Advent day 7:

¹⁸ This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

²⁰ But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

Joseph went to bed angry. His mind made up with what would be probably the toughest day of his life ahead of him. He was to divorce his wife. Plainly, he was ashamed.

Mary had shared with him of her pregnancy. Whether it was before or after visiting Elizabeth we don't know. What we do know is it was considered and when his mind was made up is when God decided to intervene. I think having an angel show up in Joseph's dream was for two purposes: to prove a point, and for a laugh. Almost like, "Remember how you thought Mary was crazy? What are you going to say about this?" In any case, an angel came to him in a dream and told him not to be afraid to take Mary home as his wife. This tells us a couple things. First, it confirms his embarrassment. Second, it tells us they were not in the same house at this point. It could be a translation thing, or maybe I'm taking it too literally but it would make sense.

The angel continues saying that the baby in Mary is from the Holy Spirit. Let's stop here for a minute. We've seen this come up a few times already. The Holy Spirit, that is. But consider with me the magnitude of just that. To this point in history no one knew of a Holy Spirit. They knew God. They knew Yahweh. They didn't know Jesus or the Holy Spirit (this is not to say they didn't exist. They certainly did.) Somehow in this exchange with the angels both Mary and Joseph got a first glimpse into God living in them. The very idea of God living inside of us was something never before presented. Only priests dealt directly with God. Oh but here, like Abraham before her, God changed the way He interacts with us. It's no longer that we talk to God through someone else. No longer do we have an outside view of how He works. He works in us. God is around us in everything He created and being His creations He lives in us, and now through literally and spiritually being in Mary, God would walk among us. This is the start of visually seeing the trinity. It hurts my head to think about how it all works but what a beautiful circle; around, in front of us, and within us.

Joseph either slept amazingly sound that night or stayed up all night wondering what is it he actually heard and saw in his dream. And also coming up with a fantastic apology to Mary.

Hey God,

I just want to sit in awe of You today. You are in everything we do, and I want to see that. I want to see it in the beauty of the mountains, the colors of the sky, and the awesome creations You've put before us. But most of all Jesus, I want to see it in myself. Thank you, and I love You.

Amen.