A Normed Test

Joseph, being an upright man and wanting to spare her disgrace... Matthew 1:20

Upright is such a strong word.  So is “just.” Not in the California sense that is.  Actually the California sense is the exact opposite.  “I just want to tell you, Jesus,” and “I just want to know.”  It subjugates the action.  Qualifies it.  Makes the action weak and tentative.

Not so with Joseph.  He was sturdy and unwavering.  It was his character to do what was honorable no matter what the cost.  It is a quiet sort of word too.  There is no drawing attention to oneself.  In fact, self is not an issue for an upright and just person.  It is not about me; it is a reference to an outside norm built into the universe- a brightly shining star lifted high above the darkness.  

I still can’t quite wrap my brain around Tom, the neighbor man.  He lived three houses down the street from Christianna’s mother.  One afternoon, during a friendly neighborly chat, he noticed that she was sleeping in her car.  Because her house was so full of stuff and fifty bird cages and general filth that there was no room to sleep.  There really wasn’t any room in her car either.  It was packed up to the tippy-top with stuff.  And rather than fill him with distaste and distance, he was filled with tenderness for this flat-out crazy woman.  And he watched out for her.  And she had his phone number so she had someone to call.  Everyone needs to have a phone number.  

And between the time that Christianna first went by the house and there was literally three feet of trash filling the entire back yard and stuff reaching to the very top of the carport and mold creeping up chest high on the interior walls of the house, he and his wife rented the largest rollaway possible in Arizona.  Four times.  And scraped the yard clean, and got rid of the mold and cleaned out the car and washed it and put a cover on it and found good homes for all the birds and put anything that seemed valuable in his safe and turned it over to Chistiana with a bunch of keys.  Just for Marah “because she was such a sweet person.”  Really it wasn’t about Marah.  It was about being upright and just.  And wanting to spare the vulnerable disgrace.