Matthew 1:18 Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. 20 But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." 22 All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: 23 "Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel," which means, "God is with us." 24 When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, 25 but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.
Difficult choices
Mark had been in turmoil for many weeks. And he felt guilty. His inner conflict was nothing compared to the suffering that his young wife, Amy was going through, both emotionally and physically. Amy was expecting her first child. But it was anything but a normal event. Amy had been sexually assaulted by a one time friend of theirs, but was so traumatized by the multiple levels of betrayal that she had not said anything, not to the police, not to Mark, not to anyone until weeks had passed. She had not been feeling well and went to the doctor and that was how she discovered that she was expecting.
Mark had heard the news, first with anger over the betrayal, but that was quickly replaced by the sense of protection and care that he felt for Amy. He would have gone to the moon and back for her, had she asked, and her trauma had not changed his feelings. There would be time for righteous anger later. At that moment Amy needed him and he stood by her as she dealt with the enormity of what had happened, what was happening. The child could be Mark’s, in fact they both hoped it was Mark’s. But it might not be. Facing the uncertainty, and with his full support with whatever decision she made, Amy had decided that she would have the baby. It was not an easy decision. But she loved children, and could not bear to be parted from one, however it came to be there.
But now, as the child came to full term, Mark no longer knew whether the decision that he had supported was the right one for him. He fought with all his might the urge that welled up inside him to leave the hospital where the child would soon be born. And he felt guilty that the recesses of his mind would even consider such a thing. Some few people knew the whole story of what happened. One of those people was Amy’s father, who now sat next to Mark in the birthing room, separated from Amy and the Nurses who were attending to an aspect of the birthing process.
The old man put his arm around Mark’s shoulders and rubbed with strong hands on the tight muscles in Mark’s neck. “That’s a good thing you’re doing,” he said, rubbing love into each word. It seemed to Mark that his father-in-law was willing him to relax and settle in for good. Mark gave in to the old man’s ministrations, nodding his head. Speaking would bring the embarrassment of tears. “She puts a lot of stock in your strength right now,” the sage continued. “Don’t think she would have made it this far without it.”
“What if the child is not mine,” thought Mark. “How strong will I be then? Will I be able to face the world? Will I be able to face my own child? Who will be there to be MY strength? O God, help me, “ he prayed. Tears flowed. He stood up and returned to his wife’s side, squeezed her hand gently but firmly returning her pressure as he coached her through another contraction, her eyes sealed tight against the physical pain and oblivious to his emotional turmoil.
God’s Reversals
Time and our “make believe” culture have messed with the biblical image of Jesus birth, somewhat, over the centuries. We have made Mary and Joseph, the parents of the baby Jesus, into figures larger than life. They are adoring saints in our mind’s eye, completely at ease with God’s strange announcement that changed their lives first before ever it changed the world. Mary is fearful, and quite common as she sings the good news that God is coming into the world through a peasant girl, not a princess, certainly not the “queen of heaven” that some have made Mary to be. Joseph is a decent man, but carries his fears also, before the angel has a little chat with him in our text for today. We do well to put the extraordinary images out of our minds for just a moment as we consider this pair, for in seeing them as “just plain folk” we have an insight into both the mystery and the creativity of our wondrous God.
Here in Matthew’s version of the birth of Jesus is a story of reversal of fortunes as great as any that Mary sings in Luke’s Magnificat. God takes an impossible situation and makes it turn out better than it begins. Joseph is caught between bad decisions as our text begins today. He has paid a price for Mary to be his bride and now cannot take her as wife. She is expecting a child. Whatever else Joseph knows, he knows it is not his child. Being a “decent man” and bearing no ill will toward Mary for her supposed wanton behavior, Joseph determines to end the legal arrangement of betrothal quietly so as not to shame Mary or her family. God has other ideas.
God sends an angel to Joseph in a dream. This angel assures Joseph that his fears about Mary are groundless and that God, not wanton behavior (or rape as in Amy’s situation) has been the source of Joseph’s anguish. God gave this child to Mary and Joseph to do something greater than anyone beforehand could have possibly imagined. God intends through this child to reverse the fortunes of all Humanity. God intends to join our pain, suffering, poverty; indeed all the ambiguity of our existence. God intends to give us his love and his life. God will do this by becoming vulnerable; by being born.
It should be no surprise to us that God will do this thing. After all, there is no end to the coincidences that come from the name Joseph in this story. It certainly reminds the ancient reader and modern alike of that dreamer of old, Joseph whose cloak had many colors. He too experienced great blessing that began with great tragedy. He too went to Egypt. He too dreamed of an alternative to the hopelessness of his impossible situation. He too experienced God’s forgiveness as he gave it to his brothers. Matthew most certainly wants us to remember these two Josephs together.
For us the application is now clear as well. God is still in the reversal business. We experience life, with all of its ambiguity and long for certainty and clarity. But God improvises, much like Bach at the organ, or a Jazz great like Miles Davis. The theme is clear, but God somehow turns the melody on its ear, adds the counterpoint, and resolves the harmonies in ways we hadn’t imagined. This is more than the “old saw” of a “silver lining behind every cloud.” This is God creating life where there was death. This is God doing what God does best, becoming vulnerable for the sake of the beloved creation. This is the God of the cross, and the resurrection.
Matthew’s Joseph takes Mary and weds her, keeps her secret, and raises Jesus, Yeshua, the one who will save the people. But it is God who reverses the fortunes of his life and Mary’s. It is God who intervenes to reverse our fortunes as well. Dare we dream still of this God? Dare we chance that our worst despair might also become our greatest joy? Dare we be Joseph in this day and age?
And his name will be....
Mark’s father-in-law endured his Son’s silence for what he deemed to be just enough time, then he said, “You just hold that baby after he’s born. You’ll know what to do from there.” Mark agreed, having no other plan than to just run away, and that didn’t seem like such a good idea from any angle. The doctor had arrived. The birthing commenced. It seemed to take forever and both Mark and Amy were exhausted when a boy was announced, weighed, cleansed, assessed and bundled up against the cold cruel world outside. His lungs, at least were healthy. Mark held the boy child first then handed him to Amy. Mark held Amy’s hand and stroked the boy’s head while her needs were attended to, then before his legs could buckle, retreated to the couch in the darkest part of the room.
Mark sat in darkness. The birthing was over. There was a new child in the world, in his life and Amy’s. The OB/GYN, who knew the situation, asked Mark if he and Amy wanted to test the baby to know who the father was and Mark began to cry again. Then he said through his tears, “No blood test will make anyone more his father than I already am and always will be. No, you don’t need to do the test. Just seeing his eyes tonight.... Just holding him..... The birth certificate should say that I am his father. He is my son. His name will be Joshua, for he is God’s gift of new life for Amy and me.”
Rev. Dr. Luke Bouman
Tree of Life Lutheran Church, Conroe, Tx.
lbouman@treeoflifelutheran.org