The Pastor’s Word

Matthew 1:18-25

              This is the beginning of the year, a time when we reflect on the accomplishments and failings of the past year and meditate on the meaning of the birth of the Savior.  The past year has been a very challenging time for many people.  The year started with high hopes for a new president who expanded the boundaries of inclusiveness.  At the same time the economy was in the throes of its worst convulsions in a long time.  Companies were laying off, downsizing and going into bankruptcy.  Many people are ending the year quoting the writer of Ecclesiastes who declared, “Meaningless!  Meaningless!  Everything is meaningless.  What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun?”  (Ecclesiastes 1:2,3). 

With all the joyous celebration about Jesus’ birth we sometimes forget a person who had a very significant role that is downplayed and even dismissed.  In fact, there is only indirect reference to this man after Jesus reached adulthood.  Once when Jesus returned home to Nazareth the skeptical home folk wondered aloud about his amazing powers; some asked, “Is not this Joseph’s son?”  Surely they thought that Joseph, an ordinary man, could not be the father of such an extraordinary son.

              On another occasion Jesus was engaged in a dangerous game of dozens with some Pharisee opponents who launched their assault on Jesus with the razor sharp, “We know who our father is!”  (John 8:39-42).  The implication was clear; Jesus’ parentage was, at best, uncertain and the subject of continuous rumors and speculation.

              Joseph was apparently a somewhat older man who was a successful craftsman and businessman who enjoyed some reputation and name recognition in the community.  He was known for his profession as a carpenter.  His trade might have included building and repairing houses and household items.  He and his journeymen sons would have been muscular with great upper-body strength to handle the tools and implements of their trade. 

              Joseph’s father had apparently followed the custom of the day and found a beautiful young virgin bride for his son.  The dowry was paid by the future father-in-law and the marriage contract was signed.  All was right with the world.  In the midst of this joyous time Joseph received the devastating news—Mary, his fiancée was pregnant.  This was a time before the TV shows with the DNA tests and lie detectors where the results were broadcast as a public spectacle to the delight of the leering audience.  Joseph and Mary were spared that degree of humiliation but this was still the age of family pride and shame.

              Moreover, the ultimate penalty for Mary’s crime was death by stoning.  In fact, that was the only way for Joseph to reclaim his respect as a man.  Even Mary’s father probably considered suicide as an honorable atonement for his obvious failure to raise his daughter in a proper way.

              The Bible does not reveal how Joseph found out.  Did Mary tell him herself or maybe one of her relatives or Joseph’s family or the neighborhood gossip?  What is clear is that Joseph truly loved Mary.  Even realizing that she was pregnant by someone else he still loved her so much that he eschewed the societal norms and made plans to discretely end his marriage contract and send her back to her father. 

Joseph while left to his own devices was going to divorce her discretely.  What a marvelous human love story; but God’s love story was even greater.  The Holy Spirit allowed Joseph’s love to soar to a new level where he did not divorce her but took her home as his wife, baby and all.  How many times have we declared ourselves righteous as we have done the “right thing” only to find out that God required even more.  We brag about paying our tithe only to realize that God requires tithes and offerings.  We boast about walking one mile until we realize that God demands that we walk two miles.  We tell the world about our donated coat and then hear Jesus tell us to give our cloak also. 

              Sometimes God speaks to us by shutting down our conscious minds so that God can give us orders directly through the Holy Spirit.  God sent an angel to speak to Joseph through a dream.  It is in this passive, unresponsive state that we can hear what God is saying without having our own ego intercede with a smart retort for every divine proclamation.  Mary had already received her angelic message telling her that she was “blessed” and “highly favored” by God. The first action of the angel sent to Joseph was to call him by his best and highest title.  Joseph’s father was Jacob; society would have called him “Joseph, son of Jacob.”   The angel recognized his kingly lineage and called him “Joseph, son of David.”  Then the angel calmed his fears about the apparent circumstances of his betrothed’s pregnancy by explaining that this was of the Holy Spirit.  Cynics even to this day laugh at this explanation as the fanciful wishes of a cuckolded old man who could not believe the duplicity of his beautiful bride.  The angel had told Mary that “nothing is impossible with God.”  (Luke 1:37).

Joseph was told to marry her, take her home and show the world that he claimed Mary’s son by giving him his name.  Joseph gave him the name “Jesus” in obedience to the heavenly command and thus made him his son.  We rightly celebrate Jesus as the Son of God.  But, we should never forget that he was very much the son of Joseph also.  Joseph was obedient to the heavenly vision that allowed him to bear the shame and ridicule and accept his wife and son. 

              When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him.  Sometimes we need to go to sleep so that we can be refreshed and renewed.  We need to sleep to receive new insights.  A time of awakening comes after sleep when we can respond to the call of God in our lives even when the call is to do something that seems to be impossible.  Wake up and realize like Mary that with God all things are possible.  Wake up and decide with Joseph to do the godly and righteous thing even when society will disapprove.  Wake up and see the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.   Wake up.

              Joseph, like McCarthy’s old soldiers, does not die; he just fades away.  The last specific mention of an active Joseph is made in Luke where the story is told of a time when Jesus went missing at the age of twelve. He made a cryptic and somewhat insolent declaration about being in his “Father’s house.” when his distraught parents found him after a three-day absence (Luke 2:48-52).  Joseph, his earthly father, must have felt the sting of that remark like a slap across his face.  It is clear that neither he nor Mary understood this comment from their son.  Most adoptive or foster fathers dread that day when the son who has been accepted as his own reminds his that he is “not his real daddy.”  Luke ends his account of this episode by pointing out that Jesus returned with them to Nazareth and was “obedient” to them.  In other words, he respected Joseph’s rightful place of authority as the head of the family.

              As I said at the beginning of this homily, this is a good time to reflect on the wonderful Christmas story and also to meditate on the powerful goodness of God throughout the year and to remind ourselves that the same God will take us through this year.  Joseph was able to deal with the roughest time of his life when he accepted the actions of the Holy Spirit and put his complete trust in God.  He believed the angel who told him that this thing that was going on was “of the Holy Spirit.”  The songwriter summed it up so well for this first month of 2010.  “Time is filled with swift transition…Hold to God’s unchanging hand.”