“When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him” (Matt 1:24).
In our Gospel reading this morning, the angel of the Lord speaks to Joseph in a dream, while he’s asleep. Joseph has discovered that Mary, the woman he’s engaged to, is pregnant; and the angel’s message is that he should not hesitate to marry her, because her child has been conceived by the Holy Spirit. Astonishing news: maybe it was good that Joseph was asleep when he received it. More significantly, Mary’s child has been conceived in fulfillment of prophecy. As Matthew’s version of Isaiah puts it, “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Immanuel” (Matt. 1:23). Isaiah’s prophecy foretells it, and Joseph believes it: that the Messiah is now coming into the world.
Isaiah’s prophecy did not come out of nowhere. Our first reading tells the story of King Ahaz of Judah, beset by dangerous enemies from the east. God speaks to Ahaz and offers him a sign that God will be with him and preserve the kingdom. But Ahaz has other plans. “Ahaz said, ‘I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test’” (Is. 7:12). In other words, never mind, God: you’re too busy with other, more important things; I don’t need a sign that you’re ready to act.
The truth is, Ahaz prefers his own plan! He’s confident that he can handle the crisis. Through diplomacy and skillful alliance he’ll weather the storm. He doesn’t need a sign because he already knows what he will do. Small need for a sign when your mind is made up. His rejection of the sign masquerades as confidence in God (“I don’t need a sign”), but it really is a form of self-reliance. It doesn’t speak of trust in God but more truly of trust in self.
In fact, Ahaz’s rejection of the sign goes beyond a preference for self-reliance. The sign of God’s action opens up possibilities that Ahaz can’t help but fear: a whole new world that he would like to keep at bay. “Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel” (Is. 7:14): that’s Isaiah’s prophecy. Emmanuel, the promised child, is the foretold messiah, not King Ahaz. The son who is to be born is not even necessarily the son of Ahaz: he’s of the line of David, but David had many sons, and many potential successors. The promised sign posed nothing less than a dynastic threat to the line of Ahaz. No wonder he wasn’t interested in God’s plan.
The prophecy of Isaiah reminds us that God’s promise outstrips our plan. Just when we’ve got it all figured out, God surprises us with his plan for our lives. God’s action always surprises, shocks, and sheds new light. It may be as painful as all get out, inconvenient as anything, even causing us to stumble and fall. It almost surely amounts to more than we can handle. Our experience will mirror that of King Ahaz, who was fearful to be placed in the hands of the living God.
When we open ourselves in prayer, with more listening and less petitioning, God is quite likely to give us more to handle than we asked for. At the same time, God’s call is also an occasion for grace: that is, for us to receive God’s power and presence in our lives that provides what we need for the task at hand. It may also signify the presence of what St. Thomas Aquinas called an “arduous good”: a good that seems impossible to obtain without extraordinary effort. Yet this is the call that God addresses to us: to do things that go beyond our own measure.
“When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him” (Matt 1:24). This brings us back to Joseph and his dream, and the message the angel brought to him. It’s the same sign that God addressed to King Ahaz, which caused him to stumble and fall. “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Immanuel” (Matt. 1:23). When Ahaz heard the plan he headed in the opposite direction. By contrast, Joseph wakes up and does what God commanded him.
Surprised: yes; shocked: no doubt; yet obedient, and quick to the mark. The child conceived in Mary’s womb is born of the Holy Ghost, and Joseph responds in faith. As we all renew our baptismal vows today, along with our confirmand, let us pray God to give us the grace we need for answering the call. God may call us to tasks that demand our best, but he will at the same time give us the grace we need to respond in faith.
