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Matthew 1: 18–25
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Lord, may we hear your voice in the words spoken in your name. Amen.
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We’re almost there. For those of you who’ve been
counting, this is the fourth and final Sunday of Advent. By next
weekend we will be telling the ancient and wondrous story of the God
who loved us so much he came in humility to dwell among us – to
shine his light on our darkness, to share our
struggles . . . and finally to lead us
home.
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But there are two different New Testament accounts telling us how all
of this happened. Luke tells the story from Mary’s point of
view. According to Luke, it’s to Mary that the angel Gabriel
came, telling her she’d found favor with God and announcing
God’s startling plan to bring Jesus, Emmanuel,
God–with–us — into this world. With the help of
the Holy Spirit, the angel tells Mary, this will happen through her
own young body.
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Even earlier in Luke’s account it’s to Mary’s cousins,
Zechariah and Elizabeth, that the angel Gabriel announces the birth of
John the Baptist, Jesus’ forerunner. In response to
John’s birth, his father Zechariah prophesies. In response
to Elizabeth’s warm greeting, Mary sings Magnificat. And
in response to Jesus’ birth, the starry heavens split wide open
and a whole host of angels sing, “Glory to God in the highest and
on earth peace, good will toward men.” That’s the
way Luke tells the story – sort of like a Broadway musical, with
people breaking out into prophetic, Holy Spirit–inspired song
all over the place.
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But Matthew, Matthew takes a different approach. Matthew tells
the story from Joseph’s point of view. And Joseph is a man
of few words, as solid and simple as the wood he fashions into ax
handles and sturdy plows. He is also a righteous man, who knows
the Law, whose heart inclines towards mercy.
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But one day this good man, this righteous man, awakens to find his
life in shambles. His trust seems to have been betrayed. His
betrothed is telling him she is pregnant. His good name — and
the name of his family, he thinks — will be ruined. And his
dreams lie shattered in a million pieces at his feet. I can only
imagine the waves of shock and grief and anger that roll through his
mind, day after day.
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And then there was the question of what he was to do about it. He
knows what the Law says. The Law says he must break off the
engagement, accusing Mary of infidelity. The Law also allows the
possibility that Mary will be stoned to death for her crime. More
often, in fact, the woman accused of such behavior was disowned by her
family and left to eke out an existence for herself and her child from
whatever she could beg or steal. But this is where we see the
gentle goodness of Joseph. For even before he knows God’s plan,
even before he’s been visited by the angel in a dream, he has
determined to break off the engagement as quietly as he can – to
spare Mary public disgrace.
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But God has another plan, an impossible plan. God usually
does. In the face of the Law’s
“No” . . . and
society’s “No” . . .
and his own common sense saying,“No. No way!”
God comes to Joseph through an angel in a dream and tells him
that, against all odds, the answer is “Yes.”
Yes – he should marry Mary. Yes, he should raise this child
as his own. “Don’t be afraid,” the angel
tells him in the dream. “Mary is pregnant by the Holy
Spirit. Don’t be afraid. Just take her as your
wife.”
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Joseph doesn’t need another word. Nor in Matthew’s
version does he say a word. He simply marries Mary, letting go of
his own dreams so he can enter into God’s dream for the world.
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I suspect that most of us have been in a similar place. We’ve
had our hopes and our dreams and our schemes. We’ve probably
worked hard to make it all happen. But one day we awaken to a very
different reality. We find ourselves surrounded by circumstances
we never chose, living a life we’d never imagined. Our first
impulse is to get as far away as we can – to divorce ourselves
from the whole mess. But all too often there are other people
involved – people who might be hurt by our actions. So to us,
as well, the whisper comes. “Don’t be afraid.
God is here. This might not be the life you imagined. This
might not be the life you chose. But if you will allow it, God can
be born in this situation as well.”
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“If you will allow it . . . ”
That’s a great big “if.” It always takes
us by surprise that God’s plans require human cooperation.
Not just God’s plans for you or me personally, but God’s plans
for the whole world. But that’s what faith is all
about. It’s about saying, “Yes” to God when
every common sense voice, every worldly voice, every cynical voice
around us is saying “No.” And then, like Joseph,
we’re to act on that faith, daring to believe that God is
still with us, still struggling to be born – not just in spite of
the mess, but in some strange way right in the midst of it.
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May God grant us all a faith like Joseph’s.
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Amen.
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