Here is the amazing thing to me about Joseph (that one, the one that married Mary and together raised Jesus)–he made a Holy Choice in favor of a chosen family over a so-called traditional family. Oh, he had the opportunity to break off his betrothal to a knocked-up woman (that he had not impregnated himself). In fact, he could have done a great deal more than simply break off an engagement–he could have marked her publicly as a fallen woman.

Setting aside all issues about whether an immaculately conceived Mary was a virgin who was impregnated by God and never had sexual intercourse in her life–Scripture and history have held fast to one clear assertion: that child in Mary’s womb when Mary and Joseph got married was not biologically Joesph’s.

Many religious traditions are created after the fact to explain accidents or situations. I’ve been told, for example, that the reason for the “fencing” around altar areas stems originally from wanting to keep animals from wandering in and eating the bread on the altar (think rural, think Middle Ages here)–and in time these fences became known as altar rails where people could come and pray, receive communion, receive Jesus, and recognize their separation from the holier people and parts of the church. But that’s not how it started out.

Similarly, I wonder if it was simply common knowledge around Nazareth that Mary had been impregnated by someone other than Joseph, and only after that baby “became” THE JESUS CHRIST then a whole new mythology had to be created to explain things, because–after all, how could anyone possibly relate to a bastard for salvation? Frankly, I find it easier to see in someone who came from a non-Leave-It-To-Beaver household as meaningful for my life than a “miracle baby” from a one-and-only-ever-once situation.

Be this as it may, when our thoughts return to Joseph, it is clear that he freely embraced a chosen family, making a home with people he did not share any blood ties with, and he considered that to be a Great Thing. How much misery could have been saved through the years if every time people spoke of the “Holy Family” they pointed out, “oh yeah: it was a chosen family, not based on traditional morals”?!

Thanks, Joseph!