Ponder Joseph

December 19, 2004 (Fourth Sunday of Advent)

By The Very Rev. Terry White, Dean

- Isaiah 7:10-17
- Psalm 24 or 24:1-7
- Romans 1:1-7
- Matthew 1:18-25

(From The Lectionary Page)

As you near Smithville on Highway 169, there is a sign directing you to the city of St. Joseph, Missouri. The bold highway sign reads: St. Joesph. J-O-E-S-P-H. (The person responsible was clearly NOT a graduate of Missouri schools!)

The late comedian Rodney Dangerfield included in his stand-up routine a series of jokes which began: I tell you, I get no respect.  Joseph, the guardian father of our Lord and spouse of Mary, is by no means disrespected in our faith and tradition. Yet art depicting, and music extolling, the angel’s annunciation to Joseph are not as familiar to us as Gabriel’s visit to Mary. Thus, today’s gospel is something of a preacher’s delight, if only because there are few stereotypes to deal with.

The Very Reverend Charles Hoffacker writes: (Sermons That Work, Advent 4, 2001.)

The simple truth is this: none of us avoids a crisis. All of us have trouble in the course of our lives. Someone may appear to be always on top of the world, but this observation may only show that we do not know that person well.

Take a man who is successful in business, who cannot help, it seems, but make money. He is elegantly dressed -- his shoes are shined, his tie is choice, his cufflinks gleam. He has a warm smile, a firm handshake, a confident voice. But look beyond all that.

Get to know the man and you will find that there has been or is still some crisis in his life. Perhaps he had an early failure in business, or a significant relationship has ended, or has a child with special needs. Perhaps he feels overwhelmed by cutthroat competition in his business, or is unhappy because he feels that he does not make a difference. Appearances can be deceiving! None of us avoids crisis. All of us have trouble in the course of our lives.

Because this is so, the great difference between people does not lie between those free from trouble and the rest of us. The great difference appears between those who are vanquished by their problems and those people who find in their problems something worthwhile that redeems the rest.

Today's Gospel is about the annunciation to Joseph, a man who wants to marry his fiancé, settle down, make an honest living as a carpenter, and raise a family.

Then the crises. Mary is pregnant and Joseph cannot be the father. He endures the pain of betrayal and rejection. The marriage will not take place, and the dreamed of future of a happy life together is dead. In a matter of moments, his life has crashed around him. Like all of us, when faced with pain and turmoil, Joseph lies awake at night. In the sleep which finally comes, he is disturbed by a dream, the kind of dream that one remembers years later.

This story is about how God becomes known to us in crises, how tension and turmoil can in fact make us more open to God. It is an illustration of how true it is that when we reach the end of our rope, that is when we reach for God.

When Joseph wakes up, his crisis is still there. But instead of seeking a divorce, he accepts a radically different future. Now he knows that God is part of his future, and that gives him a sense of peace as well as the energy to persevere in a vocation he never expected.

What you and I learn from Joseph is that we need not be crushed by the crises we encounter. Joseph is no silent figure carved out of olive wood, sitting passively in our Nativity set at home. The Gospel calls him "righteous" because he waits on God, and the Lord is no stranger to him. Joseph was a man of faith before this crisis, so that even as his heart was breaking, as he mourned the death of the life he thought he would have: even through all this, he has the faith to discern God speaking, and he follows, not his broken heart, but his faith. (Ibid, quotes and ideas.)

Dear friends in Christ, ponder Joseph, the loving spouse of Mary and guardian of the Messiah. Like him, if we are in relationship with God through a life of prayer, if we value God's company on ordinary days, then, when the day of crisis arrives and our world appears to come apart at the seams, even then we can recognize God's voice speaking to us at the heart of the crisis, showing us a faithful way to cope and move through our pain and stress and confusion.

May we open a gift early this year. Like Mary and Joseph, those mortals dearest to God’s Incarnate Love, let us seek God daily that we might learn to hear God’s voice and recognize God’s wisdom, just when we need it most. Like right now.

Come, long expected Jesus. From our fears and sins release us, that we may find our rest in thee.