Joseph was in a bind.

Monday, 3/20/17

After a couple were betrothed the way Joseph and Mary were, it was expected, even before the wedding that they should quietly sleep together. And so, when everyone noticed that Mary was in her sixth month, they all  took Joseph to be the father of the expected child. Joseph, however knew that he wasn’t the father, and he wasn’t sure as to how he should behave.

St. Matthew described Joseph as a just man, and that meant he could not take another man’s child as his own. Still, as a just man he could not embarrass such a fine person as Mary.

When you are in a situation where no course of action seems right to you, it can be said that you are in a “bind.” When I was teaching Matthew’s Gospel to our Seventh Grade, I asked the students to give a written answer to the question “When have you been in a bind?” One boy wrote, “I was in a  bind when my father was marrying another woman, and he asked me to be the best man at their wedding.”   

When any of us is in a bind, he or she should ask God’s help, as we held off.