December 23, 2007 – The Fourth Sunday of Advent
Matthew 1:18-25
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Grace and peace to you from God the Creator and the Lord Jesus. Amen.
The Christian Church all over the world is about to tell the Christmas story again in all its majesty and wonder. If we wanted to be picky about it, we would say “stories,” plural, because the Gospel writers who tell the birth story, Matthew, Luke and John, each has a unique perspective on the birth of our Lord. But we can’t resist conflating those stories into one The Story, an epic filled with colorful figures we remember primarily because of their speaking roles.
The Virgin Mary: overwhelmed and humbled by her election by God to be the mother of Jesus, she bursts into song in the Magnificat: “My soul now magnifies the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my savior.”
The angels: one appears to Joseph to announce that the child to be born shall be named Jesus, because “he will save his people from their sins”; another appears to the shepherds with the bold command “Do not be afraid. I bring you good tidings of great joy for all the people.”
The shepherds themselves: the first Christian evangelists, they hurry to find the infant Jesus, then return to their everyday lives praising and glorifying God.
The Wise Men: they’re relentless in their search for the royal infant – “where is he who has been born King of the Jews? We saw his star rising in the East.”
Interesting, isn’t it, that one of the central and essential characters in this drama has no speaking role at all. He says not one word. Joseph. There he stands, as silent and solid as the wood he uses in his craft as a carpenter. And yet it is this apparent nobody, who God plucked out of the vast stream of humanity, who stands for us as an extreme example of spiritual courage and faithfulness.
Really, all Joseph wants to do is to marry Mary. It was probably an arranged marriage, decided upon by their parents when Joseph and Mary were children. But when Joseph discovers that Mary is pregnant, he finds himself in the middle of a mess he had no hand in creating, living a life he had not intended. One thing he does know is that what he wants must take a backseat to what is necessary, what is right.
And Joseph knows what is necessary and right, because the Bible notes that he is a righteous man, a man of faith, a man of God. All his life he learned about God, and in learning about God he learned what God expected.
We can relate to Joseph. We too learn about God throughout our lives. We learn about him from our parents, who will always be our primary religion teachers; we learn about him from our pastors, our Sunday school teachers, our friends; we read Scripture, some of us participate in Bible studies – in all kinds of ways we gather information and impressions that create an image of God that guides our actions and our decisions.
So it is with Joseph. It is Joseph’s understanding of God that leads him to his decision to “dismiss her quietly.” It is the more compassionate of two options his culture offers him. If he wants, he can go public with his outrage and allow Mary to be stoned to death, a sentence that the religious law of Joseph’s day allows. Or, he can put the whole affair behind them quietly with a simple bill of divorce. That’s the option he chooses.
It’s a choice his culture expects, even demands. In fact, Roman, Jewish and Greek law all demand that a husband divorce his wife if she is found guilty of adultery. The Mediterranean culture of Joseph’s day looks with absolute contempt on a husband who allows his love and affection for his wife to override his own honor, his own good name. No, there’s no question what must be done; Joseph knows what he has to do.
And that’s precisely when God intervenes with a plan that is more hopeful, more faithful, more generous, more life-giving than any plan Joseph could have imagined. It’s a plan that runs absolutely counter to what Joseph’s culture requires, and engaging that plan requires Joseph to venture out onto the frontier of faith.
And it all starts with a dream. Actually, this is the first of four dreams in which an angel appears to Joseph during Jesus’ infancy in order to guide his movements and secure the safety of Jesus and Mary. Four dreams. It must have been progressively easier to follow those dreams, since each preceding dream had proven reliable. But that first dream, with nothing to go by, no history! Can you imagine the conversation between Joseph and his parents after that first dream?
“Mom and Dad, Mary’s pregnant, and I’m not the father. But don’t worry; it’s God. How do I know? An angel told me.” I don’t recommend this as a strategy, by the way. Yes, it worked once, but …
Believing that dream, let alone following it, would have taken a spiritual courage that could have been supplied only by God and received only by Joseph’s embracing that gift. When he did embrace it, there he was, out there beyond the comforting reassurance of tradition, out beyond the support of cultural norms, out there beyond the support one typically finds in “doing that you’re supposed to do the way you’re supposed to do it.” He was out there, with nothing to guide him except the words of God ringing in his ears, “Do not be afraid.”
As Joseph woke from sleep and as he lie there reflecting on those words of God, perhaps he also reflected on other words of God, words spoken centuries earlier through the prophet Isaiah, “Behold, I am about to do a new thing. Even now it springs forth; do you not perceive it?” This is how Joseph received Christmas, by being totally open to the action of God in his life and in the life of the world; and his willingness to surrender what Joseph had always accepted as simply the way life is and to be open to a new way.
I’ve come to appreciate the work of Rob Bell. He’s the pastor of Mars Hill Christian Fellowship in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In his book, Velvet Elvis, he makes the observation that although God doesn’t change, times do, the world does; and the Christian faith is most alive and vibrant when it is listening, morphing, innovating, surrendering whatever gets in the way of Jesus and embracing whatever will help us be more and more the people God has created us to be.
He notes that our Christian faith tradition is filled with change and growth and transformation. Jesus himself took part in that process, inviting people to rethink faith, to rethink the Bible, to rethink their assumptions about God, inviting them into the never-ending process of working out what it means to love God and love neighbor. Martin Luther was part of that process; 500 years ago he turned the world upside down when he claimed that God’s grace was not for sale – couldn’t be bought with money or good deeds. He wanted the Bible translated into the language of the common people so that everyone could read it. He insisted that everybody has a divine calling to live their lives in service to God – everybody, not just priests who had jobs in churches, but everybody. It was a radical concept in Luther’s day, and it’s a radical concept in our day as well, but when people actually embrace that concept and live it out, this world becomes more and more the place God created it to be.
Joseph’s experience as the human stepfather of Jesus was a singular event in the history of the world. But perhaps you can think back in your own life to occasions when you were cast in a role you had no hand in creating. You had your own plans and ideas, and somehow, through circumstances you didn’t choose, you found yourself living a life that you did not intend. Maybe you’re there this morning, wondering “How in the world did I get here? And more importantly, What do I do about it now?” It just might be that God is ready to use that very situation as the birthplace of hope and new life.
During these Wednesday nights in the season of Advent, we’ve been using the reflection time as a time of testimony. A couple of weeks ago we heard from one of our members, a young woman named Lizzie Ayers. Her story bears repeating, and I’d like to share just an excerpt of her testimony with you.
“God has changed my life and my world in two different types of ways over the past 20 years. Sometimes he grabs my attention all of a sudden; making me see what’s important through the eyes of a wise friend, stressful situation, or a sudden emotional battle. Other times he works on my heart in a way that’s gradual, slowly shedding away pieces until I understand the things with true value. That is what God has been doing in my life this past year; slowly he’s taken apart my schedule so that I can learn, grow, and develop a greater heart for him and his people.”
Lizzie then went on to describe an illness that gradually overwhelmed her body, an illness that involved long dizzy spells, lack of energy, severe headaches, temporary loss of head movement and head and neck convulsions.
She continued: “One Sunday I was having a really, really awful night. My neck and head were out of control, I was dizzy, and I had a migraine that was out of this world. Once my convulsions had stopped I was left exhausted, nauseated, and still very dizzy; emotionally I was sad and extremely lonely. Tears welled in my eyes and I needed someone to be there for me, I needed comfort, love. I still have no idea what compelled me to do this but I reached out my hand and I whispered to Jesus, ‘If you are here right now I need you. If you would, could you please take my hand, you don’t have to but I really need you here, with me.’ You know, you say these things and you never imagine them actually happening, but it did. I felt him take me by the hand, but being the human that I am I explained it away. I doubted and rationalized it … ; but then my hand lifted from the pillow and against my resistance it stayed in midair, firm and steady. I laid there in astonishment and awe; all I could do was weep.
“It was at that moment that I realized how insignificant I was and how great God really is. That he would humble himself from his high position in heaven to come into my room; that he, the creator of this world and this universe, would hold my hand … who am I that he would do such a thing for me? My faith became real! It was no longer a Bible reading or in a church service; it was a friendship and relationship with this being, this real being that was in my room, holding my hand.”
What is God up to in your life, today? Where is he calling you to be open, calling you to challenge your resignation that “this is just the way life is?” It just might be that God is waiting for you with a plan that is more faithful, more generous, more hopeful and loving and right than anything you can imagine.
Christmas is indeed coming. Be ready! Amen.
