The Gospel of Luke is what most people seem to associate with the
Nativity and Christmas. But the Gospel of Matthew has an important point
in it – Joseph “being a good man” didn’t plan to make Mary’s pregnancy
public and ask for her to be punished. And he stayed with her, believing
the angel in his dreams, and accepting the child as if it were his.
Mary was not “just like” modern single mothers.
But that seems to be an unfortunate trend in pop theology and
therapeutic Christianity. There’s nothing wrong with being a single mom,
or by implication, with the actions required to get in that condition.
Or worse, you have the guest editorial writer in the Washington Post who
claimed that the Christian Church’s making Mary an example of the
importance of bodily purity is hurtful to rape victims and that no human
should be expected to be celibate until marriage, and that to recommend
such is triggering and cruel. Which, even though I’m not Catholic, is
not anywhere in the teachings about Mary that I’ve read or come across.
And it still leaves out Joseph, and that he supported Mary, and cared for her, and as best the Gospels suggest, raised Jesus as his own son, taught him a trade and saw that he grew up properly.