God With Us – December 19, 2021, the Fourth Sunday of Advent

Isaiah 11:1-9, Matthew 1:19-25
December 19, 2021, the Fourth Sunday of Advent

Once again, an angel of God was sent to talk to one of the people in this story.  First it was Zechariah, then last week it was Mary.  Now, it’s Joseph.  And we read his story today.

I was thinking that I’ve never actually done a sermon on Joseph, but I thought it would be good to do so.  Because Joseph is an interesting character.  And like Mary, he too is a person unique in all history. He was the father, or I suppose I should say “step-father” of the Messiah!

Later on, we know him as a carpenter.  But I said once before that I saw a very good documentary about the birth of Jesus.  (I think it was on the History Channel.)  And during the program, it was said that a good case could be made that the word for Joseph, that we translate as “carpenter,” could also be used to describe “one who tended the tools of a carpenter.”  What made that interesting was that such a person would be considered to be on the lowest of the social scale.  And what made that interesting was that it means that Jesus was born into such a family, a family of the lowest social standing!  That’s the humble way he entered this world!

There’s not too much more that we know about Joseph.  Because he doesn’t say much.  I think I also mentioned before that I saw another program that was specifically about Joseph, I think on one of the religious channels.  And there were people on that program who were talking about him, and they were saying things like, “Joseph was a quiet, humble man who obeyed without objection.”  And as I was watching, I realized that they were attempting to build an entire personality profile of Joseph, based on the fact that he said nothing at all!  And I don’t think we can do that!  Really, the only thing we can say is that the Gospel writers didn’t happen to record any of his words!  We really don’t know if he was a quiet man.  (“Who kept mostly to himself!”)

So, Joseph says nothing at all, at least in this story!  All we know is what Matthew tells us about his intentions.  “When he learned that Mary was with child, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, he resolved to divorce her quietly.”  That’s it.  We don’t actually have his words.

The most we know about him is in that one statement.  Matthew tells us that “when she was found to be with child…”  And the implication here is that this was before their “marriage.”  And marriage and engagement are a little ambiguous here.  I don’t want to get into that for the moment.  For now, I’d just like to look at this statement.  “Being a just man and not willing to put her to shame, he resolved to divorce her quietly.”

Those words have always been a bit of a mystery to me.  “Being a just man?”  Could we say, “being a reasonable man?”  Maybe this was saying that he was concerned about Mary, he wanted to treat her “kindly,” and he didn’t want to “accuse her” or to “embarrass her publicly.”  Because there could well have been some of that.  And was there any potential for embarrassment on his part?  It’s hard to know exactly what was going on here.  But think about this.  Even if he were to “divorce her quietly,” would that have been the end of it?  Maybe there would be no public shame, but there was still a baby to deal with.

So, I’m not sure Joseph’s intentions are all that great here!  It seems to me that his first reaction was one of trying to end the “problem” and avoid the embarrassment – quietly.  And it seems to me that, at least part of this was that he was avoiding his own embarrassment!  And as I look at this story, I think the angel was doing more than just telling him about this child.  He was calling Joseph to accountability.  And he was calling him to take a leap of faith!

“Do not be afraid to take Mary for your wife,” he said.  Again, why would he be afraid?  Was he afraid of what people might say?  Everybody knew each other in those days!  Word got around!  Whatever it was, the angel was calling him to do something uncomfortable.  He was calling him to set aside the social implications here and believe something extraordinary!

This child, and who he was, was way more important than the things Joseph may have feared!  Because this child, the angel told him, would be Immanuel – God with us!  And I think this story emphasizes that God is truly with us – no matter who we are!  He’s not above us, not over us – well, he is those things!  But even as he is those things, he is with us on our level!  He came to this Earth in a lowly, humble way.  He came to be part of an unimportant, un-notable family.  He was conceived in a miraculous way, but one that took some faith to believe, because it did have social implications!

And I think that’s where Joseph was obedient.  Without any further objection, he took Mary as his wife.  Did he understand what it all meant?  I doubt it.  Did he have an idea of how important this would be, and did it cross his mind how unimportant he was?  I wonder.

Whatever he thought, I believe we can think of Joseph and know that God is with us, too!  Because we too might feel like we are unimportant.  But we’re not unimportant to God!  We’re not unacceptable to God.  Our flaws, our fears, our humanness, our sins, do not disqualify us.  In fact, that’s why he came!  God is with us!  And he wants to be with us!  He’s with us in the high points of our lives when our faith is the strongest, but he’s also with us in our lowest of our lows!  He doesn’t wait for us to be “acceptable” to be with us!

That’s what we see in this child of Christmas.  That’s what it means when we think of this poor couple, Joseph and Mary, caring for this newborn child as best they could.  And yes, this is the Son of God!  Yes, this is an amazing, miraculous thing!  And yet, it happened to – and for – unamazing, ordinary people.  Those are the people of the world that “God so loved” when he sent his only Son!  And Joseph embodied that!

I love the old folk hymn we sometimes sing at this time of year, “I wonder as I wander.”  Do you know that one?  And in it it states, that all that happened, has happened for “poor orn’ry people like you and like I!”  And that was the original word in that song.  Later it was changed to “ord’nary” people.  But originally it was “orn’ry.”  And I love that!

So, ornery people, be grateful this Christmas season.  Think of this poor ornery man named, Joseph.  Think of the situation he was in, and how the angel challenged him to believe that he was part of something extraordinary!  And through him, as Paul said of the Ephesians, “May you have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.  (Ephesians 3:18-19)

Prayer

Eternal God, we stand in awe of your love for us.  We are humbled by the humble child of Bethlehem.  Even with all of our own flaws and doubts and weaknesses, you have come into our lives.  Like the Maji of old, help us to seek the Christ child every day of our lives.  For we pray in his name, Amen.