Advent 4, 2007
Matthew is the only Gospel to tell us Joseph’s side of the story of Jesus’ birth, emphasizing his role as devout Jew and adoptive father. Matthew portrays Jesus’ conception and birth as fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14, “the Lord himself will give you a sign: the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.” Like Abraham and Mary, Joseph trusted God and acted on that trust without analysis or being trumped by religious traditions or cultural norms.
Joseph was a righteous man. In his cultural context, it would have been scandalous to marry a woman who was pregnant, which Mary was. Joseph was planning to call off their engagement quietly so as not to cause shame or something worse for Mary. He wanted to do the right thing and avoid hurting her as much as he could. His heart was sensitive to her situation and his head told him what he should do according to Jewish tradition. He decided to sleep on the decision and during the night Joseph had a dream in which God told Joseph to take Mary as his wife, because the child she was to bear was conceived by the Holy Spirit – furthermore, God had a job for Joseph: “you, Joseph, will name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
Joseph trusted the dream and acted on the direction he received, believing that it was God’s direction. The tradition was one thing but the dream attributed to God was almost opposite. As with the Angel Gabriel’s visit to Mary the child is Emmanuel, the product of the Holy Spirit. Joseph, like Mary trusts God in this remarkable circumstance, going against the culture in faith. A divine work is at play and Joseph is a vital part of it, just as is Mary. It is from Joseph’s line that Jesus fulfills the prophecy to be in the Davidic line. The righteous intention of Joseph is a creative attempt to bring love into the world of law, to extend forgiveness to what looked like sin. We ought to draw inspiration from Joseph’s ability to trust a dream, a voice from God, and to go against the tide of public opinion and religious certainty. I am sure you can find an echo in contemporary times when a scandalous event labeled sin by the church and shamed by culture could also be God doing something new.
Hearing that the child in Mary’s womb was the product of the Holy Spirit required a huge leap of faith by Joseph. In our families a teenager who claims to be pregnant by the Holy Spirit might end up in a psychiatric evaluation. The righteousness attributed to Joseph is based on this very point: he trusted the dream and the prophetic voice that said, “look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and they shall name him Emmanuel” which means, “God is with us.”
We understand that Matthew was writing the gospel many years after the birth of Jesus, that the narrative is not tape recorded or live at five, but theologically arranged to show that this child is the long awaited Messiah. The reader is privileged to be in on the hidden meaning of the divine plan: Emmanuel – God with us. Forgiveness of sins is the effect of God’s presence. Emmanuel indicates that Jesus belongs to all people, to all people grounded in God. In the ending of Matthew’s gospel, Jesus will commission the disciples on the mountaintop saying, “I am with you always to the end of the age” (Matt 28:20). The deepest truth about Jesus is that he is the presence of God that does not depart even when he is no longer physically present.
Jesus, the Son, will call God, Father. At the baptism, the Father, God will declare, this is my son, the beloved, in whom I am well pleased. The essence of the witness of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection is of the Father’s love. The truth about Jesus is his spiritual parentage. Any reduction of who Jesus is, what Jesus is about, or to physical or social causes misses the truth of his revelation.
Joseph and Mary are acclaimed righteous because they hear and obey. Discerning the voice of God amid the cacophony of human noise is difficult at best. Acting on the voice in obedient faith is a struggle we face too. Joseph is righteous because he listens and obeys God. What seems from the human cultural and religious perspective of his day a sin, is in truth God working in and through faithful people. What seems against the law of the God of Israel is the activity of the God of Israel. The faith of Joseph and Mary provided the human vessel for God’s redeeming work. We too need to be open to God’s ongoing revelation. We ought to resist any attempt to see the canon of scripture as closed as if God has somehow retired and is not working still through the same Holy Spirit.
Tomorrow we too will gather in our own Bethlehem to witness the birth of the Christ child, born homeless to unimportant people. The kingdom we inherit in and through Jesus is upside down, where serving, not being served, is our birthright. Our inheritance is not gold or silver, but a treasury of holy men and women whose faith was expressed more in action than in words. Joseph’s greatness did not consist of his royal ancestry but in his ability to hear and respond to the word of God. Like Joseph, we are called to partner with others, to care for the God who continually asks to be born in our lives and in our world.
Ann Weems’ poem “Getting to the front of the stable” in Kneeling in Bethlehem captures the importance of Joseph.
“Who put Joseph in the back of the stable?
Who dressed him in brown, put a staff in his hand, and told him to stand in the back of the crèche, background for the magnificent light of the Madonna?
God-chosen, this man Joseph was faithful in spite of the gossip in Nazareth, in spite of the danger from Herod.
This man, Joseph, listened to angels and it was he who named the Child Emmanuel.
Is this a man to be stuck for centuries in the back of the stable?
Actually, Joseph probably stood in the doorway guarding the mother and child or greetings shepherds and kings.
When he wasn’t in the doorway, he was probably urging Mary to get some rest, gently covering her with his cloak, assuring her that he would watch the Child.
Actually, he probably picked the Child up in his arms and walked him in the night, patting him lovingly until he closed his eyes.
This Christmas, let us give thanks to God for this man of incredible faith into whose care God placed the Christ Child.
As a gesture of gratitude, let’s put Joseph in the front of the stable where he can guard and greet and cast an occasional glance at this Child who brought us life.”