Preached at Wollaston Congregational Church
On December 11th, 2022
Scripture: Matthew 1:18-25
When Christmas time comes around, Christians around the world repeat what has become known as the “Christmas story” as if we were reading directly from the Bible. However, we must note that the gospels do not tell this story of Jesus’ birth in the sequence we are used to. Two of the gospels, John and Mark, do not tell the story of Jesus’s birth at all. And Luke and Matthew tell different stories from different perspectives.
This is because each gospel – that is each account of Jesus’ life - was written in a particular early Christian community, separately from the others. Luke’s community would have only heard Luke’s account. Matthew’s community – which was particularly Jewish – would have heard his account. The story we heard today is all that Matthew’s group would have known about Jesus’ birth. And so, I invite you to imagine that you do not know the stories of the angelic appearances to Zechariah and to Mary that we heard over the past two weeks.
Instead we begin with Joseph. We learn that Joseph is a righteous man who obeys the law of Israel: the Torah. And he is engaged to Mary. However, Joseph has discovered that Mary is pregnant and he knows that the baby cannot possibly be his.
This is a devastating blow. Joseph was going to leave his parent’s house and make a home with Mary. This plan was just about to come to fruition. It would mean changes in Joseph’s life, and the new stage, hopefully becoming a husband and father.
But not this way. Somehow Mary has become pregnant by another man. The village would certainly understand if Joseph exposed Mary’s condition and had her suffer the consequences.
Still, Joseph does not want to hurt Mary in this way. Who knows how the pregnancy came about? Joseph knows how things can be for these young women in Galilee. The Roman occupiers have not only taken their land and the fruits of the land. Nobody talks about it, but they also help themselves to the women too. Mary does not seem like someone who would deliberately entertain an affair with another man.
Righteous Joseph does not want to appear to have acted with impropriety toward his young fiancée. He resolves to end the engagement quietly. Perhaps the family can send Mary away for a while until the baby is born. Perhaps there is a woman in the family who is barren who would welcome a child. Arrangements can be made.
Having come to this conclusion Joseph decides to sleep on it. The other family members and animals are already snoring in his family’s small house. He retires to his pallet and falls into a less than restful sleep.
Joseph does not know that he is about to have a dream that will change his own life beyond recognition. Joseph’s dream will also change the world in ways he cannot imagine. Joseph is visited by an angel in his dream and when angels show up we know that things are about to change in a huge way.
This will be the first of three visitations, leading Joseph ever more deeply into his role in birthing of “God with us” into this world. The first visitation happens this night. The angel appears and says “Joseph, Son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife.”
The angel refers to Joseph’s lineage, which can be traced back to the great King David. And he tells Joseph not to be afraid. This reassurance concerns Joseph’s marriage to Mary. As the angel’s message unfolds, Joseph might well become afraid of taking on the role of Mary’s husband. Because the child who will be born, the child he is to provide for and protect, is to the longed-for Messiah, Emmanuel. And Joseph knows that danger goes hand-in-hand with the incarnation of the Holy One of Israel.
And so, Joseph obeys the angel’s instruction. He takes Mary as his wife and doing so he leaps into the unknown, trusting only in God. The next time an angel visits him in his dreams, he will be instructed to leave his country, Judea, and take Mary and the child to Egypt. And then again some years later he will be instructed to bring them back. Obeying these instructions will be a matter of life and death for the child. Thank heavens Joseph opens his heart to the message of the angel and takes Mary as his wife, and Jesus as his child.
I’ve said that when angels appear, we know that change is coming. We might well say the same thing when a baby is coming. Perhaps you have witnessed this in your own life. Your child, grandchild, niece or nephew, great-grandchild, is on the way and the family is turned upside down. Living situations have to be rearranged. Supplies must be bought. The arrival of very tiny people can create major changes in our lives.
As I’ve shared with you, this is what is going on in my family at the moment. We are awaiting the arrival of our first grandchild, to be born to our first child and his wife. Preparations are being made. Gifts of diapers and tiny outfits, car seat and stroller, feeding supplies, and comfort items for the new mom and dad are being purchased. And, we have been asked to update our vaccinations: COVID, flu, and pertussis which is part of the TDAP vaccine. We would do anything in our power to protect this little one who is about to join our family.
In this moment, I cannot help but look back, thirty years, to when Simon and I first welcomed the dad-to-be into our lives. We also made all the necessary preparations. We attended the child-birth classes and learned about the medical interventions that might be needed. We read about feeding, nurturing and caring for the baby, and the various stages of development. We learned about how to protect him from danger and disease. All these things equipped us with the knowledge we would need. But nothing could prepare our hearts for what was about to take place.
One thing was clear: the way the baby came into the world was outside our control. The labor was long and arduous. The baby’s position was not ideal. The natural delivery we had planned gave way to all kinds of interventions. The midwives and nurses applied heated pads, massaged my back, slipped me ice chips. Their shifts began and ended. Some came back the next day hoping that the baby had been born while they had been away.
We could not have anticipated the rollercoaster of emotions, during those couple of days of labor: ranging from excitement and anticipation, to exhaustion, desperation and fear.
I had simply to submit to the process following the midwives’ lead. I changed position as needed and pushed when I was required to push. Finally the doctor appeared with scalpel and suction device. Ben was both pushed and pulled into the world. Our son emerged. His airways were suctioned. He was wiped and wrapped in the swaddles that have been used for generations.
And we could not have anticipated the immense joy and indescribable love when we finally held our baby in our arms.
Birthing is a very active process, and at the same time you cannot “just do it.” A birthing mother is not in a position of control. Instead she is participating with the wondrous life force – God – who brings all living things into being.
And the father, or other partner, like Joseph, has even less control. They accompany, protect, and breath in sync. They support with words of encouragement, or by physically holding the mother as she labors. And they know that once the baby is born, they will be the protector of both the vulnerable mother and baby.
Joseph is not asked to simply accept the situation of Mary’s pregnancy and keep quiet. He, too, is invited to participate and play an active role, in protecting the fragile life of the Christ child, who is God with us.
Birthing a child is an active process over which the parent has very little control. And so, birthing is the perfect metaphor for the invitation that God has for us today. Christ will be born, yet again, in our world. We can become active participants, even in the vast story of God that is unfolding beyond our control. We can open our hearts to the message of the angel and prepare ourselves for the change that this unfolding brings.
Susan Robb, the author of our Advent book, “The Angels of Christmas” invites us to imagine “that the Christ child is born, not only into our would but [also] into each of our hearts”
Robb says “Joseph’s story makes me wonder sometimes … if I am doing all that I can to protect that which has been born to me, and in me, as fiercely as I would if the lives of my own children were at risk.” I wonder, like Robb, what my life would look like if besides protecting my grandchild, I was equally determined to protect the vulnerable children of the world, who Jesus embraced and brought into the circle of God’s love.
Robb reminds readers that “There is much that seeks to threaten and destroy the light of Christ in the world. Our television screens continue to be full of violence. Political wrangling and division abound. Refugees are on the move around the globe, fleeing violence, hunger, and the effects of climate change. Our ‘anti–social’ media pages are oceans of toxicity.” [1]
And so, may we wonder, also, how we might be active in the birthing the Christ child in this season. May the angels open our hearts, like Joseph’s heart, to the emotional rollercoaster: the immense joy and the indescribable love that comes from birthing God-with-us.
Here is the final verse of the Christmas hymn, O Little Town of Bethlehem:
O holy Child of Bethlehem,
descend to us, we pray,
cast out our sin and enter in,
be born in us today.
We hear the Christmas angels
the great glad tidings tell;
O come to us, abide with us,
our Lord Immanuel!
Amen
[1] Robb, Susan. The Angels of Christmas (pp. 70-71). Abingdon Press. Kindle Edition.