Today's Gospel in Art: The angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream

The Dream of Saint Joseph, by Philippe de Champaigne 1642 © Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Gospel of 18th December 2020 - 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 Painting

In today's Gospel reading Matthew is describing how the angel appeared to St Joseph in a dream. Joseph, with his carpenter's tools at his feet, is fast asleep. Usually in art St Joseph is portrayed as an old man, so it is unusual to see him portrayed (perhaps more accurately) as a young man at the time he would have had his dream. The angel stretches the width of the painting and thus visually bridges the distance between Our Lady and St Joseph. The angel is gesturing towards both heaven (source of the light that is falling on the angel) and the Virgin Mary, confirming that Christ has been conceived through the Holy Spirit. Kneeling in front of an open Bible (as Scripture will be fulfilled with the birth of her Son), Mary looks up to the angel, her arms crossed over her chest.

At the start of Advent, we made a video about Saint Joseph. See: www.christian.art/videos.php showing how St Joseph loved, protected and provided for the Holy Family. He truly was a man of God. We are now exactly a week away from Christmas. And so today's reading (re)assures us that, whatever the world may be up to and going through, God's word is God's bond. When we cooperate with Him, we will thrive. We read 'When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do'… showing how St Joseph fully cooperated with God's plan… quietly pursuing holiness by doing the ordinary things in life extraordinarily well for the Holy Family.

LINKS

Today's story - https://christian.art/en/daily-gospel-reading/640

Christian Art - www.christian.art/index.php