At home that night, in his empty house, in the dark, he prayed and listened hard, hoping to hear the voice of God, hoping that Gabriel would appear to him and tell him that all of it was true, or that it wasn't. Just knowing for sure one way or the other would be a real, if painful, blessing. He listened for the voice of God, for the voice of an angel, and what he heard was the drip of the bathroom tap, the creak of the sofa springs, the wind against the window, and in his mind, the voice of Mary, the sweet, gentle voice of the girl he loved.

It was then and there that for no good reason, except love, Joseph decided to do what no one else, probably, would have even thought to do, for he was a just man, the scripture says. No courts, no trials. No shameful confessions and accusations. Joseph would keep it all quiet. He wouldn't do it to himself, either. Vengeance and grudges are so terribly counter-productive. Hate decays the heart, after all.

So he would deal with it quietly. Put her away, divorce her, quietly. No scenes, no scandal, no stoning, no nothing. There was no good reason for his decision. No one would think him less than a fool for making it. And yet, it just somehow seemed the thing to do.

It was after he had decided this, the scripture says, that he had the dream.

II

Have you ever thought much about Joseph? Personally, I find him fascinating. We do not really know much about him, and we are the poorer for that. There are a few apocryphal stories about him, most of them fanciful and funny and completely unreliable. But still fun.

One of these stories contends that Joseph was married before his betrothal to Mary, for forty-nine years. He was the proud father of six children, four boys and a couple of girls. His wife, whose name is not told, left him a widower at the age of 89, and two years later, at the over-ripe old age of 91, he married Mary. She was all of 14 at the time.

Mary had been taken to the Temple by her mother, Anna, two years before and dedicated to the service of God. Eventually, the priests cast lots to see who would become her mate, and the lot fell to Joseph. Of course, at 91, he was pretty much beyond suspicion when the pregnancy was revealed. To some of the early believers, this age disparity seemed a nice, if indirect proof of the virginal conception of Jesus. Joseph lived another twenty years after Jesus was born, or so the story goes, dying at the age of 111.

There are other stories, and almost all of them have him being old -- far older than his bride -- more of a father to Mary than a husband.

I don't really believe that. I am more inclined to believe that their relationship was typical, their love genuine, their plans normal, their future hopeful -- if not terribly promising, what with Joseph being a carpenter in a rocky land, not to mention the Romans. But every couple in love sees the future as a cup brimful of promise, and they must have talked about the home they planned to make, the draperies and the dishes, their honeymoon. I feel sure that they had talked about how many children they wanted, maybe about names. And all was going along so well until ....