Okay, I have to admit that I have always thought of this
passage as being lame. It’s sort of like spending a lot of time on the genealogy
that precedes this text. Yes, there are some interesting names and situations
that arise from the genealogy, but really not that much. Or is there?
We really don’t give Joseph much time. He is the almost
contender. He is the guy that God beat out. He is the guy that I never wanted
to be or hoped to be. Maybe that is why Joseph doesn’t get much time. It just
may be that Joseph makes us nervous. As a matter of fact, aside from this story
in Matthew and the second chapter story of Joseph taking Mary and Jesus to
Egypt and then returning after Herod has died, nothing else is said about
Joseph in Matthew at all.
Yet the imprint of Joseph continues to influence the story
of our faith in interesting ways. Tradition says that Joseph is a carpenter and
that he passes the trade of carpentry down to Jesus. In some of the
non-biblical stories of Jesus we hear that Joseph and Jesus build a cabinet
together, and, when they get it finished, it is too big to go through the door.
Jesus shrinks the cabinet enough for it to go through, and then he expands it
to its original size so that they can deliver it as ordered. Another time Jesus
cuts a board, and it is too short so he lays his hands on it and stretches it
to the right length. (There have been a few times in the shop when I’ve wished
that I could do that.) No, we don’t get this information from the Gospels, but
there is a long tradition that says that Joseph is indeed a carpenter, and,
because of that, Jesus is a carpenter too.
So, who is Joseph? From the genealogy given in Matthew we
learn that Joseph is the son of Jacob. Really? Wasn’t there another Joseph who
was the son of Jacob? Wasn’t Jacob the father of twelve sons who became the
leaders of the twelve tribes of Israel? Wasn’t Jacob’s son Joseph the one who was
sold into slavery? Wasn’t Joseph the interpreter of dreams? Wasn’t Joseph the
one that the Pharaoh went to with the dream of the fat bullocks and the skinny
bullocks? Wasn’t Joseph the one who saved his family in the time of famine and
gave them a place to live in Egypt? And wasn’t that first Joseph the ancestor
of Moses who led God’s people out of slavery into the wilderness and then to
the Promised Land?
We may not know much about this Joseph, but there is a great
deal that we know about the first Joseph who was the son of Jacob, and Matthew
wants us to remember these things when we begin to think about who this Joseph,
the father of Jesus, is. Therefore, we are not surprised when the angel comes
to him in a dream and tells him he needs to take the mother and the child to
Egypt. We are not surprised when they return from Egypt because of a dream. This
is the pattern of freedom and learning to walk in faith with God. The
difference this time is that we learn what it means to have God walk with us
having faith for us.
So today the outcome of so much depends on Joseph’s decision
and actions concerning his betrothal to Mary. We are introduced to him with
these words: Joseph is “a righteous man”. For many of us, we might easily
translate righteous into good and therefore think, “Joseph is a good man.” And,
because he is a good man, we might think he will naturally do good things. Joseph
is righteous because he follows the law, not just the 10 commandments, but all
of the laws found in Leviticus and Deuteronomy including Deuteronomy 22 which
prescribes the consequences of being pregnant
while engaged. By law, both the woman who got pregnant by someone other
than her betrothed and the other man were to be stoned. If the woman was taken
(raped) in the fields, the man was to be stoned, but the woman was to be
unpunished. Still that engagement was ended, and the woman was shamed. This is
what the righteous man should do. He should end the engagement and walk away. Although
he could be generous by doing this quietly, people would probably still talk.
When the angel comes to tell Joseph that the baby is from
the Holy Spirit, Joseph is caught in a dilemma. If he walks away from Mary, he
will dishonor God, but, if he honors God, staying engaged to Mary, then he
states to the community that he is the father of the child, taking the shame of
Mary’s pregnancy upon himself. Joseph is confronted with the other side of
righteousness. The first definition of righteousness is to follow the law, but
the other is to do justice. What is a guy to do?
Joseph’s decision pushes us in a new direction. His decision
marks the beginning for those who will follow this child, this Jesus, our
Emmanuel. For from this moment on, when law and justice do not walk
hand-in-hand, justice will be the part of righteousness that will win out. This
decision of Joseph’s marks the beginning of Christian thought that says to act
with concern for the other is sometimes more important than personal
appearances.
And so, Joseph makes the decision to choose unrighteousness
in order to become righteous for the sake of the world. Doing this, he claims
Jesus as his son with all of the responsibilities that go along with that
decision. As a righteous man, he teaches his son his trade. He passes on his
love of his work. In the process of living, he passes on his understanding of
the law and the need for justice that goes beyond personal honor, a justice
that lifts up the dishonored and the shamed as having value. He passes on his
love of God’s people in a way that claims the need of God’s people to live in
relationship together is more important than living by the letter of the law.
From this decision, learned and appreciated by his son, we will hear, “You have
heard it said,…but I say,….”
In the deserted wilderness place, Joseph’s son will feed
thousands. In the midst of the world’s suffering, the outcasts (the blind, the
lame, the unclean, the deaf and the poor) will be lifted up into new ways of
living. From this righteous man, Jesus will learn to care for the needs of
those around him even to the extent that he will suffer death, even death on a
cross, taking the sins and the shame of the world upon himself, for the
justification and justice of the world.
No, we do not know much about Joseph, but, through his
ability to interpret dreams, he discerns the way to go. He claims and protects
the one who will free us from our slavery to sin, who will lead us through the
wilderness of our lives into the relationship of God’s grace and mercy that
lifts up all of creation into God’s own kingdom of justice. With his decision,
Joseph claims a time for loving judgment rather than punitive vengeance. By his
decision, Joseph initiates a time and a season for loving that will only grow
through the life, death and resurrection of his adopted son.
Now the birth of Jesus took place in this way, learning of God’s
love and sharing it in our time and Advent season of loving.
