When Joseph found out that Mary was expecting a child, he knew what he had to do. He knew that the right thing to do was to divorce her, and to do it quietly so that he might not add to the attention and shame that she would be experiencing. Surely this was the right thing to do to be faithful to God and to the Jewish customs.

"The Dream of St. Joseph," Philippe de Champaigne, 1642-43 (National Gallery, London)

But an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him to go ahead and take Mary as his wife: “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 is being asked to break with tradition. To do something out of the ordinary. He is to take Mary as his wife and support her, and then raise this son as if it were his own. This is a lot to ask.

We’ve heard this story so many times . . . we maybe come to expect it every year at this time . . . it’s not surprising to us in that sense. But put yourself in Joseph’s shoes. Can you imagine listening to such a story from God? Joseph was in the midst of planning for his own future when God confronted him with a future he did not expect. But, Joseph did listen. And he made a decision to obey even when he surely did not understand. He could never have guessed how things would unfold from here. Bethlehem, the manger, the angels and shepherds and wise men.

There was no way he could have predicted or planned our nativity scene. An ordinary man, from an ordinary family, living in an ordinary town, with an ordinary job. God chose Joseph to be the earthly father to his Son. God chose Joseph to be provider and protector, teacher and guide for Jesus as he was growing up.

Are you ever tempted to think that you are too ordinary for God to use for an important purpose?