Sometimes life is confusing, hard to understand, or down right baffling. We don’t know why things happen or what the future outcome will be. And some of us do better with that than others. Some people just ride the wave, while others tend to sink. That in itself can be baffling!
In today’s Gospel reading we meet someone whose life is turned upside down. Joseph is confronted with the fact that Mary is with child. All his hopes and dreams of a marriage and a family are disrupted and he is left with no alternative but divorce. Then lo and behold he has a dream in which the angel of the Lord instructs him to go ahead with his plans because the child is of the Holy Spirit. How much more confusing is that! Yet he goes ahead and takes Mary into his home as his wife…and as they say the rest is history.
What stands out for both Mary and Joseph is that although they were bewildered by what was happening, they both trusted the message of Emmanuel…that God was with them and would lead them and provide for them. They both accepted that God was using them as instruments to accomplish salvation.
Mary and Joseph become models for all of us when life is baffling or bewildering. We don’t always understand what is happening; sometimes we can’t see the forest for the trees; but they teach us to trust that God is with us, Emmanuel, and that God does know what He is doing.
As we conclude this season of advent, waiting and anticipating, we are reassured that God has come to earth and will remain with us until He comes again in glory at the end of time.