Durate: Acrylic on Canvas His betrothed was pregnant. Not his child. Still, he loved her and wanted to spare her the shame and consequences of her condition. What to do? How to love her in such impossible circumstances. And his life? What next for him if what he had most desired and planned was no longer possible?
With so much weighing on his mind and tearing at his heart, how did Joseph sleep deeply enough to have the dream? He did, though, and remembered it on awakening. Mary hadn’t been unfaithful. Really she had been radically faithful to the One they both worshipped.
In the midst of his turmoil, what word had he received? Get up. Take Mary home. Love her. Love her child. Make a home.
Extraordinarily common instructions from Adonai Yir’eh, the God Who Sees.
Difficult for Joseph, no doubt, this faith, this call to live as if nothing unusual had happened.
Today, in the midst of personal and national grieving for the victims of Sandy Hook Elementary, in the face of a “fiscal cliff” and global economic crisis, in a world filled with poverty and violence, in a world where children are not safe, where the vulnerable are not protected. In such a world, what is Adonai’s word for us?
Love.
Love Mary’s child. Make a home for Love Incarnate in your heart, in your home, in your city, your world. Do what Love compels you to do where you are. Everyday. Everywhere. At home. At work. At the grocery.
Love. Extraordinarily common instruction for us.
Protect those who cannot protect themselves. See God Incarnate in the faces of others. Give generously of time, resources, gifts that are your blessings to share.
Love. Where you are. Pray. Where you are. Serve. Where you are. Weep. Hold. Encourage. Laugh. Be radically faithful to the One you worship and let Love Incarnate touch the world through your hands, your feet, your mind, your heart.
Love.
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