Sermons for the Month
A Father's Love
DATE: December 23, 2001
TEXT: Matthew 1:18-25“To all of you Saints here this morning, grace and peace to you from God our Father, from His Son, Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. AMEN
The more familiar Christmas story is St. Luke's account, in which the angel Gabriel comes to the young woman Mary; and the rest of the story, with angels and shepherds and a baby in a manger because there was no room in the inn, is told basically from Mary's point of view, although if St. Luke had been a woman, I think we would have heard more than simply "the time came for her to be delivered and she brought forth her firstborn son…" How many hours was she in labor? What did she say to Joseph when in between contractions he said, "Good news, honey, we can stay in the barn?" Details, Luke, we want details! The other Biblical account of Jesus' birth, that of St. Matthew which is the text appointed for today, tells the story with Mary's husband Joseph as the main character, and we all know that men and women will tell the same story rather differently. Of course, we don't get a lot of detail in this account, either. Often the Bible is so frustratingly brief in its description of people and events, and then we try to fill in the gaps with some informed guesses. What do we know about Joseph? The Bible tells us that 1) he was descended from the royal line of King David; 2) he was a "righteous man;" 3) that he was a carpenter; and that's about it. But from the little we are told, we can form a picture of this man who was to fill the role of "father" to the very Son of God. Joseph, like Mary, was just as ordinary as you or I. He was a craftsman, and of necessity then, a businessman; an active member of his faith community; a young man who had established himself and now had become engaged and was ready to settle down to family life. Suddenly, part of his world crumbled -- his bride-to-be told him she was pregnant, and whatever else she tried to tell him in that conversation, Joseph knew one thing for sure, that HE hadn't had anything to do with it. He assumed, naturally, that his fiancée had cheated on him; and it's a rare man who could be so understanding as to go ahead with wedding plans and raise as his own the child who was a tangible reminder of his wife's unfaithfulness. Joseph couldn't see himself doing that, at least not in the midst of his initial sorrow and anger. So, he had two other choices. In his culture, betrothal, or engagement, was a contract as legally binding as marriage is in ours. It could only be broken by a legal divorce. Joseph had the right according to the law of Moses to take Mary before the local synagogue, deny his paternity of her child, and publicly accuse her of infidelity as grounds for divorce. He was, after all, the one who had been wronged as far as anyone could see, and if Mary became the talk of the town, disgraced, shunned, or worse, well, she had brought it on herself. But…Joseph was not a lawyer or a legalist; he was a righteous man who still had compassion and caring for the woman to whom he had pledged his life; and so as he tossed and turned and tried to decide what to do, he was leaning toward the second option open to him. According to some interpreters of the Torah, an engagement also could be dissolved privately in the presence of only two witnesses, with no explanations given or accusations made, sort of our "no fault" arrangement except only the man could be the one to say "it's over!" Of course, if he could find a rabbi who would do that, then Joseph ran the risk that he would end up being the bad guy, as if he'd gotten this poor young woman pregnant and then got cold feet and walked out on her. In a culture which placed great emphasis on a woman's honor and in which her male relatives probably had weapons of some sort, I'm sure this meant that Joseph would have had to consider leaving the village of Nazareth ASAP. Yet it seems that that's what Joseph was intending to do, that's what he was willing to do to protect Mary. Wrestling with his own pain and anger, here's a guy who is willing to sacrifice his pride, his reputation, perhaps his home and his livelihood, and all for the sake of the one who he thought had betrayed him. Not a bad model for a son, is he? Of course, that was just the beginning of Joseph's story. As if his life wasn't complicated enough, now God sends his angel into Joseph's late-night struggle, and God asks something immeasurably greater of him. Joseph, the village carpenter, is called by God for a unique and awesome role. Joseph is called to be a father to the One whom the prophets of Israel had foretold, the One who was to be the son of David for whom His people had hoped and prayed for centuries, whose birth would be the sign of Immanuel, "with us is God;" whose name was to be in Greek "Jesus," in Hebrew "Yeshua" or Joshua," the One who would rescue his people from their wilderness wandering, who would bring them safely home from exile, and at last lead them into the Promised Land of the Kingdom of God. Just as Mary said to Gabriel, "Let it be to me according to your word," so Joseph was quick to say "yes" to God's call. It's likely even that he went to Mary's father and arranged to have the wedding date moved up because, well, you know how people count the months when the first baby comes along so soon after the honeymoon; and he wanted it to be very clear that Mary's child was his responsibility, willingly and gladly assumed. It's an awesome challenge for any of us to be parents, to receive from God the gift of an infant human life; to provide for him, to protect him from harm; to give her loving affirmation and consistent discipline; to see that she receives a good education, academically, morally, and ethically; to nurture him in faith and in the love of the Lord from infancy onward. And here is Joseph, taking on that responsibility for God's own Son. What faith he had, this carpenter, faith that the God who had chosen him for this fatherly role would give him the wisdom and courage to carry it out. And so, Joseph was a father to Jesus. Probably he helped to bring him into the world as Mary labored in the darkness of a cold stable. He protected the baby from the threat of death at the hands of Herod by escaping with his family to Egypt. As the years went by, Joseph worked hard to provide food and clothing and shelter for his wife and son; he played with little Yeshua the way daddies play with their kids; he taught him to understand a firm "No!"; he trained him in the carpentry shop to do a good and honest day's work. Joseph loved the boy and was proud of him; and he told him the stories of the great heroes of the people of God, of Abraham, Moses, Joshua, David; He taught him the prayers, the Scriptures, the traditions of their faith; took him regularly to synagogue and up to the temple for festivals once the boy was old enough to make the journey to Jerusalem. We never hear of Joseph again after Jesus was 12 years old, so we assume that he died sometime during Jesus' teenage or young adult years. I'm sure that Jesus wept at the loss of this kind and gentle and righteous man who had raised him, this man Joseph, whose fatherly love for Jesus was a reflection of the love of God, the Heavenly Father. None of us are going to be asked to take on the unique calling in life that was Joseph's. But we each of us have our own particular place and network of relationships in which God has placed us. At this time of the year, those relationships come especially into focus -- father, mother, daughter, son, grandparent, sister, brother, teacher, employer, supervisor, co-worker, neighbor, teammate, friend, and within them lie OUR unique roles, our individual callings in life; with one another, to be loving, loyal, patient, forgiving, generous and welcoming; before God, to be humble, obedient, and trusting in His grace, saying "yes" to the ministry He gives us, like Joseph, to be a channel, a reflection of the Heavenly Father and Friend. And God says to us as he did to Joseph and to Mary, "Don't be afraid!" to say "yes" to His call. For He forgives us our inevitable failings; he strengthens our courage to go forward; gives us the wisdom to walk along His path, when we remember to ask; and gives us joy in doing so. He redeems our foolish and even heartbreaking mistakes; and over and over again, he gives us love, fills our lives with it, that we might be ever more able to love in response. He is the God who is FOR us, and WITH us -- Yeshua, our Savior; Jesus, our Em-man-u-el. AMEN