sermon, Advent 4

primary text: matthew 1.18-25

So, this week our Gospel is about Mary. She's pregnant. Clearly it's all about Mary. Right?

Well, sort of.

Because - as I'm sure you are all aware, you wise and intelligent people - for humans, pregnancy is never a one-person thing.

And in this account, Matthew gives us SO much detail! But not about Mary - she gets one sentence: "Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with a child by the Holy Spirit."

Wow.

But Joseph - he gets our attention today. "Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly.

Whoa. This is important stuff. This is BIG stuff.

Firstly, Joseph is already Mary's husband. Not fiancé, not boyfriend - husband. Because biblical Jewish custom had engagement as a legally binding contract; the marriage was the celebration and blessing when a couple was starting to live together - already legally married. Today we combine both those aspects into one ceremony.

So - they are married, but have never lived together - in fact probably never even been alone together.

This is important to Joseph - to do things the right way. That's why we hear "he was a righteous man". There's a proper way to do things, and Joseph did things that way. Following God's law and societal custom.

And yet - SURPRISE! Mary's pregnant.

So Joseph, knowing how these things work, has grounds for a divorce. He's never consummated his marriage with his wife, and yet she reveals that she is with child.

Awkward, to say the least.

So what is the right thing to do? What does the law say a righteous man can do in these circumstances?

He can shame her. He can publically announce what she has done - gotten herself pregnant!

But he also knows the ramifications of doing this. And they're harsh. Mary's father will be shamed; he will be shunned in the community. He will be fired for being dishonest, he won't be able to get a new job, he won't be allowed to buy things at market. His family will suffer. At best, they will have to move away, in shame.

Mary herself - well, likely she'll be dealt with according to the letter of the law - and that meant stoned to death, or cast out (and at best turned to a life of prostitution).

This is NOT what Joseph, a caring man, wants to do; even though it lies within his rights.

So he decides to do the compassionate thing. He is unwilling to expose her to public disgrace. He plans to dismiss her quietly.

Kind. Nice. Good guy, yes? But now he's got to come up with a story as to WHY he's dismissed her. And then hope that no one discovers the truth - or else he will be shunned, rejected by the community, publically mocked. Business would be slow, friends would be few. He'd probably have to move.

So, poor Joseph is stuck, between a rock and a hard place. The word in Greek tells us that he was brooding over this decision. And he chooses compassion. And immediately he has a dream.

So here's where I'm going to unpack this a little bit more. Let's talk about that dream.

Because this is not your average dream at night time - not a "I was in my canoe but my paddle was spaghetti so I asked the hippo to take me to shore" kind of dream. Because - Joseph didn't go to sleep, in that comfy bed and pillow kind of way.

This dream is actually the Greek word "onar" - meaning trance, or vision. It's a state of being, not something that comes out of the subconscious. It's the same type of 'dream' that we hear about all throughout the scriptures, when we hear that the Lord is coming in a dream.

Because when the Lord has something to say to us, we're going to hear it. One way or another, we're going to hear it. And if we completely refuse to hear it when we're alert and going about our daily work and prayer, then God will send a messenger to us in a dream. There's a long history of this in the Old Testament.

So. God has something to say to Joseph. And it starts with that classic introductory line that angels - not the fluffy guys with wings and feathers, mind, in Greek 'aggelos' just means messenger. So the dream-state messenger starts with: "Do Not Be Afraid" - words that always seem to precede some seriously challenging message. It's not so much a "do not be afraid that I'm here" as a "when things get really crazy, just remember that this is part of God's plan, and try not to be too afraid to continue in your ministry."

And here Joseph gets clear direction. Take Mary as your wife. Throw the party with all the friends and family. Make a home with her. Create a life with her. Show her the ultimate in compassion and kindness. And love that child, teach him all you know, let him learn from your compassionate self how to best be in this world. Also, congratulations, it's a boy! By the way, name him Jesus, for he will save people from their sins."

Now, for those of us with the luxury of hearing this message after the fact, it sounds pretty good. Nice. Pleasant almost. But for Joseph, this is shocking. Life-changing. Because for Joseph, this leads him to a spiritual awakening.

Joseph is a man who knows his scriptures. So he recognises the weight of these words from the messenger.

Conceived a son by the Holy Spirit - that meant no other man. Which means his lovely Mary has not been unfaithful to him - rather she has been so faithful to God that she is now the theotokos - the God-bearer - a woman of such hope and conviction that she would be willing to risk her life, her status, her family - for the love of God.

Jesus - well, the name itself isn't all that uncommon - it roughly correlates to Joshua. But to be told by a messenger of God about your child - before it was born - this was unusual. And also comes from a long scriptural tradition - like Samson and John, for example. Men who had great ministries to fulfill.

And, of course, the promise of salvation - fulfilling the scriptures, putting into action the prophesy of Isaiah, the hope beyond hope that had been promised for generations. This was too good to be true; how on earth could Joseph - this God-fearing and righteous man - refuse to be part of this, especially when God is calling him so directly.

And so, Joseph wakes up. But again, not from his comfy bed - from his comfy complacence. This is a spiritual awakening! God has spoken to HIM! God has called him to a very specific ministry, a very specific task. Joseph’s life will never be the same.

But, no spiritual awakening ever leaves us unchanged. By definition, spiritual awakening is becoming aware of the presence of the Holy Spirit into our lives in such a way that everything - EVERYTHING looks different. Everything IS different. Because our eyes have been opened, our sleep has been cast off, and our actions will reflect that. When we have been awakened to our ministry, we will not be able to ignore it. When we have opened ourselves to the living Spirit of God in and around us, we will never be satisfied with "the status quo" anymore.

And this is what we celebrate this last week before Christmas. The opening up of ordinary people to do extraordinary things, by the grace of God. God chose Mary, and as difficult as it was, Mary awoke to her role in God's world, bearing the Son of Man. And thank God for that.

God chose Joseph, and as awkward as that was, Joseph awoke to his role as earthly father to Jesus, teaching him the compassionate way to be human in God's world. And thank God for that.

And God chooses US. As inconvenient as that may be sometimes, we are called to discern how we are being called to continue the story of God's grace and love, active and alive, in and amongst us all.

So my prayer for us this week is that we may all WAKE UP to the reality that we are being involved in God's world, to engage with God's world, to minister in God's world. May we be spiritually awakened, may we be not afraid, may we delight that things can never be the same, once we have accepted Emmanuel - God IS with us - now and forevermore.