December 22, 2019 – Matthew 1: 18-25
Matthew 1:18-25
Joseph – Protector of the Vulnerable
4th Sunday of Advent – December 22, 2019
First Lutheran Church – Winnipeg, MB
Joseph.
We don’t often think of Joseph.
Yes: he was the husband of Mary, mother of Jesus.
But that is about all we think about him when we think of him at all.
He plays no role in the story of Jesus after Jesus is 12 years old.
We never hear from him again.
He is not mentioned in Mark or John’s Gospel – because they don’t have stories of Jesus’ birth.
And in Luke the focus is on Mary.
Only in Matthew is the focus on Joseph.
Even the birth of Jesus in Matthew gets a mere half sentence.
Rather, this is a story about Joseph.
But why? Why does Matthew pay all this attention to Joseph this morning?
I mean Joseph gets a visit from an angel of the Lord and even gets to name Jesus.
What is the big deal about Joseph for Matthew?
The reason for Joseph’s importance starts to take shape when you learn of the
seriousness of the situation of Mary and Joseph back in that time and place.
Mary and Joseph are betrothed, they are engaged.
But this is a far more serious thing than in our day.
In Joseph’s time, it was understood that he was for all intents and purposes married to Mary.
A legal contract had been written up and signed.
They just haven’t taken the final steps yet of merging households and
consummating their marriage.
And then the unthinkable happens.
Mary is found to be with child.
It is hard nowadays to feel the force of this scandal.
To all appearances Mary has committed adultery, a very serious charge at the time.
And it is not just a scandal – it had serious consequences.
Mary could be stoned to death if it were discovered she was pregnant.
It is a great scandal.
And Joseph would be shamed.
And so he wonders what is best to do.
He is a good man – he knows he cannot expose her to public shaming with the
possible consequence that she could be stoned.
So he does the honourable thing and plans to dismiss her quietly and not raise a fuss.
But even if he does so, Mary will live the rest of her life as a shamed woman,
destined for poverty, with no further chance for marriage, and will likely have to turn to
the only way of making a living available to her in the circumstances:
Prostitution, a way of life that would leave her and her child extremely vulnerable.
This is when the angel shows up and says, Don’t do it! This child she is carrying is special!
this child is from God and through him God’s new age of peace and justice will be born!
he will save the people from their worst selves and
he will bring God’s promised future to birth!
So: continue with your marriage to Mary, and adopt the child as your own.
It turns out that God has a role for Joseph to play – and it is not the role of cuckold.
Rather, Joseph gets to play one of the most important roles of all – an unsung role,
but an indispensable one: Joseph has an opportunity here to protect the child and
ensure that the child grows to adulthood.
Joseph’s role is protector of the vulnerable.
Without him it is very unlikely that Jesus would have grown into adulthood
to begin his ministry, a ministry through which the world is still being changed.
And it is all thanks to Joseph.
We all have a role to play.
Mary has a starring role, of course, but apparently in this story of God mending the universe
everyone has a role to play.
Most of the roles are, like Joseph’s, perhaps soon forgotten.
Or misunderstood.
Or looked down upon.
But they are indispensable none the less.
Without Joseph it is unlikely the rest of the Gospel, or the rest of the New Testament,
would have been written.
Joseph is a good model for us.
He makes a difficult decision rather than the easy one.
And he commits himself to protect the vulnerable child.
Protecting the vulnerable is something we are all called to – it is fundamental to Christianity,
and in the New Testament it begins with Joseph’s merciful decision –
although of course protecting the vulnerable is also an Old Testament priority.
In the New Testament it falls to Joseph to be the first in a long line
of protectors of the vulnerable.
And for that we should say a prayer of thanksgiving for Joseph on this day.
What is at stake is hidden away in what Joseph is to name the vulnerable child.
He is to name him Emmanuel, which means “God is with us.”
God comes among us in a very vulnerable way, as a child – but not just any child.
God chooses to come among us as a very vulnerable vulnerable child,
a child born into poverty, in an occupied country, out of wedlock.
Could you get much more precarious than that?
The good news is that God is with us, and specifically that God is with the vulnerable,
with the poor, with the shunned and the shamed.
These are the ones God has come to sit with in deep darkness and shine the great light of love on.
But it cannot happen without those, like Joseph, dedicated to protecting the vulnerable.
Protecting the vulnerable, it turns out,
is just as significant a role in birthing the Saviour as Mary’s.
It is, perhaps, how God is born among us, over and over again.
It is still an unsung role – think of the tens of thousands of people whose lives are dedicated to
protecting the vulnerable on a daily basis whose names we will never know and will
be forgotten to history.
And yet, their actions are what make the world turn and in fact
these are the people through whom God is saving the world.
In cities and villages across the world, there are people dedicated to providing clean water,
medical treatment, and AIDS awareness.
There are orphanages and schools and
training programs all with the aim of protecting the vulnerable.
These are the places where God is born, these are the places where Jesus is saving people from
poverty and prejudice and injustice.
And if you narrow your telescope down here to Sargent and Victor, you see a group of people
that no history book will ever likely mention, dedicating to protecting the vulnerable
among whom God has placed them: feeding the hungry, providing hospitality,
welcoming the stranger –
and partnering with those dedicated to empowering immigrant women through
skills training and community building.
It turns out that unsung Joseph might just be the patron saint of First Lutheran Church.
It turns out that we might just have more in common with Joseph than we first thought.
So let us say a prayer of thanksgiving for Joseph as we near our Christmas celebration.
God is with us. God is among us. God is working through us.
And together let us say, Amen.
Pastor Michael Kurtz
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
