Advent Wonder: joseph: generous by design

Joseph is a model of the quiet, ever present, unspoken yet reliable wonder that is not immediately recognised in life. His words are never recorded in the Gospels. We may not see him, but we do see what he builds. As a carpenter, he worked with the grain and shape of different woods; he planned and designed. He saw Mary, a young girl, and planned a family; a home; a shared life. As David’s linear descendant he brought with him a family history that shaped him; a deep past and future to be shared. And then he finds his design shattered. Mary is with child, and not by him. Time for Plan B. Faithful, reliable Joseph plans a quiet divorce (Matthew 1:19).  But then his plans are interrupted by another builder, who changes the design: 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…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 (Matthew 1: 20-21) God intervened through an Angel in a dream and Joseph’s plans were redrawn. Instead of following his own plan, he built a life as Mary’s husband and our Saviour’s father. Here is the wonder – that the Lord used Joseph’s obedience and his skills to build a fully human Saviour God: Jesus.  God’s son, raised and taught by human hands. How? Having watched and learned from his earthly father, Joseph - a practical man who laboured with loving hands - we see Jesus using his hands time and again to heal, and to save. He heals the man born blind with spittle and dirt that he rubs in blind man's eyes; he reaches out a hand to save a drowning Peter, he feeds the five thousand and the disciples by breaking bread. He was a carpenter’s son with a carpenter’s hands: generous hands that eventually stretched out on a wooden cross to save his people from their sins. Jesus crafts our salvation with his very human hands which he learned to use from a humble, quiet, earthly father: Joseph, a skilled carpenter with generous hands.