew describes Joseph as “a just man.” In the Hebrew mind, being just means you observe the laws of man and the law of God.

But there is a deeper meaning. “A just man” is “one who is … as he ought to be” [Thayer]. A just man is like God. What is God like? He is merciful. God punishes sin, to be sure. In the end, He even condemns the unrepentant to hell. But that is not His wish. It is not His desire. God is merciful. God is love. Since Joseph is a just man, a man after God’s own heart, Joseph does not revel in condemnation. Since Mary’s child is not his, then he will divorce her, but he will do so quietly, discretely, in as merciful a way as possible. Joseph is a just man. He is a man like God.

So while Joseph is considering this, deciding how to handle it in the most merciful way possible, “Behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him.” What is happening? God blesses Joseph’s reflections on mercy and righteousness. We see why God has chosen Joseph to be the earthly father of the Lord Jesus.

YHWH’s angel tells him not to fear, i.e., not to be afraid of offending God by taking Mary as his wife. What kind of man did the Lord choose to be the husband of Mary and the guardian of Jesus? A man of “exceptional self-restraint,” says St. John Chrysostom. Joseph, he says, “determined to conduct himself … by a higher rule than the law.” He conducted himself by the rule of mercy.

The Boy Joseph is charged to father will be the greatest giver of this same kind of mercy. Later, Jesus is challenged with the case of a woman caught in adultery. He saves her from stoning, then says to her, “‘Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?’ She said, ‘No one, Lord.’ And Jesus said to her, ‘Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more’” [John 8:10-11].

When God becomes flesh in the womb of the virgin Mary, it is the greatest act of mercy on a sinful world. And God wraps up that gift in further bows and ribbons of mercy, with Joseph a just man who shows God’s justice in an act of mercy.

The world is filled with unjust men, and hangs under a curse. You and I have not been as Joseph. We’ve wanted retribution, not reconciliation. We are not just like Joseph, much less like God.

We are not as we ought to be. You have withheld mercy to others, you have withheld your treasures from God Himself. Repent, and come to the Christmas festival with a contrite heart. Forget everything the culture says makes for a good Christmas. In the birth of this Child, God has answered our deepest need, resolved our deepest dilemma, brought light to our gloomiest darkness. We, the unjust, can finally attain nothing in this life except death and the grave. No justice, no righteousness of ours can undo it. And this is why this Child comes, to be obedient for us, to be just for us, as the Apostle says, “Through one man’s obedience, all will be constituted just” [Rom. 5:19].

His obedience will carry Him from cradle to cross, as St. Peter writes [1 Pt. 3:18], “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.” This is God’s justice – that He comes to show us mercy. That’s who you are now, too – a man like Joseph: showing mercy instead of vengeance, love instead of bitterness, kindness instead of wrath. Behold, the kindness and love of God our Savior has appeared. In Joseph’s actions towards Mary, and especially in the Child committed to Joseph’s care, we see the heart of God: to be just is to be merciful. This is what God does at Christmas. “At evening you shall know the LORD will come and save us, and in the morning you shall see the glory of the LORD.” [Introit].