Having just celebrated the year of St. Joseph, can we give up the “ego-drama” associated with today’s Gospel:
When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph,
but before they lived together,
she was found with child through the Holy Spirit.
Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man,
yet unwilling to expose her to shame,
decided to divorce her quietly.
Matthew 1: 18-19
Most interpretations I’ve heard or seen of these verses pictures Joseph struggling with his ego as a “righteous man: as a devout observer of the Mosaic law, (who) wished to break his union with someone whom he suspected of gross violation of the law.”
I don’t believe that Joseph suspected Mary of gross violation of the law!
I believe that because Joseph, “was a righteous man”, and since Mary is, “full of grace”; Joseph believed her when she told him that it was, “through the Holy Spirit
that this child (had) been conceived in her.”
I further believe that Joseph was, “afraid to take Mary (his) wife into (his) home”, because his humility would not allow him to impose himself in the “Theo-drama” that he saw unfolding before him.
This Gospel should not be reduced to Joseph giving up his own ego to do God’s will; but rather it is the “Good News” of a man whose ego was in check, and was participating with God’s will all along.