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"A Restless Peace" Matthew 1:18-25 |
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Location: Blogs Brad's BlogBrad's Sermons |
 | | Posted by: Brad Miller | 12/10/2007 10:02 AM | The gospel story that is most associated with the coming of Christ is the one found in the gospel according to Luke. It is a lyrical, beautifully presented story of the mystery and the majesty of the original advent season, when the world was first waiting for the messiah to come. It is the one we usually highlight on Christmas Eve, mainly because it is so beautifully written and carries with it such a feeling of awe and power.
But there is another gospel that also presents those events. And it is not as full of light and beauty as Luke. It is a dark story written about a dark time. It’s darkness and tension foreshadow the ultimate need for the light that comes into the world with the birth of Jesus. It is a story that still commands our attention, because this was the world that Jesus was born into, a world that would be changed by his coming. But because that change is incomplete, it also speaks to us today. The world can still be a dark and foreboding place to many, and we can learn from the actions of those involved in this story.
The story begins simply enough. Like so many historical treatises, it begins with a genealogy. This genealogy serves to place Jesus firmly in a place and time in history, and most importantly, connects Jesus directly to the patriarch of the Hebrew people, Abraham, and to the greatest king the Hebrews would ever know, David. Beyond giving us an historical touchstone, this genealogy also places the mantle of royalty firmly on the shoulders of Jesus, a mantle most suitable for the one who is the messiah, king of kings, Prince of peace.
The times cried out for such a messiah. The forced exile of entire cities may have passed, but Roman domination was a fact that the people of Joseph and Mary’s time lived with. It was a Roman decree that led Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem for a forced tax census. It was the Roman dominatior that feared the rise of the messiah so much that an order was issued for the murder of all children under 2 years of age following the birth of Jesus. It was Roman domination that forced Joseph and Mary to take the child Jesus to Egypt following that order. It was the death of the Emperor that allowed them to come home to Nazareth.
It was in the dark shadow of this domination that the story unfolds. For Joseph, it is not only the military and political factors that make the situation confusing and stressful, but his personal situation as well.
What would it feel like to be in Jospeph’s shoes? Not only must he react, like all his compatriots, to the machinations of a world that is out of his control, but now, his personal world is about to spin crazily out of control, too. He, like so many of us today, sought peace in a dark time.
Joseph was a righteous man, we are told. This is important because it implies that he was a devout man and to the devout, the law of Moses would have been followed faithfully and unwaveringly. But Joseph’s righteousness transcends the law in pursuit of justice. His righteousness may cause a bit of a quandary: he wanted to do the right thing, but just how is that achieved when slavishly following the letter of the law seems to violate the spirit of the law?
This quandary becomes reality when Joseph was forced to deal with the fact that Mary, his wife to be, the love of his life, was found to be pregnant, and the baby is not his. Jewish custom of the day was not quite like ours. Being engaged, betrothed, carried with it the full responsibilities of being married back then. Besides just the humiliation that Joseph and Mary might suffer when the truth became known, there are legal consequences, too.
The letter of the law is clear: their betrothal must be ended. In effect, they must be divorced and she must face the consequences of adultery. And just what are the most dire consequences of such charges? Death by public stoning.
But this is Mary! Joseph’s beloved! How in the world could he allow such a thing to happen? It turns out that he couldn’t. He had already made up his mind that he would dismiss her quietly, saving her the shame and ultimately saving her life. This dismissal might have included arranging for her to go live somewhere where she was unknown, where her past would not be held against her.
This is where Joseph’s righteousness begins to show. The letter of the law said that Mary should be divorced and then punished. But Joseph is compassionate. As much as it might have torn him up, as sad as he would have been at losing the love of his life in this way, as angry as he might have been with her imagined act, he still loved her. And so, he was going to act as compassionately as he could toward her. I like to think that Joseph could find some peace in this action, even if he still grieved the loss of the woman he loved.
But then came that fateful night when he had the dream where the angel of the Lord appeared to him and laid out the whole situation.
“Look,” said the angel, “Go ahead with the marriage. Yes, Mary is pregnant, but not by a human father. God’s Holy Spirit has made her pregnant and she will give birth to a son. And listen good here, Joseph: it is the father’s duty to name the son, and you will name him Jesus and he will save his people from their sins.”
Once again, I try to put myself in Joseph’s shoes, or more importantly, in Joseph’s head. He has been anguished by the decision to send Mary away, but it is a decision he has come to accept. There is a peace in knowing that she will be cared for, even if he won’t be the one doing the caring.
And then this: a dream that says, no, there’s a way out of this. There’s a way that Joseph can take care of Mary, can marry her, can be the father to her son, because her conception is a miracle of God!
This is a dream come true! (No pun intended.) This dream has solved the dilemma! If Joseph chooses to believe it is truly a message from God. And, if I’m trying to put myself in his shoes, that’s a big “if.”
If Joseph believes it is just a dream, a dream born out of his restless dealing with his dilemma, and yet he follows the dreams directive, then he still would have to try and make a life with a woman who he believes has been unfaithful to him, and to raise the product of that unfaithfulness as his own son. This would be difficult at best.
But this is not where the dilemma ends. Joseph also faces a soul searching decision even if he does accept the dream as God’s divine message. If people were ever to discover that Mary was pregnant before the wedding, if they were ever to discover that Joseph could not be the father, they could insist that the letter of the law be followed, no matter what Joseph says.
Now let’s be clear here: this is not just civil law as we know it today. This is religious law that not only brings order to the civil community, but that brings order to the faith community as well. These are not laws made by people in organized debate in representative assemblies: these are laws made by God! To violate God’s law is beyond unthinkable for the faithful of Joseph’s day. But that is exactly what he must do if he is to follow the directions of the visiting angel.
Joseph is faced with a choice.
In choosing to follow the angelic instructions, Joseph might easily say, “My God is a god of compassion; my God is a god of second chances; my God is a god of redemption and deliverance. In this case, the law, no matter how well intentioned, does not offer compassion. In this case, the law does not offer second chances. In this case, the law does not offer redemption and deliverance. In this case, I choose God over the law.”
Joseph stayed with Mary. He married her. He welcomed the child she bore. He named him Jesus. And the rest, as they say, is history.
But there is more than the following history that is of importance to us today.
We, too, live in times that sometimes seem dark and foreboding.
We, too, seek peace that will transcend the darkness we experience in our lives.
We, too, want to do the right thing when it comes to following the dictates of our conscience, our faith, and society s a whole.
We, too, can sometimes be faced with the difference between the letter of God’s law as presented in our scriptures, and the spirit of God’s law as we experience the revelation of God’s presence in our lives.
For make no mistake: this is not just a story about obedience. It is not just something that moves the nativity closer. It is not just prelude to what Jesus will do in his life. No, this story is about Joseph clearly setting the stage for Jesus, and for us today, in always seeking God’s presence, always seeking to hear God’s revealed truth, always seeking to serve God’s will.
Jesus took Joseph’s example and went even further. Jesus did not look like the messiah that so many had predicted. He did nothing to forcefully challenge the military and political structure of the day. He did things that left the faithful Hebrew leadership aghast. He did things because they were the right thing to do, even if it meant going beyond the scriptural record left to his people.
And his first role model was Joseph, this righteous man who sought to do the right thing and found a measure of peace in choosing to do that right thing. In Joseph, Jesus had an example of one who believed that scripture was not to be used as a crutch, or as a weapon, but as one part of God’s revealed truth.
We are all faced with difficult choices. We all seek peace in our lives. Joseph and Mary serve as wonderful models in making those choices and in seeking that peace. Their example is useful because their story is not simply one of blind obedience. Rather, it is a story of struggle and faith and perseverance and action. They had a choice every step of the way. And they did not necessarily choose the easiest road. But they did choose God’s road.
When I have faced difficult choices and chosen the road that I believe God would have me follow, I feel a certain sense of peace. But it is not a total peace, a permanent peace. It is a restless peace. A feeling that I am on the right path, but that other choices will have to be made in the future. And it is the prospect of those future decisions, those future opportunities that keep me always on the lookout for God’s presence in my life: as revealed in scripture, in creation, in other people, or in ways that I cannot even imagine.
Joseph and Mary certainly had to feel that restless peace, too. Because the important decisions made before Jesus was born were clearly not the end of their journey: they were just the beginning. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Let us pray:
Gracious and compassionate God, we are in awe of what you can do. But even more importantly, we are so profoundly grateful that you continue to reveal yourself to us. Help us to open our minds and hearts in the reading of scripture, in the revelation of your goodness and love that surround us, in the peace that comes from understanding that we are seeking to do you will. In Jesus’ name we ask it all. Amen.
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