Pleasant Dreams

I wonder if Mary and Joseph were planning to have children. One of the things I do with couples when they come to me for pre-marital counseling is make sure they are on the same page with respect to children and family planning. As far as I am concerned or the Episcopal Church is concerned it doesn’t much matter what page it is, but it certainly helps if couples, through prayer and conversation, come to be on the same page. First century Palestine was a very different world, of course. Marriages were arranged, and the concept of family planning would have been completely beyond the comprehension or imagination of Mary and Joseph. Children were desired and expected. In due course. So, presumably, both Mary and Joseph agreed and anticipated that children would be a part of their marriage. Nevertheless, it’s also fair to say that the coming of their first child did not unfold as either of them would have expected.

And today the focus is on Joseph. This Fourth Sunday of Advent in Year A is the only time (I think) that we hear this part of the Christmas story… the story of Jesus’ birth as it is told in Matthew. Only Luke and Matthew mention Jesus’ birth at all. It is Luke who tells of the angel Gabriel’s visit to Mary. And on Christmas all of the focus is on Luke’s telling… the manger, the shepherds and angels. At Epiphany we get a bit of Matthew with the magi. Just today we get, almost fleetingly, this other view of Jesus’ actual birth and particularly what it meant for Joseph.

In first century Palestine among the Hebrew people marriage took place in two phases. The marriage was typically arranged by the parents. First, the betrothal was announced and the marriage contract finalized (including the price to be paid for the bride). At that point the couple were considered legally bound, united. Any subsequent infidelity would be adultery. Yet the bride and groom, who were often still quite young, continued to live with their own parents until a later ceremony when, amid great feasting, they set up a household together.

It was in this in-between time that Joseph discovered that Mary was "with child." Presumably, Joseph and Joseph’s family knew the law, the Torah, God’s law by which the Hebrew people had lived since the Exodus. Deuteronomy 22: "Suppose a man marries a woman, but after going in to her [says], ‘when I lay with her, I did not find evidence of her virginity.’ If this charge is true… then they shall bring the young woman out to the entrance of her father’s house and the men of her town shall stone her to death, because she committed a disgraceful act in Israel by prostituting herself in her father’s house. So you shall purge the evil from your midst."

Evidently, by Joseph’s day, under the law divorce was another alternative—in addition to death—for those caught in adultery. But God comes to Joseph in a dream and says, more or less: "Joseph, you are to disregard the Torah and take this child to be your own. You are to name him." Joseph, God’s angel said, you are to name Mary’s child.

Another thing, evidently, about first century Palestine was that naming was the act by which paternity was established. The Biblical scholar Raymond Brown talks about how hard it is for us today to really accept the idea of legal paternity as "real" paternity. Remember, genetic testing did not exist; nor really did birth certificates. Biological paternity was sometimes difficult to establish with any certainty, and therefore was lightly regarded. Joseph takes two steps to claim legal paternity. The first is taking Mary into his home and assuming public responsibility for mother and the child who is to be born. "The second and more important step is [naming]. By naming the child, Joseph acknowledges him as his own. The Jewish position on this is lucidly clear…. The Mishna Baba states the principle: ‘If a man says, ‘This is my son,’ he is to be believed.’ Joseph, by exercising the father’s right to name the child, acknowledges Jesus and thus becomes the legal father of the child" [Raymond Brown, The Birth of the Messiah].

Joseph accepts the idea that God is asking him to do something almost inconceivable. And then Joseph, by his own free will, chooses to do it. An interesting model for us to consider on this next to last day of Advent. None of us is likely to be asked to take on Mary’s role, at least not at this point this year. But what about Joseph? Can Joseph be a role model? Joseph chose to be part of the Christmas story. It could not have been an easy choice.

Today’s Gospel reading picks up in the middle of the first chapter of Matthew’s Gospel. The first half of chapter 1 in Matthew is genealogy. Jesus’ ancestors back 14 by 14 by 14 generations. Through Joseph. Which can be confusing if you don’t understand the idea of legal paternity. Jesus was 100% Joseph’s son (and also 100% God’s son, born of a virgin. Matthew has no problems with that paradox). But part of Matthew’s point is to emphasize the continuity between Jesus and the patriarchs, between Jesus and the kings, between Jesus and all the Hebrew people of the Babylonian exile. Jesus is the continuation of all of these stories. Jesus does not just show up on earth out of the blue. The connection to the past is undeniable. Matthew links Jesus to the prophecy of Isaiah, quoted in today’s Gospel. Jesus is born out of and into the history and identity of the Hebrew people. Jesus is the next chapter in an old, on-going story. But he changes the story profoundly.

Looking at it from Joseph’s perspective: the God who speaks to Joseph, commanding him not to enact the law’s punishment, but rather to take Mary as his wife and Jesus as his son, is the same God who spoke to Abraham, the father of Isaac, the father of Jacob. The same God who spoke to David, the father of Solomon. The same God who spoke to Jechoniah, the father of Salathiel… unknown names who carried the story through the exile. Joseph is not some sort of rugged individualist who just decides for his own reasons to blow off cultural and religious expectations about what to do with an adulterous wife. Joseph is the direct heir of Abraham, of David. The continuity with the history, the prophecy, the traditions of Israel is strong and direct. Which makes Joseph’s decision all the more important and all the more difficult.

It is the God of Israel… the same God who spoke to Abraham and David who says to Joseph: You, Joseph, are to claim a new righteousness. Up to know you have lived righteously according to God’s law as you have understood it. But the angel said to Joseph: Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid now to put aside the law and take Mary as your wife and claim Jesus as your son. Do not be afraid to claim a radically new sort of righteousness. The change, the reorientation in perspective that this means for Joseph is almost unimaginable. Not only is his life about to change with a new wife and young child, but his whole sense of God’s will for him has changed, too. It is a radical conversion to a new relationship with God. A new relationship with the same God. Unassailable continuity and radical change. These are the qualities of Joseph’s story. A new relationship with the same God. Continuity and change.

In a sense, Paul’s story is similar to Joseph’s. Saul, as he was first known, was a man of deep faith, committed to supporting and protecting God’s laws, the traditions of the faithful. Then Jesus is born into Saul’s life in a very personal way as Saul is on the road to Damascus. So that in today’s introduction to the letter to the Romans, Paul now describes himself called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul, too, describes the continuity of God’s story through the prophets, of Jesus’ descent from David according to the flesh. But think how radical Paul’s own reorientation has been… how profoundly changed is his sense of his relationship with God, his mission as a servant of God. Continuity. It is the same God. But Paul’s relationship, his understanding and faith are profoundly changed.

Both Joseph and Paul were faithful men, living according to God’s will as they knew it. And then Jesus came. And everything changed.

We don’t know exactly when the angel came to Joseph during the course of Mary’s pregnancy. We don’t know how much time he had to think, to get used to God’s new call for him. For us, Jesus is coming tomorrow night. Are you ready for the possibility that your whole life will be turned upside down, even, maybe the way you have always known and followed God in the past?

Like Joseph and Paul, we are all in some way a part of the ongoing tradition of God’s people. We are connected to the past. We are the heirs of Abraham and David. We are the heirs even of Paul and Saint John the Evangelist and all the saints in our windows. We have been shaped and formed by their voices, the traditions we have received from them. Their God is our God.

But, also like Joseph, we may expect at some time, maybe as soon as tonight’s dreams, a personal visit from an angel of God. A voice spoken directly, individually to us in our time, in our lives, in the world and situation in which we find ourselves. A voice that may bring radical change to our lives: a change in how we live our daily lives so that there is room for Jesus to live with us. Joseph, of course, literally made room for a new child in his life. Maybe the voice will challenge us to change our understanding of God’s will for us or God’s will in the world. Joseph had to completely redefine his past perception of God’s righteousness, to put aside the law in order to welcome the living God… to accept that a young woman whom he would have said deserved stoning was the bearer of God’s son. Maybe we will discover an overwhelming change in our relationship with God. Joseph discovered that the God of Abraham and David was also his own God, not just known from the pages of Scripture, but heard in a voice spoken personally to him, Joseph, in a dream. A living God with a personal interest in Joseph’s life.

The changes that confronted Joseph, heir of Abraham, heir of David, were staggering. The angel said, do not be afraid. This is how God’s presence, God’s love, God’s son Jesus will be born into the world. And Joseph said yes, he took Mary as his wife and named his son Jesus.

I wish you all pleasant dreams this evening.