The Arc of Mercy

Gospel:  Matthew 1: 18-24

Joseph discovers Mary is pregnant; he knows not how save that he is not the father.  Strict adherence to Jewish law would dictate that Mary was to be stoned to death for adultery.  That outcome would be to expose her to the law in its fullest.  However, such public executions were rare, though not unheard of.  Most adopted the approach Joseph intended to take in this case.  He would divorce Mary quietly and not expose her to the law.

Joseph's approach has an element of mercy to it.  Mary and her child would be spared and would live.  However, their existence on earth would be a marginal one.  Mary would have difficulty finding someone to marry.  She could gain work here and there enabling she and her child to survive, but they would not have the full protection of the law.  They would be regarded negatively in society, living on the peripheries of society.

But along comes the fulness of God's mercy.  Joseph will take Mary as his wife and claim the child as his own.  In this way they would have the full benefit of the law in their society.  They would have a secure existence.  The Christmas story is the first installment of the Gospel's entire lesson on the arc of God's mercy in the world, a mercy we ourselves are to embody in our care for others, in the communities we seek to create.  The Christian faith is not about harsh law and capital punishment.  It is about finding the fullest way of mercy possible.