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| An Icon of St. Joseph holding the Christ Child |
© Seth Olson 2019
December 22, 2019—The Fourth Sunday of Advent
It does not take much to change a life: A word softly spoken by a doctor. The welcome aboard email from a new company. A plummet in the market. The vibration of a phone on the night stand, and the 2 AM conversation that follows. A chance encounter. A smile. A friendly “hello.” Our lives can change in an instant. Whether we are ready for these changes—hoped for or dreaded, expected or out of the blue—whether we are ready for these changes is a completely different story. In these moments of upheaval, we are not alone though. We always have God. We have each other, of course. And, as evidenced in today’s Gospel lesson, we have the example of faithful ones who went before us, people like Joseph.
In the Church we talk a lot about Joseph’s wife Mary—and rightfully so! We sang a version of Mary’s words, “The Magnificat” during our Lessons and Carols service last Sunday. We heard part of her story then too. The angel Gabriel visited Mary announcing that she would bear the Son of God through the power of the Holy Spirit. The ability for this faithful person to say “YES!” to God even though it really complicated her life truly inspires us. Therefore, we remember Mary. We highly regard her as the God bearer or the theotokos and the Mother of God. Oftentimes though we overlook Mary’s husband.
However, today we recall the moment—or really moments—that changed Joseph’s life. In those days, betrothal was a big thing, a problematic thing too. Family elders would pull the strings of engagements—instead of the people actually involved in the relationships. There is no getting around the shameful truth that women were seen as property before they were seen as people. Being seen as such it would not have been surprising to pursue a harsh punishment, if say Joseph found out that Mary, his betrothed, was pregnant with another’s child. According to the Law, handed down from Deuteronomy, Joseph could have even had Mary stoned to death. However, that was not who Joseph was. He was a righteous man. Still his response to the news was not completely positive either.
Upon hearing that Mary was pregnant, Joseph planned to dismiss Mary quietly. Essentially he was going to null the marriage contract as privately as possible. We do not discover in Holy Scripture what the conversation was like when Mary told Joseph her news, or if she was the one to tell him at all. The news of a pregnancy is surprising enough. When Joseph discovered that Mary was pregnant with someone else’s baby, it was one of those life-changing moments. And, after regaining some composure—Joseph set about to null the marriage contract. Then, something else happened. Another—even more profound—existence-altering instants transpired.
While Joseph was sleeping, God contacted Joseph directly. To put it in a modern analogy God direct-messaged Joseph, the Lord DMed Joe which sounds like the plot to the CBS show, God Friended Me. In this vision from Matthew, God employed a messenger to change the course of Joseph’s life. The angel said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.”
Three things about this message from God. First, this messenger knew who Joseph was. Knew his story. Knew his people. Knew his lineage. God knew Joseph (and God knows us too). Second, the angel essentially said, “Joe, don’t panic. Keep calm and carry on.” This is, of course, easier said than done. However, when an angel says something those words carry more significance than a normal dream. Finally, the message to Joseph is as simple as it is clear—this is God’s child.
Let me pause here for just a moment. Imagine being in Joseph’s shoes—or sandals. You have just discovered that your betrothed is not pregnant with someone else’s child, but is pregnant with God’s child. Of course, there has to be some panic. Scratch that, there has to be some shock! “How can this be happening?” is the PG version of the question running through Joseph’s head. Still, he had to comprehend on some level, God chose this. Not only for Mary, but for Joseph as well. His part in this was massive. He had to be faithful, meaning, he had to trust God like Mary did. He had to say, “YES!” like Mary did.
Time-in! Joseph was then given a task by the angel. “You must name this child Jesus,” the messenger told him. This is the Greek translation of the Hebrew name, Joshua. What does Joshua mean? The angel said, “he will save his people from their sins.” Now, dear friend what you may not know is that right before this Gospel story for today began, Matthew opened his telling of the Good News with a list of names. Sounds pretty boring right? Sounds like these names have nothing to do with the name of Jesus? Well, these names trace backwards through generations of God’s People. Not all of them were commendable or even decent folks. Sure, some were, but none of them carried out what the angel is proposing here. Joseph’s soon-to-be-adopted son would save his people from their sins. Who are these people? Spoiler alert: the whole arc of the Good News of Christ expands this definition from God’s Chosen People of Israel to all peoples. This means Jesus saves us too.
Now Joseph awoke from his dream. Impressive, right? But then he did something more. He actually followed the instructions of the angel. Have you ever woken up from a dream and said, “Let’s live this thing out!”? I mean not the dream when you are paranoid because you forgot your clothes and now you are preaching a sermon in your pajamas… no, you haven’t all had that reoccurring dream?
Right, good me neither. Joseph’s dream though was not some random amalgamation of experiences his subconscious was still processing. No, it was, according to Matthew, a vision from God, a direct message from the Creator of the Universe. And because of this Joseph said yes. He took Mary as his wife, he supported her as she bore the child, and he named him Jesus.
So, all of this is beautiful, and perhaps it is even inspiring to us. Maybe we leave here thinking that when something tough is happening we can be faithful like Joseph. But, say we don’t have a vision from God? What if we aren’t as faithful as Joseph? Is there more that is actually going on here in this Christmas story? And yes, I know we are in Advent, but the Lectionary people let a Christmas story into our quiet season of preparation—make no mistake about it…Jesus is already born in this Gospel lesson!
Why this story of the incarnation matters to us though has everything to do with those little moments that change our lives—those instants when the proverbial toothpaste comes out of the tube and there is no way it’s going back inside. All of us more than likely will have a few of these moments in our lives—a proposal, a pregnancy test, a miscarriage, a birth, a divorce, a new job, a move, a retirement, a death, and so many others. In these moments, yes we have faithful examples. In these moments, yes we have each other. But most importantly, in these moments, we have God.
God is here. Not in some ethereal kind of way. No, God became incarnate. God became flesh and dwelt among us to peek ahead to John’s Christmas text. As Isaiah foretold and Matthew retold, “Look, the young maiden shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means “God is with us.” Now, Joseph named him what the angel told him to name him, not what scripture says; however, there’s a bigger picture being revealed here.
God is with us. Jesus was born. He breathed the air we breathe. He lived in the same world we live in. He cried as a baby—I don’t care what our Christmas hymns say—he was fully human and humans cry. He had human needs, he did human things, he ate, he drank, he danced, he laughed, he looked, he smelled, he tasted, he heard, and he felt. And in all of that in every bit of him being a human being he made every bit of our mundane, everyday life holy. Yes, all of it.
And what is more the one who was (and still is) Emmanuel—God is with us—had little moments that changed the course of his life. Whether in the synagogue the Temple, or the carpentry shop; on the road, at the market, or at home; on the shore, out at sea, or up a mountain, Jesus had life-changing moments too. So he made our existence-altering instants holy as well. Then, he took part in moments when he said or did something, or he was who he was and those moments changed other people’s lives too.
Jesus, the one who saves us from our sins, saves us still. Emmanuel, God who is with us, is with us not just in the Christmas card moments—when everything looks shiny and happy and bright. But, our God is with us in the messy moments, the life-changing ones, just like God was with Mary and Joseph, as they navigated the challenging circumstances of Jesus’ birth. God is with us in the little moments when our lives change forever because through the incarnation of Christ in the person of Jesus, God came to be with us at all times and in all places. So no matter what season of life we are in, no matter what little moment awaits us today, tomorrow, or in the future, may we trust God, like Mary and Joseph trusted God, for God is with us always. Amen.
