11/5/2023 0 Comments Orbis clinical matthew mckenzie![]() When people ask, he will just tell them, “The marriage just wasn’t going to work out.” He’ll try to put all this behind him quickly, get on with his life and let Mary get on with hers. It would protect his reputation as a righteous man, but at too high a price. The only other option is publicly stating the child is not his, but that would condemn her to death under the law. Knowing won’t keep his work mates from laughing and saying, “Joseph, you sly dog.” He decides there is only one thing to do. He wants to ask, “How did this happen?” But he doesn’t really want to know. His dreams for the future have been destroyed. He isn’t responsible for Mary’s unplanned, unforgivable, indefensible, inexcusable condition. His life crumbles: his trust betrayed, his future undone his gut in knots. Everything is going according to the wedding consultant’s checklist, when Mary, green with morning sickness, shares the unthinkable. The bachelor party is surreptitiously being planned. Like grooms everywhere he has figured out that his role is mostly to nod in agreement. Mary wants to know if he will wear a tie and cumber bun that matches the bridesmaid’s dress at the wedding. Behind the scenes of our story I imagine Mary and Joseph are at the stage of picking out china patterns. ![]() In our story today he is betrothed, which at the time had all the responsibilities of marriage, without the fun of intimacy. Today’s reading makes clear just how hard. Just as a billboard a few years ago noted, for him, God is a hard act to follow. He barely gets mentioned in Luke and Matthew, and then only in a small supporting role. Of course, this is true in the Christmas story as well. Then there were countless cathedrals, churches and chapels named in her honour. Frescoes, paintings, and statues of her image were everywhere, except on billboards. Lynette and I discovered early on that we couldn’t travel around Europe without seeing a lot of Mary, the mother of Jesus.
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