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Sunday, December 19, 2010
Oh Baby!
By Rev. Jerry Herships
Matthew 1:8 – 25
18Now 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. 19Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. 20But just when he 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. 21She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: 23“Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.” 24When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, 25but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.
What do we think of when we hear the word “righteous?” Do you think of someone who is always doing the right thing? Or do you think of it as a negative? “Well, you don’t have to get all righteous on me.” And we don’t only have to decide if it’s a positive or a negative; we have to decide what the word right really means. The real question is what is right? Who gets to decide what is right?
In this passage we read, her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. Righteousness was easy to define in Joseph’s day. Righteous people in Joseph’s day strictly adhered to the law. Period. By being engaged, Joseph and Mary were already considered legally married so unfaithfulness would have been adultery and Joseph would have been justified to divorce her, even have her put to death. What is a “righteous” man to do? Does he follow the letter of the law or rather side with grace? Joseph chooses to act out of care for Mary rather than strictly adhere to the law.
Haven’t we all, in one way or another, found ourselves in similar situations? It may not have been as dramatic, but none the less, similar. We have to decide if we are going to live out the heart of the law or the letter of the law. We are trying to decide what’s…right.
It’s not like Joseph doesn’t know the law. This is like a Sermon on the Mount moment; he is dealing with the “you-have-heard-it-said…but-I-say-to-you,” sort of thing. Does he go with what he has been taught his whole life or what he feels is the loving thing to do? This is the dilemma facing the people of Matthew’s church. They were Jewish Christians who always obeyed the law and suddenly, there is a newer, kinder, more grace filled moment presented to them. Do we do what we understand the strict letter of the law to be, or do we follow this new, higher understanding of righteousness to which Jesus leads the people of the Matthew community?
To the writer of Matthew’s gospel, Joseph represents the perfect disciple of this new understanding. He is always looking for the grace and the love and the forgiveness in a given situation, rather than following “the rules” that have always been set up. This is the new higher consciousness of the kingdom, a new understanding. This is the kind of thinking that Jesus is going to bring into the world when he grows up. Remember, Matthew knows the whole Jesus story when he writes this good book. He is using Joseph to model the new life that people will have in Jesus. Jesus’ dad represents the message of Jesus. Well done Joe!
When have you found yourself in a similar spot to Joseph? You want to do the right thing but realize it might not be the same as “going by the book.” That is a tough tension in which to live. That is the tension in which the people of Matthew’s church found themselves.
It is especially hard when the “book” that we are going by is the Bible. Many churches struggle with anyone, ANYONE questioning their thoughts, ideas and practices. I pray we are always open to debate and discussion here at AfterHours. The job of those on the cutting edge of their faith is to question. There will always be questions that need answers. And what scares many Pastors and churches is that we won’t have the answers. Now, I can help you out there, I’ll cut to the chase for you. We don’t. We might have more education on matters of religion, though not always, but we are pilgrims struggling along the same path that you are.
Do we have the courage to stand up against the company line when we don’t think its representing the law that Jesus put in front of us? The law to love, the desire for grace or the need for forgiveness. We can find justification for just about ANYTHING in the Bible. There are all kinds of things that were justified in a certain time and place. Does that mean they are right for today and this time and place? Should we stone people? Should we shun people from our community of faith? Should we exclude people for living a less than perfect life?
My own life is challenge enough. I have to deal with eating and spending and not exercising enough, with wasting too much time and not praying enough. Not forgiving enough and judging too much. Can anyone say they have it all together? Then how can we possibly point a finger at another?
I truly believe that Joseph was hurt when he found out that Mary was pregnant. How could he not have been? And the excuse wasn’t that helpful either! It definitely qualified as “well, that’s a new one! God made you pregnant…well I’ll be.” You didn’t hear that excuse every day. Make no mistake, it wasn’t an easy decision that Joseph had to make. Yet he was righteous. Not only did he not STONE her….he didn’t even want to embarrass her. He knew what would happen to her in the community. Nazareth was a small town, no more than 150-200 people. If you grew up in a small town you know that everybody knows EVERYBODY’s business. It was the same way in Nazareth. She would have been shamed. She would have been considered damaged goods. No man would have any relations with her. She couldn’t work. She would have been persona non grata. It would have been a living death sentence.
As we know from the story, Joseph didn’t need to follow through with the “quiet” divorce. The angel intervened. Here is some advice, WHENEVER you can have an angel intervene, do so.
I want to dive a little deeper into Joseph’s role, but first I want to tell you a little bit about my and Laura’s exciting days in Hollywood. How’s that for a segue?
When Laura and I lived in Hollywood we both started as soon as we got there doing extra work. Extras are the people who help set the environment for a scene. They are like living props. They are not to speak. They are only there to been seen and not heard. The next step up from being an extra is getting a part as an “under five.” They are people who have under five lines. That’s a big deal. Under fives are usually the folks you see saying things like, There’s a phone call for you doctor and your table is ready, right this way. Laura and I both did a lot of extra work on different shows. Ask her about The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. The show that we both worked on the most was Days of Our Lives. Definitely in the part of seen and not heard. Extras are the low man on the Hollywood totem pole.
We have some correlations with our Bible passage today. Both Hollywood and the Bible are big on roles and the parts we play.
Once again, in our story, God turns the values of the world upside down. The entire Christmas story is a story of questioning our assumptions. As I mentioned, we have an angel intervene. In fact, the angel is the only one in this passage with a speaking part. Not a “star” but not an under five either! Joseph and Mary don’t say a word in this passage. As a matter of fact, in all the scriptures, not a single word is recorded coming from Joseph. I get the sense that Joseph was the strong silent type. He was a carpenter, a blue collar guy.
Regarding this miracle between God and Mary, it is obviously a big deal. As a matter of fact, it is the first miracle of the New Testament and a pretty important piece of the story. And yet, our leads; Mary and Joseph don’t have a single line. The extras in our world are the stars of the Christmas story. This is just the first time we see this happen. We will see it again with the Shepherd’s, and with the location of the Jesus birth.
God takes what we deem lowly and makes it the shining star of the story. We have to always remember that the things that this world places in importance God often does not, and conversely, God will take the lowly of this world and raise them up and hold them in high praise.
In many ways, Joseph is often viewed as almost an extra in this story. And yet, had he divorced Mary, which by law, he had every right to do, we would have a very different story. If this “righteous” man had adhered to the letter of the law, he could have, in the process, killed both Mary and the baby in her womb! Let’s hear it for those who go against the status quo! Get this: If Joseph had followed the letter of the law, Jesus would never have brought us the good news that we don’t have to always follow the letter of the law! Where do you suppose Jesus learned that? Like father like son!
There is always going to be a need for rules and regulations. They are important to keep our society running smoothly. The danger becomes, to paraphrase Jesus, “are the laws made for man or man for the laws?” Let us always question what writer and Pastor Phil Gulley calls, “the spiritual status quo.” I will say more about that next week at 11:00 pm on Christmas Eve at St. Andrew. Get ready…we are getting close to one of the most amazing things to ever happen in the history of our faith. We are about to watch Jesus turn the world upside down.