Sermon 10:30 a.m. Sunday 18 December 2016 – Isaiah 7: 10 – 16; Psalm 80: 1 – 8; Romans 1: 1 – 7; Matthew 1: 18 – end
Last Thursday we had our last Holy Hamsters toddler service before Christmas. Instead of telling a story, I invited the children to help me to set up the Holy Hamsters crib set. We have a delightful knitted set of crib figures which come out every year. Out came the figures from the wicker basket where they live. There were three similar male figures – and we had a little difficulty in distinguishing Joseph from the two shepherds, which set me thinking about today’s sermon. We think about Mary, about her response to God’s invitation at the annunciation and her role as the mother of our Lord. But Joseph can so often seem like an accessory to the action at Christmas time – as shadowy perhaps as Mr May, about whom we know almost nothing that I’m aware of. But a careful reading of our Gospel passage today tells us that this need not be so. Today I’m going to think about what the figure of Joseph might teach us about our own response to God.
First, what was Joseph like?
The Gospel doesn’t tell us anything about Joseph’s age or personality, although it’s likely that he would have been considerably older than Mary. But we are told that Joseph was a ‘righteous’ or a ‘just’ man. So what is meant by this? The appellation ‘righteous’ aligns Joseph with the great figures of the Old Testament, beginning with Abraham. The Old Testament concept of a righteous man is one who lives his whole life in accordance with the Scriptures. This idea is beautifully put in Psalm 1, “his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night” (v2). This is more than dry external observance, it is a joy; it is a living contact with the source of all life, so that he can be said to be like a tree planted by flowing waters, constantly bringing forth fruit in season (v3). The image of those who trust in the Lord being like trees planted by water also appears in the prophet Jeremiah. Such a tree is secure even in times of drought: “It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit.” (Jeremiah 17: 7 – 8)
Joseph’s day of drought comes when he learns that the woman to whom he is already legally betrothed is pregnant. Apparently she has been unfaithful to him. At this point, forgiving her is not an option open to him, even if he loves her, if he is to act in accordance with God’s law, so Joseph decides to divorce her quietly in order to spare her humiliation, thus tempering justice with mercy.
However, just as Joseph has made up his mind, God speaks to him in a new and unexpected way in a dream, shattering all of his previous assumptions, calling him to go against what the Law says, to put aside his scruples about Mary, and to believe that God wants him to accept the child and to be its father. Joseph is able to recognise the dream as authentic because, although it turns his world upside down, it nonetheless resonates at depth with his own understanding and experience of God. His righteousness goes deep, so deep that he is able to overturn his own expectations.
So Joseph responds to the dream and takes action. He takes Mary home as his wife, thus ending the betrothal by making the marriage. This is the first of a number of actions that we’re told that Joseph takes. While the Gospel tells us that Mary demonstrates a passive, but thoughtful acceptance of God’s will, Joseph actively responds. He’s not really at all a shadowy background figure. Three times Joseph receives instructions from God in a dream. The first, when he’s told to take Mary as his wife (Matthew 1: 20 – 21); the second when the child is in danger from Herod, and the family must become refugees and escape to Egypt (Matthew 2: 13 – 15). The third set of dreams comes when Herod has died and Joseph is instructed to return with his family to live in Galilee (Matthew 2: 19 – 23). Each time Joseph must take decisive action; each time he obeys and thus plays his own particular role in the story of our salvation.
As he is portrayed in Matthew’s Gospel, Joseph’s capacity to act stems from his character as one who is righteous; his faith is deeply rooted and informed by his understanding. Because it is a living faith he is also able to respond to the completely unexpected when it enters his life and to take decisive action. The figure of Joseph has much to teach us about our own faith and our response to God’s calling on our lives.
Let us pray that our faith, too may be deep-rooted, a faith with understanding. Let us pray for a living faith, sustained by prayer, so that we too are able to respond to the movement of God’s Holy Spirit. Let us pray that we may be able to discern God’s will, especially when He asks of us something new, something unexpected which doesn’t fit with our previous experience or the way that we think things ought to be done. Let us pray that God’s dreams may be our dreams too.
Amen