Sermons from Moorpark Presbyterian Church

There's Something About Joseph

by Dave Wilkinson

Matthew 1:18-21

December 3, 2000

A writer named John Shea describes his niece at Christmas: "She was five, sure of the facts, and recited them with slow solemnity, convinced every word was revelation. She said they were 'so poor that they only had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to eat and they went a long way from home without getting lost. The lady rode a donkey and the man walked, and the baby was inside the lady. They had to stay with an ox and an ass but the three rich men found them because a star lighted the roof.

"'Shepherds came, and you could pet the sheep but not feed them. Then the baby was borned. And do you know who He was?' Her eyes inflated to the size of silver dollars. 'The baby was God!' And she jumped in the air, and whirled around, dove into the sofa, and buried her head under the cushion, which," Shea observes, "is the only proper response to the good news of Christmas."

Well jumping, whirling and head burying may be the only proper response for a five year old. Or it may even be the only proper response for us. But the first man to get the news had a very different response -- shock, hurt and anger. I'm talking about Joseph.

Joseph comes off in the Bible as the strong silent type -- probably because he never speaks. All we know about Joseph is what the Gospel writers say about him and how he acts.

Joseph is a carpenter -- a construction guy. He probably isn't the type to read poetry. He isn't the type to talk philosophy. He is a practical man who likes what he can handle, measure, cut and saw. He certainly isn't an easy target for a story about angels and miracles. It is one thing for Mary to cheat on him -- but then to insult him and treat him like a fool with a story that borders on blasphemy.

Legal engagement, in those days, was considered as binding as marriage. It could only be dissolved by divorce -- that's the meaning of the word apolusai Matthew uses when he says that Joseph decided to put Mary "away."

The law that covers cases like Joseph's is found in Deuteronomy 22:13-29 Joseph has very few options. If he confesses that he is not he father, Mary could be condemned as an adulteress. If he lies and claims to be the father, his own reputation will be tarnished .

Joseph's reputation is important. Matthew tells us that Joseph is a righteous man. He honestly seeks to live by the law of God. He can't lie by claiming to be the father. He can't get married to Mary when she is being so transparently deceitful.

But more than being righteous according to some law, Joseph is righteous in his desire to protect Mary even when she has hurt him so deeply. Matthew says that he does not want to shame Mary even though she has shamed him with her obvious infidelity. Matthew says that while he decides to divorce Mary, he decides that he will do it quietly. He won't accuse her publicly or drag her before the elders of the town -- even though that would be the best way to show the community that he is without fault and that the problem is all Mary. He is prepared to take some of the social shame and personal guilt of the failed engagement upon himself without complaint.

God, of course, has another plan. He communicates His plan to Joseph in a dream. "Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. Mary is as innocent of wrong as you. Her incredible story is literally the gospel truth. "The child that she is carrying is from the Holy Spirit." "And when Joseph got up from his sleep, he did what the angel of the Lord had instructed him to do, and he took Mary as his wife -- no doubt after suitable explanations and apologizing -- and did not have personal intimacy with Mary until she had her baby boy."

There is a lot of talk today about what makes Christmas. Newspaper and television advertisements coax people into believing that they can have a real Christmas by going to a festive shopping center, eating at trendy restaurants, or watching glittering "Christmas programs" on television. Others believe that Christmas is made by the fastidious keeping of time-honored family rituals like sentimental ornaments on just the right tree, eating food from a menu which has been handed down from generation to generation, or by visiting the same relatives at precisely the same time on Christmas Day. Some believe that Christmas is made by purchasing a exquisite, expensive, perfect gift for every relative, friend -- or pastor. To be sure, all of these contribute to our cultural understanding of Christmas.

But the answer to "What makes a real Christmas?" must be found in human history. It is found in doing what Joseph did. For Joseph is a righteous man. He is righteous in his desire to obey God's law. He is righteous in his desire not to shame a person whom he believes has shamed him. But above all he is righteous in that fact that he simply listens to God and does exactly what God tells him to do.

In Matthew's Gospel, where Joseph appears more than anywhere else, he never speaks. But he does a number of important things in obedience. He overcomes his hesitation and obeys the divine summons to marry. Later he is commanded to flee to Egypt with the child and his mother. Still later, by another dream, he is instructed to return to Israel and settle with them in the north in Galilee. In every scene Joseph simply acts without speaking. His speech is to do the will of God.

There is a debate in the church over the relationship between the divine imitative and human freedom especially as it comes to salvation. Does God do it all or do we have a role?

I believe that we find an answer in the story of Joseph where we see how our faith is the necessary response to God's grace. In the story of Joseph we find the divine initiative that finds a man strictly inactive in fact, sound asleep. And we also find that God's initiative or call is answered by immediate, concrete and humble human action. Divine grace doesn't cancel human response. It empowers it. It doesn't remove human responsibility. It summons it. Grace does not put believers into a coma. It makes them obedient.

This Advent morning as we come to the table, we are like Joseph. We have heard God's call. We have received God's invitation to new life. And, like Joseph, we have a role. That role is to respond and do.

God offers you new life in Christ. That is the message of the Lord's Supper. He offers you salvation. But he will not save you against your will. He will save you with that cooperation of your will that is called faith.

The angel told Joseph, "You will name Him Jesus because He will save His people from their sins." He won't save everyone. He will save His people. He will save those who come to him in faith.

The God who gave His Son for sinners does not push the bread and drink into our mouths without our participation. That is why He commands us to "eat" and to "drink" and to "do this in remembrance of Me." For we need to accept what God has done for us through His Son.

Coming to the table is therefore an act of obedience. It is an act of faith. And God blesses that response by assuring us that indeed we are "His people".

Come, therefore in obedience to God's command. The angel told Joseph that the holy Child would save "His people" from their sins. Come to this table and receive from God's hand His evidence to you that His Son became flesh at Christmas to wash away your sins and that you now belong to Him.