December 22

Today in worship we are reading from Matthew 1:18-25 – the story of Jesus’s birth as told in the Gospel of Matthew.  The Gospels of Matthew and Luke approach the story of the birth of Jesus (and his parents finding out about his surprising birth) from different perspectives.  Luke tells the story from the perspective of Mary – last week we read about an angel telling Mary that she would conceive a child by the power of the Holy Spirit.   Matthew, on the other hand, tells the story from the perspective of Joseph – and that’s what we are reading in worship today.

Joseph learns that Mary is pregnant and he knows that he’s not the father – so, he assumes (rather naturally) that this is the result of some kind of infidelity.  He seems to be a good man who doesn’t want to cause Mary trouble (this was a time in history when it was not unheard of for a woman caught in adultery to be put to death).  Joseph doesn’t want to harm Mary, and he still wants to do right by her, but he doesn’t think he can trust her anymore, so he plans to put an end to their relationship.

But then an angel comes to him in a dream.  Dreams are a fertile place for divine encounters – particularly in Scripture.  In fact, this is not the first time a man named Joseph has had a dream that changed the direction of God’s history with God’s people.  In the book of Genesis, Joseph, the son of Jacob (who was also known as Israel) dreamed and interpreted the dreams of others in such a way that he helped to save God’s people (and the people of many surrounding nations) from famine.  God speaks in a dream to lead God’s people to safety. 

And, the dream in today’s story is not the last important dream that Joseph, the father of Jesus, will have.  Just a few verses later, after the wise men come from a faraway land to bring gifts for Jesus, Joseph is warned in a dream that the king is trying to kill Jesus, and so Joseph takes Jesus and Mary with him and they become refugees – immigrants in a foreign land – traveling to Egypt in a search for safety, seeking protection from political violence.

Anyway, in today’s story, Joseph is told in a dream that he should not end his relationship with Mary, because the child is not the result of Mary being unfaithful to him, but is instead a result of Mary’s faithfulness to God.  The child is a gift from God (a strange gift that makes a mess of Mary and Joseph’s lives!).  And Joseph believes this message – he trusts in this message – and he responds by committing himself fully to what God is doing.  His life gets turned upside down by this act of God, but he continues to show up and to go where God is leading him.

This is a story about faith and trust.  It’s a story about God stepping into our world and what it means to be willing to follow where God is leading.  It is a story that identifies Jesus as “Emmanuel” (a name which means God with us) and that shows us what it means for God to be with us – how God chooses to be with us in the most surprising ways.  It’s a story about listening for God’s voice and learning how to pay attention for what God is saying and being ready to answer when God calls upon us.

Christmas is a story about a God who shows up in our world – and it’s also a story about all the people who join in God’s work.  Joseph listened to what God had to say.  Joseph was faithful when God called upon him.  May we do the same.