Advent 4

May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

SEASON: Advent 4
PROPER: A
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: December 20, 1998

TEXT: Matthew 1:18-25 All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: "Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel," which means, "God is with us."

ISSUE: Matthew's account of the events and reactions of people surrounding the birth of Jesus is fascinating. Out of a scandalous situation, the savior is born. God is acting in history, bringing about a new creation. Joseph in Matthew's account accepting this seemingly sordid situation is instrumental in allowing God's redemption to take place. (In Luke, it is Mary that is the God-bearer.) Both Mary and Joseph's situation is redeemed. In our own world's scandals and violence, we need to allow the Christ to be central in our lives and his loving grace to flow through us.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Matthew's account of the birth of Jesus is so very different from Luke's story which includes angels and shepherds. Matthew does not have the pageantry of Luke and his emphasis is not so much centered on Mary as the bearer of the Son of God. In Matthew we see Joseph as the more heroic figure. Matthew's account deals significantly with the whole idea that the birth of Jesus is scandalous. God is acting in one scandalous way.
It is helpful to appreciate what the marriage arrangements were like in this period of history in the middle east. They were very different from our own. The New Revised Standard Version we read today says that Mary and Joseph were engaged. That is not really accurate; they were betrothed. The engagement or betrothal of that time was nothing like engagement of our time. Marriages were not individualistic as they are today. A marriage in Jesus' time was the marriage not so much of individuals as the joining of two families. They were made for political and economic reasons, for the betterment of the two families that were of like economic status. A father offered gifts to win a bride for his son that the wants. Women worked out the details of the arrangements and the fathers ratified the agreement. Sometimes the arrangements or betrothal took place long before the wedding. The bride-to-be stayed with her own family until the time of the wedding. However it did require a divorce to annul the arrangement. Marriage was the ritual that removed the bride from her home and sent her to live with the new family and husband. These arrangements were not based on romantic love.
Now a woman who was betrothed to a man, and who became pregnant by someone else brought terrible shame on her whole family. According to Deuteronomic law she could be stoned to death as an adulterous. (Dt.22:23-24) Whether or not this exteme punishment was done in Jesus' time is uncertain. But there would be no question of the terrible shame it brought upon the family. Apparently at about the time the marriage is to take place between Joseph and Mary, Mary is found to be already pregnant.
What Matthew seems intent upon proclaiming is how honorable Joseph is in this situation. Joseph decides at first to simply divorce Mary quietly and end the relationship. He does not want to put her and her family in the position of great dishonor and shame. By divorcing her quietly, he allows the real father of the child to claim the child, and to marry Mary. Matthew is revealing how honorable Joseph is in this very awkward situation.
But according Matthew's account Joseph then has a dream. In these days people believed that they could discern the will of God in their dreams. Joseph dreams that God tells him that the child is a boy; therefore, a prized gift. God tells Joseph in the dream that the child is conceived by the Holy Spirit. The child who will be named Jesus, meaning "Yahweh (God) Saves" shall enhance Joseph's own honor. Joseph who shall adopt this child shall be a bearer of the Son of God, a channel through which God's grace shall flow to the world.
Now as Matthew addresses this account of Jesus' unusual birth to a Jewish community, they would have had in mind the story of Joseph in the book of Genesis. Remember that Joseph in the Old Testament got a really raw deal at the hand of his brothers. Out of jealousy they were to kill him, but sold him instead. Joseph went through really tough times being sold into slavery and then eventually put in jail. Remember too that Joseph in the O.T. was a dreamer. He interpreted dreams that ultimately became his salvation. He interpreted the dream of the Pharaoh of Egypt, and was freed and became the prime minister of all Egypt. But not only that, Joseph forgave his brothers. He redeemed a really bad situation that was ultimately the salvation of his whole family and the nation of Israel.
We know very little about Jesus' father Joseph. He's not mentioned much at all. He is not mentioned in Mark at all. He is mentioned only once in John's gospel as Jesus being son of Joseph. The early writings of Paul make no mention of Joseph. He is a very shadowy character. But what Matthew seems to want to convey is that Joseph was in the line of King David, and he wants to create a character that is very forgiving, and honorable. He wants to root Jesus deeply and profoundly in the Jewish tradition as the continuing action of God working through his people and coming into the world as "God with us" and as "God's Salvation." In the account, Joseph adopts the child that God's plan may be fulfilled. And in the end God in Christ adopts the world with his love and saving grace. What is a truly scandalous situation, the Christ comes to his people though people of faith.
The birth of Jesus was and is a scandalous story. Many of the parables of Jesus are themselves scandalous. The first being last and the first last. Prodigal sons being rewarded, and latecomers in the vineyards getting the same wage as those who bore the heat of the day, and outrageous crooked stewards get commended. God acts in the strangest and most scandalous ways. Yet people who embraced God in faith had their lives changed and became channels of his grace.
We are living today in the midst of a scandalous time. There is scandal in the presidency, ans signs of terrible dishonor. We are just about to celebrate Christmas, the season of peace on earth, and our nation is at war with one of the smallest nations on the face of the earth. One side tells us it is something that has to be done for the future of the world, and still another side tells me this use of force is tragically wrong. As in so many acts of violence in the world, it is the poor, the children, the innocent who become the victims of the world's forces and powers. It is still scandalous that petty and ancient racism and violence prevails on the city streets of a nation throught to be enlightened. It is a despairing and pessimistic scene. It is a world without much honor.
Yet, in the lives of the simple, those shadowy figures, the unsung heroes, and people of faith there is the confident hope and belief that God seeks to come to his world. In all the pain and suffering of the world, Christ Jesus seeks to touch human hearts and continues to be the enlightening hope for the world. We need Jesus Christ as our way, our truth, and in our lifel. We need to make ourselves available to his coming. We need to make ourselves discerning, dreaming dreams and having visions, and allowing the loveliness of God in Christ to come to the world through our faith and through our lives. I know we feel unworthy at times. We feel inadequate. We feel that we have so little control over anything, what's going to happen today much less that what's going to happen tomorrow. So very little is know of Mary and less even is known of Joseph, and yet in this wonderful way, God acted in history and sent to us a Savior and an assurance that God is with us. May we all be open to the saving grace and love of God, and allow the Lord Jesus Christ to endwell our lives and Spirits that we may be the expression of his redeeming and forgiving love in God's world.