As we continue to experience the Word of the Lord together, Let us Pray. Inspiration of the Ages, you have taught us how to live in love. Help us to strive for living in love all of our days. Use this time and these words for your purposes. Speak Lord, your servants are listening. If these words are not Your Word, may they be forgotten and come to naught. But if they be Thy Word, may they adhere to our hearts, forever transforming us from glory into glory, into the creatures you would have us be, Thou who art our Rock and Redeemer, Amen.

Hear now The Word of the Lord as it comes to us in the gospel of Matthew. Listen. Matthew 1.18-25. The Word of the Lord…Thanks be to God.

The Nativity set in the store window is wonderful, intricate, extensive. I delighted in walking by it our first year in the quaint area of downtown Princeton. It sat, and I presume still sits in the storefront next to the coffee house where I would study. It was a great place to study, quiet, smelled wonderful, no students. So unlike the library, folks weren’t regularly coming up and talking to you, and there was always some good jazz on the speakers. Second year studying there I noticed a difference in the manger scene in the shop next door. First year Joseph was in the blue tunic. Second year, in the camel colored tunic. I’m colorblind, so I figured it might be me. But I’m also curios, so I stopped in one day. I asked the store-keep, who also happened to be the owner. “It’s always a yearly dilemma,” he told me. “Really, any of five or six shepherds is a good candidate for Joseph. When I set it up, I use this guy. When my wife sets it up, she uses this one in the blue. Every year we look in the stable and wonder if we have the right man as the father of baby Jesus.” … Course, that was Joseph’s question too; “Who’s the father?”

We have a cheap, child friendly crèche at home. My mom bought it last year, so that Kayla, and in years to come Murphy, would have an “it’s okay if this set gets destroyed by young hands” set. It has, as Kayla has noted, two “Jofus.” This one, or this one could be Jofus, or Joseph. Turns out, even simply manger scenes have a problem with the father of Jesus. It’s kinda awkward.

Matthew is the only gospel that deals with Joseph at all. Otherwise, like in our nativity sets, he gets lost in the crowd and shuffle. And even in Matthew, he appears in chapter one, disappears by the middle of chapter two, and never once utters so much as a single word. The opening of the gospel that appears first in our New Testament spends 17 verses detailing Joseph’s family tree, and then shows an awkward connection to Jesus.

And awkward their connection was. But then, both biologically and theologically speaking, the incarnation is awkward. The notion that the Lord, Creator and Ruler of the universe would become a baby in human flesh has always been a difficult thing around which to wrap one’s mind. See, for Joseph himself, the difficulty with the incarnation was not just biological. His difficulty also engages the theological. Being engaged in his day, Joseph had already signed the marriage license. Even though they weren’t living together yet, everyone knew that they were Mr. & Mrs. of Nazareth. If a problem arose during the time of engagement, you couldn’t just take the ring back and cancel the caterer, you had to file for divorce. Add to that what he hears from Mary. From the story she told him about how she became pregnant, Joseph must have vacillated back and forth, oftentimes being more concerned about her morals and other times being more concerned about her sanity.

So, looming right behind the paternity question for Joseph is the question about what he should do about the marriage. About Mary. About this baby. Joseph is described as a righteous man, meaning he knew the scriptures and lived according to the law. By the law, he had two options to remain righteous. Option one, cast Mary out in disgrace with a divorce. Option two, have Mary stoned to death. These are the right choices of a law abiding, righteous individual. It’s in the Bible. The Bible said it, I believe it, that settles it.

The problem with that is, you can use the Bible to do all sorts of terrible things. The Bible was used to put people in, and keep them in, slavery. It’s in the Bible. The Bible has been used to keep women away from their God given calls in ministry. But it’s in the Bible. You can justify killing. It’s in the Bible, would you like me to show you? It always upsets me when folks use a proof text from the Bible, but haven’t cared enough to make sure that the sentence they use is congruent with the nature and character of God. This book isn’t just a compilation of one-liners. It is a whole story, in which the nature of God is unfolded before our eyes. If you’d like, I can pull texts out of context with the best of them. No one should ever get married. It’s in there. People who don’t tithe and give above that to the church and to the poor should not be allowed in the building. It’s in there. It isn’t about finding the sentences to prove your agenda, it’s about finding out about our loving God.

I’ve heard many sermons saying that Joseph was prepared to do the best thing here. He wasn’t going to have Mary stoned, he was going to divorce her in silence. But make no mistake, he’s still sentencing her. The punishment may not be death, just banishment. She would be sent to the streets, homeless and pregnant, with no hopes of getting any job, or procuring any means to make a living. This is the best he can do by her. But in no way is this acceptable. This may be worse than a death sentence. “Go live on the streets, and take your child with you. Maybe, if folks are feeling good that day, they’ll offer you the change in their pockets.”

I’m not suggesting this was an easy choice for Joseph. It was probably a struggle. This was no real solution, but by law, it was the only way. But Joseph was in for a visit of his own. After he has made his decision, an angel appears to him in a dream and says that what appears to be a moral outrage, an unacceptable situation, is in fact, a holy happening. The child in Mary’s womb is not a violation of God’s will, but an expression of it, a gift from the Holy Spirit. Joseph, who had made the best decision within the bounds of the law, learned that he had not gone far enough in practicing mercy and love as God intended. Joseph is asked to keep his marriage to Mary. He becomes the adoptive father, a crucial link in the genealogical chain that stretches from Abraham to David to Jesus.

A baby conceived by the Holy Spirit. In other words, a baby that is God, conceived by God. An angel appearing in a dream. The Lord of the universe incarnate in that universe. The supreme ruler as a baby. It is all very awkward. Joseph would not have found any of this if he had followed this as a book of rules. Righteousness as he had practiced it helped to keep things in proper place, and in their proper order. But, as is God’s custom, when God gets involved, proper places and proper orders get turned upside down. In Matthew, God begins by commandeering a family tree, upending the law, and redefining righteousness. When Joseph says “yes” to God, to this surprising awkward turn of events, discipleship becomes riskier and faithfulness much more open-minded than it has been before. If we say “Yes” to God, to the awkward event of the Creator entering creation, to the Lord as an infant, to the constant call of the Holy Spirit, then we too will find a risky discipleship, and that faithfulness calls us to more open-mindedness.

In so many ways, Joseph is the model for the Christian and Christian behavior. He knows the law. He knows the Bible. He has read it and takes it seriously. But he won’t let his following of the law get in the way of his following God. He takes an awkward route, the one that God sets out for him, and be so doing, enables the will and work of God in his world.

Let me tell you something about God. God is not interested in disciples who live by the rules. Instead, God wants disciples who follow. God is not interested in disciples looking up rules that support or justify righteousness as we human beings see it. God is not interested in disciples who keep score. God is interested in disciples who will wrestle with the complexities of their lives and relationships and the world, which is the nature that God created. God is interested in disciples who will listen for the call of God. God is interested in disciples who will join with God, even when God’s will shocks us or upsets us and the way things have always been, which it regularly by definition does. Discipleship to this God is not settled and easy. It is awkward and risky and open-ended, just what is needed in our awkward, risky and open-ended world we live thorough and beyond this Advent season. May we find strength for that experience. Amen.

1. This sermon is informed by an article by Kimberly Clayton Richter, “The Advent Texts: Glorious Visions, Dogged Discipleship”, as found on pages 3-10 of Journal for Preachers Volume XXVIII Number 1 Advent 2004, T. Erskine Clarke, Editor and Publisher. Decatur, GA.