A God of Interruptions

Advent: 18 December 2018

Jeremiah 23:5-8. Psalm 72:1-2, 12-13, 18-19. Matthew 1:18-24.

“When Joseph woke up he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do: he took Mary his wife to his home.”

Christmas is fast approaching, preparations are in full swing: both material and spiritual preparations. Today's liturgy already focuses on Jesus' nativity by reading the passage of the annunciation of the angel to St Joseph.

Our God is a God of interruptions, a God of surprises, as Christmas evidences to this fact. Joseph and Mary have their plans, life-plans. But God interrupts them by giving them a different plan, a different life-mission. But, mind you, God does not destroy their plans, only subordinates their plans to His. Joseph and Mary are able to participate in the divine plan with full freedom, joy and obedience.

Joseph is embarrassed about Mary, who is with child. He has his doubts, confusion, anxiety, and problems. But, as any wise and mature person would do, he reserves his judgment, he does not condemn Mary or the situation. He does not blame God either. And, more importantly, he is open to God. When the revelation happens, he has no questions to God, but obediently and promptly accepts Mary. Joseph's is a silent, quiet life. There are no recorded words of his in the gospel. He accepts God's difficult plan, obeys God, does what God commands and goes backstage quietly, unnoticed. That's Joseph.

Not unlike the Joseph of the Old Testament, this Joseph too is active and alert, though silent. He, like the Old Testament visionary, is also a dreamer. He is alive to the situation, aware of the problems and difficulties if he takes Mary to his home. But all his uncertainties find meaning in the annunciation. The vision of the angel does not solve any problem, but puts his heart to rest. According to the angel, the child already conceived in Mary is not because of any human person, but this has happened through God's intervention. Joseph believes. And then there is no more indecisiveness or doubt, only action.

How must we welcome Christ in our midst? How must we prepare for Christ's coming (who comes to us in surprising ways every moment of our lives)? I suppose we have a beautiful and relevant model in the figure of St Joseph, the husband of Mary, as presented in today's gospel. He is a model of faith integrated into action. This does not mean that there is no room for doubts and uncertainties in faith-life. But there is a lot of scope for them, and they become a stepping-stone towards deepening our faith.

God's interruptions are not really interruptions. It just says that Christ is always coming, that God is always present. It's we who aren't! We need to wake up, be ready. We need to fully conscious and expectant. It's the key to all spirituality. Every now and then we need to shake ourselves, or rather allow ourselves to be shaken up and awoken by the God of interruptions.

Most of us repeat the same routines every day, and we're upset if there are any interruptions to our patterns. Yet God is invariably and ironically found in the interruptions, the discontinuities, the exceptions, the surprises—and seldom in the patterns. God has to catch us literally "off guard"!

We need to often say to ourselves, "Just this!" even amidst the things we don't want, we don't expect, and sometimes don't like—every now and then. In the eternal scheme of things, we discover that all God wants from you is "you." It's just so humbling, because it always feels like not enough, doesn't it? God does not destroy your plans and dreams, he fulfills them to their fullest extent.

Just this! Just me!