Today's Gospel in Art - Joseph was a man of honour

St Joseph and the Christ Child in the Carpentry Workshop, Pietro Annigoni 1963, at Church of San Lorenzo, Firenze © Christian Art Today

Gospel of 18th December 2019 - Matthew 1:18-24

This is how Jesus Christ came to be born. His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph; but before they came to live together she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph; being a man of honour and wanting to spare her publicity, decided to divorce her informally. He had made up his mind to do this when the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, 'Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus, because he is the one who is to save his people from their sins.' Now all this took place to fulfil the words spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son

and they will call him Emmanuel,

a name which means 'God-is-with-us.' When Joseph woke up he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do: he took his wife to his home.

Reflection on the Church Fresco

Unfortunately very little is know about St Joseph but what a holy man he was! As we saw in yesterday's reading, He was of the genealogy of King David. In today's reading we see how respectfully Matthew writes about Joseph.......

As I was a furniture specialist myself at Sotheby's for over 14 years, I love the art of carpentry. I can well imagine how Joseph lovingly showed Jesus how to make a chair, how to select the right woods, how to cut everything to the perfect size so the table could fit together, etc…

To read on see: www.christianart.today/daily-gospel-reading/268