“God Is With Us” December 23, 2007 Advent 4

(First, read the text for this sermon: Matthew 1:18-25)

This morning we read the Christmas story in the gospel of Matthew. It’s pretty short, isn’t it? And it’s much different from the story that is beloved and familiar. (That’s the one in the gospel of Luke. That’s the one with the angels and the shepherds and the manger! We’ll read that one tomorrow night.)

Among the many differences between the stories in Matthew and in Luke, one of the most striking is the importance of Joseph. In Luke’s story, Joseph is only a bit player. But in Matthew’s story, Joseph is the central figure! To me, Joseph witnesses to a tenacious faith that God is with us in the messiness of our lives!

The gospel writer describes Joseph as a “righteous man.” That means that he is able to maintain a right standing with God, by fulfilling the religious law. It’s a religious system in which, if you follow the rules, then God is placated, and everything is under control. There’s nothing in this system that’s wild or crazy or out on the margins.

It’s important to understand the religious assumptions Joseph is starting from, because soon he’s going to find himself in a real mess! God is going to pull Joseph far away from conventional religious comfort. How will he respond?

According to the passage, Joseph is “engaged” to a young girl named Mary. The gospel writer also refers to Joseph as Mary’s “husband.” But Joseph and Mary aren’t living together yet. To put it crassly, Joseph hasn’t taken delivery of Mary yet! The property transaction has been completed, between Joseph and Mary’s father. The agreement has been reached, for Mary to be transferred from her father’s house to Joseph’s. The transfer just hasn’t happened yet. Mary is a valuable piece of property because she is a virgin. This was of extreme importance – because property inheritance rules were so important. If men could not be absolutely sure that children born were their own, then the whole system of property transfers would fall apart. (Sorry to be so blunt. It’s just that there wasn’t anything romantic in the religious system Joseph and Mary were living under.)

Here’s why any of this matters: Joseph is secure in his religious status as a righteous man, and he’s lining up his possessions to begin the next stage of his life. But what a mess he now finds himself in. We read in Matthew: Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. (Don’t you love how matter of fact and cryptic that is? Luke’s story has lots more detail about just how this pregnancy happens – but that’s because, there, Mary is the chief character in the story. Here, the story is all about Joseph, and it doesn’t matter how this pregnancy has happened; just that it has happened!)

Mary is “found to be with child.” You and I, dear readers, know that this child is from the Holy Spirit. But at this point, we know more than Joseph! At this point in the story, Joseph doesn’t know anything about God’s involvement in any of this. What he does know is that his property is damaged. The girl he has negotiated to receive from her father is obviously no longer a virgin. (Obviously that’s true, if she’s pregnant!) And Joseph knows that the child is not his! And so there’s no question for a righteous man: Joseph cannot go forward with the legal agreement. He decides to dissolve the arrangement he had with Mary’s father.

In fact, Joseph makes plans to act far beyond the requirements for righteousness! Instead, he’s merciful to an astonishing degree. According to the religious law that defines right standing with God, the penalty for a woman who is pregnant by someone other than her husband is death by stoning. If Joseph was concerned about following the law to the letter, that is what he would demand! But exercising unimaginable grace and mercy, Joseph is willing to release his claim without insisting on damages from Mary’s father.

Unfortunately for Mary, this means that she is destined to scrabble for existence for her and her baby, for however many years her inevitably short life will last. But Joseph is managing this difficult situation well, even if he’s doing it in a way that’s unorthodox. He’s being merciful and, at the same time, he’s doing nothing to damage his status as a righteous member of the people of God. He’s still got things under control!

But just when [Joseph] had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."

Good Lord! The mess has suddenly gotten lots messier! What will Joseph do?

This is a good time to pause, and to enter into the story, right there with Joseph. How is life messy for you? Where is it scary because it seems to be out of control?

Isn’t that the hardest thing to do: to let go of what you can’t control anyway? For instance, many of us struggle with illness and disability. All of us find that, as we get older than, say, 35 years old, our bodies increasingly won’t do what they used to. For some that’s a crisis! Some of us gathered here are suffering through family conflicts. Some of us are hurting from professional disappointments.

Many of us feel our struggles more acutely during these days leading up to Christmas. For instance, our grief over loved ones who have died is more sharp at this time of year. For some of us, there just seems to be something intangible that is wrong, something that’s hard to define. Maybe it’s that we put such a burden on ourselves at Christmas time, of how we “should” feel and celebrate. Pastor Gary Erdos puts this particular feeling well: “Christmas is not like the movies, books, songs and neighbors seem to make it out to be. The possibility for disappointment is great. The likelihood of exhaustion is almost total. Almost all of us vow to make changes in how we deal with Christmas and almost none of us do.”

We try so hard, but there’s so much that’s not under our control! There’s so much that’s messy, and that’s scary!

So let’s return to Joseph, because that’s his situation too. He’s told in a dream, of all places, who this child will be, and the gospel writer adds: 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."

God is with us! That’s the faith statement here. God is with us! Where? Right in our mess!

Indeed, perhaps, it is only when things fall apart, or stress breaks us down; when we admit that we can’t keep it under control, or hold it together; perhaps it is only then that the Holy Spirit can open us to the good news of God’s presence with us. “Emmanuel, which means, God is with us.”

Here are, perhaps, the most significant words in this morning’s story: When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him.

Imagine such faith – such faith that God is with us! That God can be trusted to be present to us, in the mess. That God can be counted on to lead us through the mess.

In the name of God, who is Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Pastor Andy Ballentine
St. Stephen Lutheran Church
Williamsburg, Virginia