Make the Nations Prove: Peaceful Joy, Matthew 1:18-25
Plymouth First United Methodist Church, December 22, 2019
Pastor Toni Carmer
From the very beginning, from his inception/conception (when he was just a twinkle in his daddy’s eye), Jesus began disordering/disrupting the world.
Of course, to begin with, it was a very small piece of the world, but 2 lives that had intended to join together to create a new family were suddenly changed when Mary, and then Joseph, learned that Mary was pregnant.
Last week, in the gospel of Luke, we experienced Mary’s response to the angel Gabriel coming to her and telling her that she would give birth to a son who was to be named Jesus. The angel explained to her that the Holy Spirit would come upon her, and that the child would be Holy: he would be the Son of God. Gabriel went on to tell her about her kinswoman Elizabeth, who was also with child. After years of being unable to become pregnant, a son had been conceived in her old age and Elizabeth was now in her 6th month of pregnancy.
Hearing all this, Mary had responded, “Let it be according to your word,” and she had made the journey to be with Elizabeth, to talk to her, to think and pray and work through the blessings they’d both been given, and ultimately to celebrate what God was doing through them.
“My soul magnifies the Lord,” Mary had sung. “My spirit rejoices in God my Savor, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.”
Mary comes to grips with what God has done and will do, and though we all know there will be many challenges along the way, for her personally, for she and Joseph together, and especially for Jesus as he lives out God’s purpose, it feels like we’re right there with her as she responds, sings out and works through this very unexpected “twist” in her life.
Last week, on the 3rd Sunday of Advent, we lit the pink/rose candle. The 3rd Sunday of Advent is sometimes called Gaudete Sunday, and it is all about joy. We read Mary’s song and we joyfully celebrate along with Mary, pondering in our own hearts what the coming of Jesus means for us, and giving thanks, knowing his call and claim and presence in our lives isn’t always easy, but it is good. Blessed.
But on this 4th Sunday of Advent, we’ve turned from Mary’s joy to Joseph’s silence. Though our story from scripture this morning is about him and how he responds to this grand disruption in his world, his response is much more subdued than Mary’s. He’s pretty quiet. He doesn’t talk to anyone else. How could he? Who would he speak to? By sharing he would—quite literally—be putting Mary in danger. She could be stoned for what could only be interpreted as the sin of adultery. Surely that’s what happened. Joseph couldn’t explain Mary’s pregnancy any other way. She had been betrothed to him. It was wrong in every sense of the word for her to have been with anyone else. He was hurt, disappointed, surely angry. How could he not be? And so he resolves that he will quietly divorce her.
On the surface that seems a generous response, but it would have devasting consequences for Mary and her baby. Joseph’s distancing himself from Mary wouldn’t erase her pregnancy. She would give birth without a husband in a society in which a woman’s social standing and economic sustenance depended almost entirely on her location in a man’s house. Her child would have no father in a society in which the father’s name established one’s identity.
Suddenly, Joseph’s decision seems a little less gentle. He is described as a “righteous” man, he is one who is known for doing the right thing. And yet his “righteousness” right here, right now, threatens Jesus just as surely as the scribes and pharisees will later threaten him. But Joseph’s world has been completely disrupted. He knows of no other option. He is stunned, terrified, and speechless.
Though Joseph is quiet, God is not.
In a dream, when Joseph’s defenses are down, he’s told by an angel, “Joseph son of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because the child she carries was conceived by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you will call him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
When he awakens, the righteous but fearful Joseph, a man of few words, becomes a man of righteous action. Scripture tells us that when he awakens, Joseph does what the angel from God commands: he takes Mary as his wife and she gives birth to a son who is called Jesus. He’s not Joseph Junior, he’s Jesus—Joshua, the liberator, the one who saves.
In obedient Mary, and in shocked, stunned, silent and obedient Joseph, Matthew explains that “all of this took place so that what the Lord had spoken through the prophet would be fulfilled: Look! A virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they will call him Emmanuel, which means, ‘God with us’.”
In two days it’s Christmas eve, in three, it’s Christmas. So many of us feel like we’re running on a hamster wheel—too much to do, too much to think about. “All is calm, all is bright?” Well, maybe it is at somebody else’s house, but ours isn’t, you may be thinking. We look forward to singing the Christmas carol together, but the words don’t reflect “real life.” At least not right now.
We create this vision of how things should be…on Christmas, and on lots of other days as well. When reality doesn’t match our vision we wonder what we’ve done wrong. But maybe a piece of the problem is that we remember the holidays of our childhoods, when the adults around us were in charge and they were working hard to make things as good as possible, and so we didn’t have to worry about it…but now we have that responsibility. We’re the adults.
But when we look back at the first Christmas, we can see that it was anything but conventional and well-ordered. The main participants were dealing with some pretty major challenges. They weren’t living the dream, and we haven’t even mentioned yet, Mary sitting on a donkey and riding the distance to Nazareth when she’s about to give birth so Joseph can be properly registered and taxed. We’ll save that whole saga for another day.
What I’m hoping will become clear for us this morning, is how awful it all seemed for awhile. How frightened Joseph was. How he was ready to toss in the towel. But he listened to the angel in a dream—he let go of his need to “control” the situation and trusted in the mystery of listening to the word of God through an angel in a dream. And because of his obedience, he played a vital role—vital—in the life of Jesus.
I’ve heard jokes over the years about how Joseph just stands there silently in the nativity behind Mary and the infant Jesus. He couldn’t claim credit for the child’s DNA, he had no words to inspire us, he didn’t even get to choose the child’s name, he’s just “there.” But being there, made all the difference.
If we were to read the first 17 verses of chapter 1 in Matthew, we’d read the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the Son of Abraham. There are 14 generations listed from Abraham to David. There are 14 generations listed from David to the deportation to Babylon. There are 14 generations listed from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah. In verse 16 it reads “Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.”
Joseph listened to the angel and gave Jesus his lineage, fulfilling prophesy. Joseph listened to the angel, offering the protection of a husband and father. Joseph listened to the angel and was essential in leading his family to Egypt, protecting the child from the murderous forces of Herod, ensuring that the baby and his mother would survive. We know that Joseph fulfilled his role of teaching Jesus the skills of a carpenter and the essentials of the faith. We don’t hear about Joseph after the family travels to Jerusalem when Jesus is 12, but we know the significance of his role in those early years, the foundational role he provided.
We can see through Joseph—that being enlisted into the work of God doesn’t solve problems. Looking at Joseph we can see that listening to God, doing what God calls us to do can actually create new and different problems. Because God calls us into a new way. We’re invited—not to live by what seems right to us—but rather to allow God to use us for God’s good purposes.
Joseph’s story is a story of vocation. Joseph isn’t known for what he says, he’s known for what he does. It’s a reminder to us that whatever God wants to do in the world, God does it through ordinary people. God calls ordinary people like Joseph to get the job done. God calls ordinary people, like you and me to get the job done.
Are we willing to listen? Are we willing to respond? (To be doers, and not merely hearers of the word?)
I heard “peaceful joy,” the 4th candle of our advent wreath, tell us this morning, “Stick with it, beloved, it will be alright, even when it doesn’t feel completely right, right now.”
Peaceful joy brings balance to what feels out-of-sorts in the world. In a world that so often feels scary, peaceful joy speaks words of comfort. In a world that values strength and fortitude, peaceful joy portrays vulnerability. In world full of kings and rulers fighting for power, peaceful joy is born in the form of a warm, vulnerable baby.
May we experience peaceful joy as we allow God to use us for God’s good purposes. Amen.
