This sermon was delivered at Holy Trinity, Ayr, Ayrshire, Scotland on Sunday the 18th December 2016; Holy Trinity is a Scottish Episcopal Church in the Dioceses of Glasgow and Dumfries.
The readings for today are: Isaiah 7:10-16 Psalm 80:1-7, 16-18 Romans 1:1-7 Matthew 1:18-25
Please join me in a short prayer from Psalms 19:14, “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of our hearts, be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer. Amen.
0.1 Introduction.
From our liturgical Calendar, we find that today is the four Sunday in advent, meaning that the theme and the readings for our service revolves around the annunciation … or the announcement of the birth of Jesus. … The pink candle for today is even known as the Angel's candle, however … our gospel reading from Matthew, focuses very much on Joseph, Joseph whom we know as the earthy father of Jesus … but not his paternal or biological father, … who we know as God himself, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
And this for many people over the years has proved controversial … as many people still deny the virgin birth. … I do not have a problem with that, because away back in Genesis 1 verse 1, the bible tells us that, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”, and as an engineer, … I know that somebody must have created the earth and every living being on it, … so it is only logical that the only person that could do that, is God himself. … And if God created the “all the heavens and the earth”, then … to impregnate a virgin must have been fairly easy for him. It is as simple as that … I don’t understand the fuss.
Anyway, with that in mind, Mary was engaged to this Joseph, and this to me is where the real difficulties lie, because there is a lot of confusion here, with many of the Old Testament values being seriously challenged and disrupted.
0.2 Who was Joseph
And to understand this, we need to examine the character of Joseph to see what was going on … and this is not easy because from all four Gospels, we never hear Joseph speak, … and so many people conclude that he was only a support figure in the nativity story, however … there is a lot more to him than that.
But yes, we can assume he was the strong silent type in the background, he was a working man, an uneducated carpenter, but we also see a man devoted to his wife and his adopted child, so we can conclude that he was certainly handpicked by God somewhere in the story. … This then was a great honour, but an honour that did not come without its share of difficulties, much of which we can only imagine. … [BTW: Joseph and Mary were still sinners in nature, … they were human after all, … good law abiding humans, … good Jews … but they were still living under the Old Testament, because the New Testament had not been revealed].
We now pick up today’s Gospel reading.
And this is where we pick up today’s Gospel reading: Matthew 1 verse 18 says, “This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit”.
We are all used to this verse, we hear it every other Christmas, we may even like this verse, but oh dear come on, … read the last bit again, it says, “before they came together, she was found to be with child”. … “She was found to be with child”, full stop. Forget who the real father was for now, because if you think about it, that would put the kibosh on any wedding today. … So what about back then, in there strict Jewish community? Well, this is where the troubles arose, and to find out more we need to look at this Old Testament Jewish community for a minute, to understand the background.
1 The development of the Jew marriage.
… Now Jewish weddings back then, took place in 3 separate stages: first … there was the contractual stage, legal and binding, typical of being Jewish; second … there was the espousal stage, or the engagement period as we like to call it; … and thirdly there is the actual wedding and consummation stage itself, everything being kept very legal and regimented throughout.
1a Jewish marriages: the contractual stage
In the first stage, the contractual stage … the couple had little to do with the marriage; they had little say in it, because most marriages back then were pre-arranged, … and we can be sure that this betrothal was no different, or the bible would had said … so this means that the parents of both Mary and Joseph would have had all their prenuptials agreed ages ago, … it would have been all done and dusted, with a contract of some kind. … Which means Mary and Joseph grew up knowing who they would marry … and they wouldn’t dare question it.
1b Jewish marriages: the espousal stage
After the contractual stage, there was the espousal stage, what we would call the engagement period, which normally lasted for about a year. Their relationship would be moving on by this stage, as the couple were allowed to spend more time together.
Now, we have to stop here and think for a minute, because this is very easy to say, but we need to think about it, because … they didn’t really fall in love, … they were put together and sort of forced on each other. … And that is different to what we are familiar with today, because we had a choice, … love them or hate them, we were allowed to decide, … whereas back then, they were put together, it was a done deal, … and dare I say, someone to blame.
And yet, nowhere in the bible does God tell us to “fall in love” with someone, or wait till we find the right person, no … we are simply commanded to love … because, and excuse the vernacular, we do not know what we are going to end up with. Right!
But back to the story, … we are still at the espousal stage here where they spend lots of time together, however, they are not allowed to touch each other, because they must keep themselves pure, because that was the way of things back then, … and hell mend anyone who broke that tradition, because, … (and the law was very clear on this), … there were very severe punishments to enforce it. … So we can conclude everyone in the neighbourhood was closely watching Mary and Joseph, as they did with any other engaged couple at the espousal stage.
1c Jewish marriages: the consummation stage
The next stage was the big build up to, and the actual marriage itself, with the big marriage ceremony which normally had a seven day wedding feast, … seven days, what a feast. Anyway, they do not get that far, because somewhere in the engagement period, Joseph finds out that Mary is four months pregnant.
Joseph finds out that Mary pregnant.
And this then must have been a terrible time for both couples, and their families, particularly with the peer pressures of this closely nit community, a community dominated by a strong church. … So what actually happened?
Well, to go back a bit, do you remember that during her time of engagement, Mary had spent the early part of her pregnancy visiting her relative Elizabeth in the Judean hills to the south, so … at some stage, Mary was encouraged to return home to Nazareth, and face her kith and kin, … and her soon to be accusers, … where her pregnancy would become public knowledge.
Can you imagine how distressing that would have been? And what makes matters worse is that according to Deuteronomy 22 verse 23 & 24, Mary being officially engaged to Joseph, would be found guilty of having sexual relations with another man, and thereby could be condemned to death by stoning. … So why did Mary return home? … I don’t know, but she returned home all the same, … and Joseph is quick to find out, and … although we are sure she tried to tell him what happened, … we read that he did not believe.
And neither would her towns folks either. Could you imaging one of the worthies coming up to Mary on the street and saying, “I see you are in the family way. … Who’s the father then?” … Would Mary reply, “Oh I have not been with anyone, it was God himself through the power if the Holy Spirit, that’s how it happened”. … “Oh is O right then”, and then walk away saying, “we’ve goat a right wan here, Holy Spirit, Son of God, is it, eh”!
Who would believe that story? Yet we read it every Xmas and accept it without hesitation. … It is a great thing hindsight, but back then, Joseph did not know what we know today, and Joseph would have been greatly upset. … Not only had is finance lied, but she had been made pregnant by somebody else, … and he was going to lose her, … and he maybe would have to watch her be stoned to death, … and maybe too, … he might be blamed of some of her sin. This therefore was a very disturbing time indeed.
And Joseph would also have been confused as to how it happened, and worse, he was probably so angry deep down, hurt to the core. … And this would have been with him all day and all night, he would be obsessed if not possessed with it all, and he would constantly be looking for a solution or a way out. … So what does he come up with?
Joseph’s Dilemma
Verse 19, “Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to “leave” her quietly”. … So we ask, why did Joseph suggest this? … Well this answer to him did not come lightly, because this was his only and best solution, ”to leave her quietly”. … If Joseph said the baby was his: … it would have been a lie to himself, which he would have to live with; … it would be a lie in that neighbourhood, a nosy neighbourhood that would find out somehow, and you know what I mean; … and it would be a lie before God himself. …
No, the best solution that Joseph could come up with was, ”to leave her quietly”, … and we too would probably come up with the same solution. … Joseph clearly had a dilemma between his love and the law, enforced by his church; … between conviction and compassion, … and so he concluded that it was best if they all walked away quietly.
2. Joseph’s Dream or Nightmare
… But we know that is not what happened, we move on to verse 20, “But after he had considered 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 home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit”. … Can you imagine the relief that that dream gave him, … it would have freed his mind from this dilemma. … It gave him something to work on, and better, he knew the Lord was there watching his back. … However … things were still difficult, because this went against all his human reasoning. … From a human perspective, there were many problems ahead; but that is what the angel told him to do; and who is going to argue with one of them?
… Have you noticed that the Lord never asks us to do anything that is easy; … everything he requires us to do is to be done in faith, blind faith mostly, and here is the case in point, because we know it took a lot of faith for Joseph to take Mary home that day, … as his wife.
3. The Lord is more specific about the baby.
… To move on, and in that dream, the angel of the Lord also told Joseph more about the child, and why he must be protected. Verses 21 to 23 says, “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins”. … All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: … "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel" -- which means, "God in us".
Did you notice the angel saying, “The virgin will be with child”, and not “Mary will be with child”. … Interesting, … but two names were mentioned here, the name Jesus, the promised Saviour to ”save his people from their sins”, … and “Immanuel", which means, "God in us".
3a Jesus.
These are two names that revealed the character of the child: … the first name Jesus, was a common name back then, but Jesus was ordinary in appearance, … even though he did extraordinary things.
3b Emmanuel.
And the other name mentioned is … Emmanuel which means, "God in us". I like this because it means that we don’t serve a God that is away out there somewhere … no, it means God is right beside us, he is right in us, and with us. … John 1:14 goes further and tells us that, “the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us”.
So what did Joseph do?
So with this knowledge, what did Joseph do? … Well verse 24, goes onto say, “When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him, and took Mary home as his wife. Joseph chose to be faithful, and do what God had commended, because this was a big ask, as back in the day, they would have went through a period as if they were actually guilty of immorality and flaunting the laws of God. Today … we hold them in high esteem because Joseph accepted the responsibility of caring for a woman with a child whose father was God.
And this brings me to the end of today's sermon, but I am going to finish with the most important part of this story, the part that Joseph listened to, and acted on what God wanted him to do, … because we know that Joseph stayed by Mary’s side, … and later on we know that he made the trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem where Jesus was born in that stable. … And later on still, we know that Joseph lead Mary and the baby Jesus into Egypt to escape the wrath of Herod. Why, because Joseph listened to, and acted on what God wanted him to do.
And if we are honest, we all struggle with God’s will, … because we have a will of our own … a free will, and I am sure everyone in here has struggled with what God wants from us at sometimes in our lives. And I will give you an example of this, think for a moment, … is there anything in your life that you know that the Lord wants you to do right now, … … and for some reason, you are not doing it? … What if Joseph chose not to obey the Lord?
I know, … how can we compare ourselves to Joseph, but he was human, he was the same as us after all. … We ourselves have our New Year resolutions to think about, resolutions we struggle to keep, so how about tackling that task this year by doing that thing that we know to be the right thing to do, something we have been putting off for some reason or other. … A challenge that we know that will make a difference, something that we know must be done, … something that will start small, but could possibly grow into something worthwhile; … a task or an attitude that will somehow enhance God’s kingdom and give us a little bit of hope for 2017. Think about it now as we have a short prayer, let us pray.
Father we thank you for Jesus, we thank you that his earthly father listened to you, and not the voice of his own reasoning.
But Father listening to you is difficult, and it is difficult to know your voice and what you want us to do. Father over this festive period, please may we ask that you give us an insight into your world, and reveal to us a task or an undertaking that you want us to perform.
Father we are not asking for some great crusade, (although that would be nice), … we are simply asking for a direction, or guidance, … a challenge that we know is the right thing to do, which will help your kingdom, … and something to give us hope in achieving in the New Year.
Father we ask humbly in Jesus almighty name. Amen.
