“A Divine Disturbance”

Matthew 1:18-25

December 19, 2004

St. Paul United Methodist Church

Rev. John A. Fleming

Have you heard the story of the third grader and the Christmas play that his church was going to have? The play was a big production that happened every year in the church’s family life center. The play was complete with a stage, scene changes, costumes, live animals, rows and rows of chairs, and refreshments following the one performance. There was not anything particularly fancy about the play’s script. For years now the ones who organized the play used the combined biblical stories of Matthew and Luke as their script. Oh, they might add a detail or two so that everyone could be included. And they might put a word or two in the narrator’s mouth to help things along. But, for the most part, the biblical story was the one that they used.

The play’s directors started early. After all, this was a big production. An informal meeting happened on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. A couple of days later, auditions were held. The third grader that I mentioned earlier wanted nothing more than to play the part of Joseph in the production. He remembered the previous years’ production. He admired Joseph and the role that he played in the drama. He wanted the part, so he practiced the assigned lines non-stop once the script was available. On the day of the auditions, he arrived early. He sweet talked the play’s director. He wore a costume to the audition. He wanted to look the part. He wanted the play’s director to see his authenticity. The truth is that there was little that he would not do to secure the part. I would like to tell you that he got that part and gave what we might call a spectacular performance. He did not get the part. In fact, to add insult to injury, his arch enemy, his greatest rival in the church was awarded the role. Losing that role to that boy was bad enough and punishment enough. What was worse was that he did not land the part of another significant character in the drama. He was not the narrator. He was not one of the three wise men. He did secure a role; in the production, he played the part of the Inn keeper. He had only one line. He was bitter about the casting.

During the rehearsals he plotted and thought about what he might do to get even with the ones who wronged him. He kept his plan close to his chest. He did not dare tell anyone what he was going to do. But he was going to do something to make things right. And, he was going to do it on center stage. On the night of the performance, he took his place at the Inn. He watched as Mary and Joseph rode across the stage on a donkey towards him. He listened as Joseph knocked on the door of the Inn. He opened the door gently, as he was supposed to do, and gruffly asked them what they wanted. His one line was said perfectly. His rival, his arch enemy, dressed in the costume that he should have been wearing said, “We need a room for the night.” It was his chance to steal the show. He seized the opportunity. He threw the Inn’s door open wide and said with as much excitement as he could, “Great! Come on in! I will give you the best room in the house!” Poor Joseph did not know what to do. He was shocked and silence seized him. After what seemed like forever, Joseph took a glance in the makeshift Inn and said, “No wife of mine is going to stay in a dump like this. Come on, Mary, let’s find us a barn!”

Ah, a little competition in the Christmas story. I do not think that the two gospel writers who recorded the story of Christmas would have seen their stories as competitors. I doubt if Luke was trying to out do Matthew or if Matthew were trying to get the upper hand on Luke. As we arrive at Bethlehem this morning, the site of where it all happened, we visit Matthew’s version to see his interpretation.

To be honest with you, I like Luke’s version better. His version is a couple of chapters long. It is more detailed and complete that Matthew’s version. Luke’s story has shepherds and angel choruses. It has a No Vacancy sign at the Inn and baby Jesus wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in the manger. It is beautiful. It is the thing of which Christmas pageants are made. Matthew’s version is much shorter. It is only eight verses long (twenty if you include the story of the journey of the wise men). Compare it with Luke and it is dinky. Matthew’s version has no dialogue, no chorus of angels, no shepherds. His version is like a small article that you might read on the back page of the Arkansas section of our newspaper. It is not front page, headline news, like Luke’s version.

Luke’s story is different. Its main character is Mary. She is so engaging. Her story is a story about a young peasant girl, kind of like Cinderella. She is of low estate, but she is chosen. She says, “Let it be with me according to your will.” You can almost hear the Beatles singing in the background, “Let It Be.” Such innocence. In Luke, Joseph does not have a role. In Luke version, Joseph is a prop. He is like one of the animals standing near the manger scene. If you are like me and like Luke’s version better, have no fear, come back on Christmas eve and we will look at it.

The lectionary asks us this morning to look at Matthew’s version. In Matthew the roles are reversed. In Matthew, Joseph is the main character. Mary is nowhere to be found. She is off stage, pondering perhaps. It is to Joseph that the angel makes his announcement. It comes to him in a dream, to resolve the dilemma that he is wrestling with. His dilemma, you will remember, is that his betrothed, Mary, is pregnant. She came to him saying three special words. The words were not, “I love you,” but “I am pregnant.” Being betrothed is like our idea of engagement (though Mary and Joseph’s engagement was probably arranged). In biblical days, it worked this way, when a girl was twelve or thirteen, she became engaged. That meant that she was bound

to her future husband with formal words of consent. A year later, she would move out of her father’s house and into her betrothed’s house. Everyone knew about Mary and Joseph’s engagement. They also knew that Mary had yet to move into Joseph’s house. Our lesson puts the situation discreetly, “Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.” That is the dilemma. The wedding announcement had appeared in the newspaper. Invitations had been sent. The preacher had done pre marital counseling. The hall had been booked. The napkins with Ms and Js printed on them had been delivered and now this. It is not hard to imagine the scene. If you look closely enough at Joseph, you can see his face fall and his soul flood with questions. “Who is He? How did this happen?” Then he listened to what Mary had to say for herself. Then Joseph asked, “The Holy Spirit?”

We do not know what Joseph said to that. But we do know what he was preparing to do. He was getting ready to call the whole thing off. I do not think that he wanted to do that. I think that he loved Mary and was looking forward to their lives together. Joseph, though, had to do the right thing. Matthew tells us that Joseph was a righteous man. Open the lid on that box and all kinds of images come flying out. In the word “righteous” we see Joseph as a little baby, being dedicated by his parents. In the word “righteous” we see Joseph, a little older now, sitting by his father as the words of the Hebrew scriptures are read. In the word “righteous” we see Joseph as a youth beginning to read and study the scriptures and the laws for himself. And now here is Joseph as an adult. There is no surprise here. Joseph has become a righteous man. As Jeanie Burton put it in a sermon that she preached on this text when I was her associate pastor, “Prick his (Joseph’s) finger and the blood that comes out it thick with heritage, tradition, law, and reputation.” The story is so quiet. It does not want to shame Mary.

You have to admire Joseph. He is a descent man. He is a good man. You know that he was crushed, and humiliated. Most likely he was devastated by Mary’s announcement, as anyone who has just learned that the one they are engaged to would be. Joseph knows what a righteous man must do, but he will not do this in a self righteous kind of way. He also will not do it in an indifferent kind of way. I personally think that Joseph struggles with his decision. I believe that he wonders if he is doing the right thing. I think that he has trouble sleeping. When sleep does come, he dreams. And in his dream, an angel appears and says to him, “Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. The child inside of her is indeed of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” That is it. That is all that there is. That is Matthew’s nativity. The birth of Jesus in this gospel is contained in a minor clause. It is easy to miss it. For Matthew, the story really is about Joseph and his decision, his struggle, and his problem.

His problem, when it comes down to it, is to believe that God would do such a thing, act in such a way that would baffle an expectation. Joseph believed the promise. There is no doubt about that. He knew that the day was coming that God would come and save his people. Believing that promise was not what was difficult. What was hard for him to get his mind around was that God was doing that now, through him, in this unexpected way. Every year I like to say quote the great theologian, Frederick Buechner, and what he had to say about the incarnation. These are his words, “Once Jesus has come in the form of a baby in Bethlehem, there is no telling where he will show up next.” I think Frederick Buechner is right. God has the tendency to show up in unexpected and sometimes unremarkable places. Joseph’s problem was that he could not believe that it was happening now, in this incredible way.

The nativity scene is so beautiful, isn’t it? It is the most tremendous tale ever told. Combine the stories of Matthew and Luke and you have this great scene complete with shepherds and angels, wise men and an unlikely mother and father. And, of course, the baby Jesus is there. It is the most tremendous tale ever told. We are like Joseph. It is the same with us. We know the promise. We rehearse the promise every year. We come to church. We hear the story. But do you ever find yourself asking, “Is it true? Can I really believe this?” We know that it happened, but is it true, does it make a claim on our lives and if it does, what is the claim?

This year I would like for you to go home thinking about the claim. Could it be that Joseph is a model for us and our discipleship. Joseph learned that being righteous, doing the right thing, was more than looking something up in a rule book. He learned that God is a God of mercy and compassion. He learned that God sometimes does new things, crazy things, unexpected things, and that we have to be open to them. He learned that sometimes we struggle and wrestle with problems and decisions. He learned that listening for God’s voice and doing God’s will is what we are to be about. Joseph is a model for all of us who have one foot in God’s will for our lives and the other in what we want. To be a faithful disciples means prayerfully seeking what God wants for our lives, being somewhat sure of it, and then doing it without fear. Ah, for a dream from God, complete with an angelic visitation. Ah, for a dream of telling me where to go, what to do, how to minister, and then not being afraid to do it. That is the dream that I want to have. That would be great!

Go home with this. God told Joseph what to do. That bothered Joseph. It bothered him because he was happy where he was. It bothered him because it was hard to get his heart and his feet going in the same direction. It bothered him because he knew that his life’s plan had just dramatically changed. But he did what he was told to do. And I do not think that he regretted it. I think that he took one look in the holy toddler’s face and he knew that he would do it again. My take it home question for you is this, “Would you?” Let us pray.