Soul Food: Week of December 17, 2023

“Soul Food” is a regularly updated calendar of meditations sometimes questioning conventional wisdom & often suggesting eternal values …

Sunday-Saturday: “I’m going to have a baby,” Mary told Joseph. The shock to Joseph was beyond measure … On the tip of her tongue [Mary] had the greatest secret of all history [yet] she could not unlock her tongue … Joseph could divorce Mary [& doom her to execution by stoning], send her away to some remote place [& pay for the private birth] or swallow his pride & proceed with the wedding. Joseph was dwelling upon the possibilities one night in bed [& decided to put Mary away privately]. It would break his heart & he knew he could not love anyone else, but it would be just & at the same time merciful.

[Yet] in sleep, Joseph was visited by an angel. The spirit said to him, “Joseph, son of David, do not scruple to take Mary, your wife, into hour home. Her conception was wrought by the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

When Joseph awakened … he felt refreshed … he felt happy … the more he dwelt upon the dream the more clearly he saw the hand of God revealing a great truth to him … he longed to rush to Mary & say, “I know! I know!” [but held his tongue until later that day] … When Mary saw Joseph’s first glance, she knew that he knew …

Excerpted from Jim Bishop’s “The Day Christ Was Born”

Davd Soul