Fourth Sunday of Advent

December 23, 2007

Anita C. Hill, Pastor
St. Paul-Reformation Lutheran Church

 

Joseph’s Calling

Isaiah 7:10-16; Romans 1:1-7; Matthew 1:18-25

 

“Where do you put Joseph?” Is Joseph prominently displayed in your crèche scene? Or is he just off center? Maybe relegated to stand near the sheep like an out of place shepherd? Or is he next to Mary by the manger?

In one Nativity set I could not find Joseph anywhere. I was surprised. In the crèche scene my Mother put together, Joseph has always been right next to Mary. That’s where Joseph should be, making sure his son is okay and marveling right along with the mother and the whole angel throng. All too often, Joseph is in the shadows, far from the spotlight on the Christ Child in the arms of his adoring Mother.

 

Joseph’s role is generally to walk along in the story in what Professor James Boyce of Luther Seminary refers to as “a necessary, if somewhat embarrassing,” accessory. Matthew begins by saying: “Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way.”

 

“In this way” is an interesting turn of phrase. Perhaps because the story is that Mary was, to use a euphemistic phrase: in that way, that family way, as she was engaged to Joseph, before they lived together.

 

This morning’s story of the birth of Jesus is not the one most likely to be portrayed in the Christmas pageants being held in many churches this morning. This is not the shepherds watching their flock by might; the one with the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, the one with the Wise Men from the east prematurely at the manger at of Jesus’ birth. This is not the pretty Christmas story we’ve come to know from Luke’s gospel.

 

This is a very human story. This story moves Joseph out of the shadows. Matthew’s story takes great pains to identify Joseph as the father of Jesus, albeit through adoption. Matthew’s opening verses trace out Jesus’ connection to King David through an elaborate genealogy of Joseph’s lineage.

 

Matthew wrote his gospel for the Jews, people who would understand it when he looked back 8 centuries to remind them of language from Isaiah about a “young woman with child who shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.”

 

“Matthew’s birth story gives us a mother, a father, and a child. It’s a very real story of people faced with decisions involving religious traditions, decisions about marriage law and divorce.” It’s a story in which God surprisingly enters human life not only through the Christ Child but through the decisions of a wise young man.

 

Joseph is not a wishy-washy kind of guy. He has strength and purpose. He is committed and faithful to his religious tradition; righteous according to the law. He is ready to divorce Mary but he plans to do so “quietly,” to help her avoid public shame.

 

But an angel comes to Joseph with a word from God that he is to marry her, not divorce her, because her child is from the Holy Spirit. Joseph receives God’s call to step beyond the righteousness of the law he has faithfully lived by and into the righteousness of being obedient to God’s calling.

 

“What happens when our notions of righteousness and justice come up against the ways of God’s creative mercy? Joseph risks becoming disobedient in the eyes of the world and becoming outcast in his family for the sake of being obedient to God’s call. Righteousness is recast in this story as faithfully responding to God’s call, because Joseph is challenged to do exactly the opposite of what the law expected of him.

 

I know obedience is not a comfortable word in our times. We don’t want to think about a God who will ask us to do something we don’t want to do. We want God to be in conversation with us as a mentor, as a dialogue partner, an advisor, not as the Ruler of the World, as the LORD whom we must obey.

 

As we prepare for Christmas and to receive God’s child, we might also ask what happens when God is an intrusion into our nicely laid plans and decisions. How do we know when God is speaking to us?

 

We take our hopes and dreams along with our big decisions to God. And we listen. God’s response may be as mysterious as a dream. It may be a daydream. It may be a still small voice within calling you to do something to respond to the pain of the world.

 

God has a purpose for you. It may not be the largest role. But without you, God’s plans may take a longer time to be realized. God’s in charge; let me be clear. I believe God’s reality will come to pass whether we take part or not. But let me also be clear that each one of us has a role to play in God’s story

 

We might feel like our role is thankless, like nobody cares. We may be uncertain about our vocation. We may not know exactly what our role is. It may seem that only God knows. But there is a master plan. And you can open yourself to let God lead you, to listen to the voice of God’s angel in your dreams.

 

Don’t let uncertainty or the feeling of insignificance cloud your way. Every one of our lives has significance. We stand in God’s light and the cosmic scheme of things. God has given us life in Christ that is not meant to be hidden in the shadows.

 

Listen to the dream of your heart. Be open to it. Dreams matter. You may not have an angel in your dreams, but you have dreams. You have a purpose. But none of us has a crystal ball to see the future.

 

Joseph became Mary’s husband before the fullness of the story was revealed. He went forward based on what he’d discerned was God’s instruction for him. Similarly, we have to allow for uncertainty as God’s plan for our lives unfolds.

 

“In Advent we pray, ‘Stir up your power, O God, and come.’ Are we really ready to risk that such a prayer might be answered? To be open to this story of God’s calling, of birth and adoption, is to invite the possibility that obedience to God may transform us and lead us in ways we’ve never imagined.”

“Jesus is for Matthew the fulfillment of all of God’s promises. And God’s promises frame this story just as they frame each day of our lives. We live with the awareness that God’s power is among us and ready to lead us in ways that we can only imagine.”

 

Are we obedient enough to open our dreams to the guidance of God? Professor Boyce says: “If we do not anticipate the birth of Christ both with hope and a bit of anxious worry, as Joseph did, we are not sufficiently tuned o the implications of God’s presence among us.”

 

Realizing that, it doesn’t matter where we place Joseph in our Nativity. With the shepherds in the shadows or beside the crib. The bright light of Christ shines on all of us. That’s what it means that Jesus is born. Immanuel is God with us.

Amen.

Resource: Working Preacher, James Boyce, 12-23-2007.