Balance
It was not easy, immediate, or a foregone conclusion for Mary and Joseph to accept Jesus. Nor was it easy for Herod, Jerusalem, the Magi, the priests of the temple, or the elderly leaders of the people. The presence of Jesus, His entity, His origin, His mission upset everyone's balance and stability, pulverized certainties and habits, all of which generated fear, a lot of fear. That is what always happens when God enters human reality, not because God is a troublemaker, but because he wants to destabilize our unhealthy and deadly balance and security. The angel reassures and calms Joseph by revealing the divine origin of the child but the angelic voice also revealed to him, as well as to us, the great and important secret we need to know in order to accept with love, in our lives, everything that seems to be inconsistent with our desires and projects, customs and beliefs.
The angel teaches Joseph to overcome the fear in his heart and mind and to accept that unexpected present, not as an easy solution to problems and difficulties, but in the name of what Jesus will do one day, in the name of His mission for humanity, and in the name of what will come.
The angel teaches Joseph and humanity that when God enters a man's life to bring light and to sow love, everything becomes confused and insecure, unstable, precarious, distant from the old equilibrium, but God enters not only to create a better present, but in view of a mission, a mission that begins here on earth and will continue forever in heaven. God never upsets a man's life only to improve his/her present, but also and above all to prepare him, to train him, to make him/her ready for what He has thought and desires for him/her for all eternity. Many times Jesus reminds us about this forgotten and unknown truth.
Matthew 25:23. His master said to him, 'Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master's joy.
To be faithful in small matters refers to the earthly dimension; great responsabilities refers to the heavenly dimension. Jesus clearly considers these two dimensions closely and dynamically related to one other, one conducts to predispose for the other.
John from 14:2-3. In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be.
The things that happen in our lifetime making us loose our balance with regard to our equilibrium and our miserable desires and which we are unable to understand happen to prepare a place in heaven for us. We are not aware or maybe we have forgotten that in heaven and for all eternity, each of us will have duties, responsibilities, tasks, functions, missions in God's perfect light. The divine mission of our life, the purpose of God's creative act that we are certainly does not end in a limited number of seasons. It is clearly expressed in Luke 13:30 where Jesus fully reveals a truth inconceivable to us the time being: For behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last. Many men, totally ignorant or forgetful of their divine task which will continue forever, live only to be the first on earth, to realize their goals, to achieve their interests, to ensure their advantages here. These men will be the last in the immortal heavens because they have never devoted or prepared themselves for their divine task. The two dimensions are, therefore, closely interrelated and interdependent.
The angel teaches Joseph that when we learn to love at least a little and to trust God, we are able to accept what happens to us in peace, even without submitting, to feel sympathy, without feeling resignation, in the name of the task that God is going to give to us in heaven for all of eternity. If we accept what happens to us in our lives, we can live free from fear, without conflict and destruction, and God will always protect us.
What then is a little bit of patience and tolerance on this earth, which keeps our heart in peace and praise for the time we are here, in order be ready to serve our divine task in the light of the heaven of heavens of God, without end?