Oh, Joseph. You did
have plans, didn’t you?
And weren’t they wonderful plans? You had a trade – you were a carpenter, which
in your day, meant that you were a master builder: a stone worker, a
woodworker, a mason. In your small town
in the world at that time, no one had the luxury of specializing in one form of
construction alone – but your knowledge and skill meant that you were much in
demand. You built houses out of all
sorts of materials – and you also made shelving, and furniture, and maybe even
some items simply for the beauty of them.
You had a trade that all but guaranteed you the ability to support
yourself and a family.
And you had a fiancee’ – that family you hoped for appeared
to be more than a mere possibility, but a soon-to-be reality. Your marriage to Mary was arranged and, as we
know, such a betrothal was a serious business.
There had not yet been a wedding ceremony, and you had not yet begin to
live together, but for most intents and purposes, the two of you were married.
Your families had reached an agreement, some property may have changed hands,
and you two were set – as good as married.
Yes, you did have plans, didn’t you?
And then – and then –
Somehow -- and the Bible doesn’t tell us how, or from whom –
but somehow word got to you: Mary was pregnant.
Pregnant with a child she claimed had come from the Holy Spirit. Pregnant in an era in which women did not
have babies unless and until they were securely married, to the man of their
father’s choosing. Pregnant despite the
fact that she was carefully supervised and sheltered by her parents. Pregnant with a story as well as a baby – a
story that made no sense at all.
And your plans, Joseph?
Shattered. Shattered along with your heart. How betrayed you must have felt! How disappointed! How angry!
You would have been well within your rights to act upon that
anger and disappointment. Mary’s
story? Highly unlikely. The law? Women found guilty of adultery – and what
better proof than a pregnancy? – women
found guilty of adultery were subject to the punishment of death by
stoning. No one would have criticized
you, had you walked into the center of town and asked that such a sentence be
visited upon Mary.
But – you didn’t. You
decided instead to “dismiss” her – to
break the marriage contract, and to do so quietly, so that she would not be
humiliated. Why was that, we wonder? Had you already developed some affection for
Mary? Did someone else suggest that
option to you? Or did you yourself find
the law overbearing and oppressive, a worse injustice than the act of which
Mary was apparently guilty?
We don’t know your reasoning. All we know is: no sooner had
you made up your mind, than you had a dream.
And what a dream that was!
An angel. An
explanation. And very clear
instructions:
[D]o
not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from
the Holy Spirit. She will bear a
son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.
This news did not fit with your plans, did it, Joseph? Plans
for work and marriage and children.
Plans to live as an ordinary member of your community. Your plans did NOT include angels - and
mysterious conceptions - and entanglement with God - and a son born to save the
world. You had other plans entirely.
Now, we all know something about that saying, “Life is what
happens when you’re making plans,” don’t we?
And sometimes the most amazing things happen! Things in which we do indeed rejoice and give
thanks!
I’ve told you that my niece and her husband adopted a baby a
few weeks ago. Now, they did have it in
mind to adopt a baby. They’d been
working on that project for quite awhile.
But they didn’t have a definitive plan, and they certainly weren’t ready
– not in the way that you get ready when you have nine months of pregnancy
during which to plan and prepare.
Nope – they got a call on a week-end that there would be a
baby the next week-end. And so they started
to get organized, and my niece, who’s a teacher, told her principal that she’d
be starting maternity in a week. And
they started making lists and planning – planning
– to buy paint and baby furniture and baby clothes and baby supplies. They had a week to get it all finished.
And then they got a call on Monday – the baby will be
delivered to you tomorrow! Tomorrow!They had other plans.
A week earlier,
they had been planning to host their first ever Thanksgiving dinner in their
home. A day earlier, they’d been plan to furnish a nursery. And then, suddenly – a baby! Right then and there, in their arms!
Now, that’s a really good sort of change of plans. A really wonderful interruption. Craig
Barnes, who’s now the President of Princeton Seminary, which is one of our
Presbyterian seminaries, but a few years ago was one of my professors at
Pittsburgh Seminary – Craig Barnes is fond of talking about when God interrupts
our lives.[1] When God expects changes from us. And there are, indeed, lots of interruptions
and changes, like the arrival of a new baby, even with only a few hours’
notice, that we welcome with great joy, and for which we are willing to change
everything.
But we all know that there are other sorts of interruption
as well. Other ways in which our plans are altered. Interruptions which cause us to wonder aloud
at this idea that we should rejoice always and give thanks in all circumstances. Changes which make the holiday season the
most difficult time of the year.
There’s the meeting with the doctor, and the diagnosis that
will change your life. You’ll be
spending the next month undergoing chemotherapy instead of taking that
long-awaited vacation in California.
There’s the unexpected phone call, and the news that someone
you love has died. Your plans change,
abruptly and completely, and you pack up the car and go.
The doorbell rings in the middle of the night, and the
police are there, your son or daughter in tow, and your plans change to
accommodate a court date and increased supervision of a child who seemed to
have been doing well. All you have to do is open your newspaper or computer, or turn on the television or radio news, to be reminded that there are countless ways in which plans are demolished every day.
The question is not whether your plans will be upended. They will be.
The question is: Will you see God at work in the
interruptions in your life?
And then the next question is: How will you respond?
Will you say yes? Will
you remain faithful to God? Will you
make room for the surprising grace of God in your life?
Craig Barnes tells us that “it is always at the turn in the
road that God is most visible to us.”[2]
I would add: If we are paying attention. If we are alert. And isn’t that what Advent is about? Paying
attention? Being alert? Keeping awake?
Now, what about Joseph?
Do you think that when his own great plans were interrupted, he felt
more like my niece and her husband, overjoyed at the prospect before him? Or did he feel a good deal less
enthusiastic? Worried? Afraid? Confused?
What about those other words we’ve used – Betrayed? Angry?
I would guess that at the outset he felt a lot of the
latter. Isn’t that a natural set of
human reactions? Think of changes in
plan which have been proposed to you lately – in your family, in your church,
in the world at large. Have you felt
worried and afraid? Betrayed and
angry? Pretty normal, yes?
But something happened to Joseph. Whatever his initial feelings, the feelings
that caused him at first to plan to put his relationship with Mary aside, those
feelings were dramatically changed by his encounter with the angel Gabriel.
New Testament Professor James Boyce tells us that Joseph is
"a
person of strength and purpose. He is committed and faithful to his religious
tradition and ready to act on that
commitment. . . . When the call comes, Joseph speaks not one
word either of question or
objection. He simply acts directly and immediately in obedient response to the call. . . . .
Joseph becomes visibly and audibly an example of the power of God's call to transform our decisions and our lives."[3]
As you know, we are sharing the Bible study Taste and See[4]
with folks from B. Church this week, and I’m preaching on this passage
today as a way of elaborating a bit on the Bible study. And it’s this matter of transformation which
the Taste and See study
emphasizes. Joseph’s presumed fear and
anger, the natural reactions any of us might experience in a situation as
bewildering as the one in which he finds himself, those feelings are
transformed by the grace of God.
Transformed by grace into the grace of acceptance and
love. Into the grace of determination and commitment.
Have you ever thought of Joseph as a role model for your own
life? Maybe it’s time to do that.
We don’t really give that much thought to Joseph, do we? Let’s
face it: he barely makes it into our consciousness, and only during Advent and
Christmas at best. But maybe we need to pay a lot more attention to this man,
especially when we have plans which are interrupted. Maybe when someone suggests that we do
something differently, that we follow an unexpected course of action, that we
accept a new role in a new set of circumstances – maybe then we need to
ask: Is God the one interrupting my
expectations? Maybe when life falls apart, when what we had
hoped for and longed for is disrupted by disaster (and I don’t mean to suggest
that God causes disaster – but I do mean to point out that God is present and
at work no matter the circumstances) – maybe we need to ask: Is God calling me
to change direction? To rejoice
regardless? To give thanks anyway?
Yes, Joseph, you had other plans, didn’t you? Plans for an
ordinary life in Nazareth. And yes, you might have hesitated when that angel showed up. You might have protested. You might have said, “No way! I have other plans!” We would have understood, because we usually have other plans, too.
But you – you opened yourself to God’s transformative power,
to the movement -- of possibility, of hope, of love – in the universe – and you
found grace. You became the earthly
father of the Savior of the World!
To what, my friends, are we called? To what grace-filled
transformation does this Advent season invite us? How is God inviting us into the work of God?
Do you have other plans?
Do you want to cling to the past, to the old expectations and the old
ways of doing things?
Or are you willing to welcome God’s movement in your
life? Are you willing to let fear and
anxiety be transformed by the grace of God?
Are you willing to let God change your lives and lead you to
possibilities you’ve never imagined?
There is no doubt about it: You are called –like our model
Joseph -- to participate in the life of Jesus Christ. You are called – like Joseph – to exchange
your plans for God’s. You are called –
like Joseph – to embrace a new life.
Rejoice, and be glad!Amen.
Excellent way at getting into the heart of the reading AND the concerns of your congregation. I hope they "hear" you....
ReplyDelete