Sermon Sunday December 23, 2007
Fourth Sunday in Advent
Brothers and sisters,
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I am going to do something this morning that we don’t really do that much. No I am not talking about another Advent hymn. I am going to talk this morning about Mary’s husband Joseph. If I were going to give this sermon a title, it would be “More than a babysitter.”
And of course I would be referring to Joseph. We tend to just brush Joseph aside completely. I mean, as Lutherans we don’t really talk about Joseph or Mary that often. But with Mary, we’ll at least maybe say a few nice things about her this time of year. But we never really talk about Joseph. He has been reduced to an afterthought. In other words we have reduced Joseph to a babysitter. But I think when we take a more in-depth look at Joseph not only do we get greater insight into the husband of Mary, but more importantly we get a greater insight into and appreciation for what our Lord was doing in the midst of Joseph’s life and continues to do today.
Early on in our Gospel lesson we see that Mary was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit, although most people probably presumed it was the result of adultery. With that in mind it is said that Joseph planned to dismiss her quietly, which meant basically that he would divorce her.
Now on one hand, one could think Joseph was simply looking for the easy way out here. On the other hand, someone could think “Well who could blame him?” In the eyes of the culture they were surrounded by, Mary was an adulterer. And the law of the land at the time dictated that a man divorce his wife if she were guilty of adultery. As a woman, Mary was already a second-class citizen. But add what many assumed to be adultery, and she would be just about as low on the social stratosphere as one could get.
And yet, in the Gospel lesson we see Joseph was not acting out of selfishness or even self-preservation. In the Gospel lesson we read that Joseph considered divorcing Mary not to save himself from any trouble but to save Mary from the hassle of having her name dragged through the mud by dragging her through the courts.
Joseph loved Mary and it appears that at least a part of him wanted to stay with Mary. But he honestly believed that divorcing Mary was the right thing to do. He probably believed it would have been the best thing for Mary since it would have saved her the hassle of her name being dragged through the mud.
He probably believed it would have been the best thing for him since it would have prevented him from being looked down upon by other men in Mediteranean society. And he probably also believed that it would have been the best thing for the culture at large, because all the laws of the land told him that divorce was the best thing to do.
And then this angel appears to Joseph. And it says that the angel appears to Joseph after Joseph had “resolved” to divorce Mary. When you resolve to do something that isn’t usually a decision that is made quickly. The use of the word ‘resolve’ there suggests to me that Joseph struggled with this decision.
I don’t believe that Joseph necessarily wanted to divorce Mary, but he had convinced himself that he would have been doing the right thing. After all that is what the law said. The law, which at the time would have been a hybrid of both civil and religious rule, told him that divorcing Mary was the best thing to do for all parties concerned, including the baby. And so Joseph, binding himself to reason and logic and the law resolves to do what, in his mind he sincerely believed was the right thing to do, even though in his heart, I believe he wanted something else.
And so along comes this angel, and the angel comes not with a word of wrath or threat or ultimatum. The angel comes with a word of hope and he tells Joseph not to be afraid. The angel doesn’t so much command Joseph here to take Mary as his wife, as he does frees Joseph to take Mary as his wife. And Joseph does what the Angel of the Lord tells him to do. He defies what the law and what his culture and what all his sense of reason and logic told him to do, and he took Mary as his wife, and he names the child, which in those days would have been the same as claiming the Child as his own.
And he did this knowing that it wasn’t going to be easy. He did this knowing that it was going to be downright scandalous. He did this knowing that he would now be viewed with great contempt by his male peers because in their eyes his actions would reflect weakness, because he allowed his love for his wife to outweigh the importance of doing the ‘honorable’ thing.
But again, this is what he really wanted to do. The only reason Joseph had even considered divorcing Mary was because he had bound himself to what seemed reasonable and logical, and what his culture told him was the right thing to do.
But don’t misunderstand me. Ultimately this is not about Joseph, it’s about what God was doing with Joseph. It’s about our Lord refusing to be bound to what society deems to be logical and honorable. It’s about our Lord bringing hope in the midst of hopelessness and promise in the midst of despair.
It’s about God coming into our sin-filled world to change the world, and He does it in the most unlikely of ways. He doesn’t come with great splendor or great military might. He doesn’t come as an earthly king. He comes as a baby. Not only does He come among us as a baby, but He comes in the most hopeless and scandal-ridden way He could; as the infant child of a woman many believed to be an adulteress, and a man who had lost any redeeming sense of honor with his peers because he married this scandalous woman.
And our Lord’s first appearance among us does not come with great pomp and circumstance. He appears among us at night in a barn that probably didn’t smell that good since it was filled with animals and I don’t have to tell any of you that barns can often smell pretty bad.
And none of this was dependent upon Joseph and we see this in our Old Testament lesson. God tells this person Ahaz to ask for a sign. Ahaz refuses saying that he doesn’t want to put God to the test. Ahaz had bound himself to the law. But God wouldn’t be stopped and He sends the sign to Ahaz anyway through Isaiah who prophesies the birth of Christ.
And so in the same way, even if Joseph had not done what the Angel of the Lord told him to do, God would not be stopped. The Christ child had been conceived. The wheels were already in motion. The One whom the Angel of the Lord promised Joseph, was coming to save His people from their sins, was already on His way.
And so when the world looked at this scandalous situation of Joseph and Mary and the questionable lineage of the child whom Mary was carrying what they saw was scandal, hopelessness and despair. But of course they were wrong. What it really was was hope appearing under the sign of it’s opposite.
And as hopeless and scandalous as things might have appeared, it would only get worse. The One who came to save us from sin would do it by laying down His life for us. The fulfillment of the hope that appeared in the midst of scandal would mean suffering, shame and death for the One whom the Angel of the Lord told Joseph about. But this same One whom Joseph named Jesus, came walking out of death three days later, and hope was fulfilled as sin death and the devil were defeated for you.
And now we are in second Advent as we await our Lord’s return in glory. But in the meantime He continues to come to us through His Word and the sacraments and in each other, as He continues bringing hope under the sign of it’s opposite to us and to our neighbors through us.
Amen
Brothers and sisters,
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I am going to do something this morning that we don’t really do that much. No I am not talking about another Advent hymn. I am going to talk this morning about Mary’s husband Joseph. If I were going to give this sermon a title, it would be “More than a babysitter.”
And of course I would be referring to Joseph. We tend to just brush Joseph aside completely. I mean, as Lutherans we don’t really talk about Joseph or Mary that often. But with Mary, we’ll at least maybe say a few nice things about her this time of year. But we never really talk about Joseph. He has been reduced to an afterthought. In other words we have reduced Joseph to a babysitter. But I think when we take a more in-depth look at Joseph not only do we get greater insight into the husband of Mary, but more importantly we get a greater insight into and appreciation for what our Lord was doing in the midst of Joseph’s life and continues to do today.
Early on in our Gospel lesson we see that Mary was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit, although most people probably presumed it was the result of adultery. With that in mind it is said that Joseph planned to dismiss her quietly, which meant basically that he would divorce her.
Now on one hand, one could think Joseph was simply looking for the easy way out here. On the other hand, someone could think “Well who could blame him?” In the eyes of the culture they were surrounded by, Mary was an adulterer. And the law of the land at the time dictated that a man divorce his wife if she were guilty of adultery. As a woman, Mary was already a second-class citizen. But add what many assumed to be adultery, and she would be just about as low on the social stratosphere as one could get.
And yet, in the Gospel lesson we see Joseph was not acting out of selfishness or even self-preservation. In the Gospel lesson we read that Joseph considered divorcing Mary not to save himself from any trouble but to save Mary from the hassle of having her name dragged through the mud by dragging her through the courts.
Joseph loved Mary and it appears that at least a part of him wanted to stay with Mary. But he honestly believed that divorcing Mary was the right thing to do. He probably believed it would have been the best thing for Mary since it would have saved her the hassle of her name being dragged through the mud.
He probably believed it would have been the best thing for him since it would have prevented him from being looked down upon by other men in Mediteranean society. And he probably also believed that it would have been the best thing for the culture at large, because all the laws of the land told him that divorce was the best thing to do.
And then this angel appears to Joseph. And it says that the angel appears to Joseph after Joseph had “resolved” to divorce Mary. When you resolve to do something that isn’t usually a decision that is made quickly. The use of the word ‘resolve’ there suggests to me that Joseph struggled with this decision.
I don’t believe that Joseph necessarily wanted to divorce Mary, but he had convinced himself that he would have been doing the right thing. After all that is what the law said. The law, which at the time would have been a hybrid of both civil and religious rule, told him that divorcing Mary was the best thing to do for all parties concerned, including the baby. And so Joseph, binding himself to reason and logic and the law resolves to do what, in his mind he sincerely believed was the right thing to do, even though in his heart, I believe he wanted something else.
And so along comes this angel, and the angel comes not with a word of wrath or threat or ultimatum. The angel comes with a word of hope and he tells Joseph not to be afraid. The angel doesn’t so much command Joseph here to take Mary as his wife, as he does frees Joseph to take Mary as his wife. And Joseph does what the Angel of the Lord tells him to do. He defies what the law and what his culture and what all his sense of reason and logic told him to do, and he took Mary as his wife, and he names the child, which in those days would have been the same as claiming the Child as his own.
And he did this knowing that it wasn’t going to be easy. He did this knowing that it was going to be downright scandalous. He did this knowing that he would now be viewed with great contempt by his male peers because in their eyes his actions would reflect weakness, because he allowed his love for his wife to outweigh the importance of doing the ‘honorable’ thing.
But again, this is what he really wanted to do. The only reason Joseph had even considered divorcing Mary was because he had bound himself to what seemed reasonable and logical, and what his culture told him was the right thing to do.
But don’t misunderstand me. Ultimately this is not about Joseph, it’s about what God was doing with Joseph. It’s about our Lord refusing to be bound to what society deems to be logical and honorable. It’s about our Lord bringing hope in the midst of hopelessness and promise in the midst of despair.
It’s about God coming into our sin-filled world to change the world, and He does it in the most unlikely of ways. He doesn’t come with great splendor or great military might. He doesn’t come as an earthly king. He comes as a baby. Not only does He come among us as a baby, but He comes in the most hopeless and scandal-ridden way He could; as the infant child of a woman many believed to be an adulteress, and a man who had lost any redeeming sense of honor with his peers because he married this scandalous woman.
And our Lord’s first appearance among us does not come with great pomp and circumstance. He appears among us at night in a barn that probably didn’t smell that good since it was filled with animals and I don’t have to tell any of you that barns can often smell pretty bad.
And none of this was dependent upon Joseph and we see this in our Old Testament lesson. God tells this person Ahaz to ask for a sign. Ahaz refuses saying that he doesn’t want to put God to the test. Ahaz had bound himself to the law. But God wouldn’t be stopped and He sends the sign to Ahaz anyway through Isaiah who prophesies the birth of Christ.
And so in the same way, even if Joseph had not done what the Angel of the Lord told him to do, God would not be stopped. The Christ child had been conceived. The wheels were already in motion. The One whom the Angel of the Lord promised Joseph, was coming to save His people from their sins, was already on His way.
And so when the world looked at this scandalous situation of Joseph and Mary and the questionable lineage of the child whom Mary was carrying what they saw was scandal, hopelessness and despair. But of course they were wrong. What it really was was hope appearing under the sign of it’s opposite.
And as hopeless and scandalous as things might have appeared, it would only get worse. The One who came to save us from sin would do it by laying down His life for us. The fulfillment of the hope that appeared in the midst of scandal would mean suffering, shame and death for the One whom the Angel of the Lord told Joseph about. But this same One whom Joseph named Jesus, came walking out of death three days later, and hope was fulfilled as sin death and the devil were defeated for you.
And now we are in second Advent as we await our Lord’s return in glory. But in the meantime He continues to come to us through His Word and the sacraments and in each other, as He continues bringing hope under the sign of it’s opposite to us and to our neighbors through us.
Amen
posted by Steve at 11:41 AM
1 Comments:
I liked the whole law/gospel thing you came up with Joseph. I didn't think of that at all.
Good job.
Post a Comment
<< Home