Winds of change
Matthew 1:18-25
18 This is how the birth of Jesus came about. When Jesus’ mother, Mary, was engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Joseph, her husband, an upright person unwilling to disgrace her, decided to divorce her quietly.‡ 20 This was Joseph’s intention when suddenly the angel of God appeared in a dream and said, “Joseph, heir to the House of David, don’t be afraid to wed Mary; it is by the Holy Spirit that she has conceived this child. 21 She is to have a son, and you are to name him Jesus—‘Salvation’—because he will save the people from their sins.” 22 All this happened to fulfill what God has said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will be with child
and give birth,
and the child will be named
Immanuel” —a name that means “God is with us.” 24 When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of God had directed, and they went ahead with the marriage. 25 He did not have intercourse with her until she had given birth; she had a son, and they named him Jesus.
Priests for Equality. The Inclusive Bible (p. 2125). Sheed & Ward. Kindle Edition.
Last week I went to the Christmas pageant at St. Andrew’s preschool in Pacific Beach. I was there supporting my friend George, who is 4 years old and was very proud to be playing the role of Joseph.
Unfortunately the pageant was scheduled right at George’s bedtime, so during the birth of Jesus, Joseph stood by the manger yawning and rubbing his eyes.
And his sleepiness was in stark contrast to Mary’s enthusiasm—she was waving to the audience and laughing and singing at the top of her lungs.
I kinda loved it. Because honestly, I bet Joseph was tired, and I wonder how their experiences of this baby’s arrival were different from one another. We get Mary’s story in the gospel of Luke, but for today,
we turn our attention to Joseph’s story as we anticipate the coming Christ.
Mary—barely a teenager—comes to her fiancé Joseph, and says, “I’m pregnant. And I’m carrying God’s baby.” And Joseph has a big decision to make.
He’d imagined what getting married would be like his whole life. He’d find a nice girl from a good family, they would spend a year getting to know each other, and then they would be married—a ritual which isn’t complete until consummating the marriage, which we read in Matthew was also not part of their relationship.
Joseph’s a good guy! he doesn’t want to make a fuss. In his society, men were allowed to divorce their wives for any reason at all,
and since Joseph and Mary are not married yet, he could do it quietly.
In fact, if they do marry, it’s actually within Joseph’s legal rights to have Mary stoned to death if he can prove she wasn’t a virgin. This process is outlined in Deuteronomy chapter 22, ending with a justification, “she has committed an outrage in Israel by playing the harlot in her father’s house; you must purge the evil from among you.”
But Joseph’s a good guy—At least a good guy by patriarchy’s standards—he wasn’t going to have her killed or anything,
but he still planned to leave Mary alone with a baby until an angel told him not to.
This wasn’t what he planned. This isn’t how it’s supposed to go—why couldn’t things just be normal?
Imagine his internal dialogue:
“I’m supposed to marry a virgin and then start a family—not start off with a cheating wife and some kid who isn’t even mine. If this marriage is starting off like this, how could I possibly live the life I’ve always imagined for myself?”
One unexpected pregnancy, and Joseph’s dreams are interrupted.
Quite literally, actually, a messenger from God interrupts Joseph in his dreams one night,
And Look what the angel says—do not be afraid to marry Mary.
It isn’t what you expected, but do not be afraid.
Isn’t this what we need to hear in every change? It isn’t what you expected, but do not be afraid.
Underneath every disappointment, every disruption—do not be afraid. Something new is being born into the world, and no, you didn’t ask for it, and yes, it’s going to cost you your plans, your time, your money, your affection, your comfort…
but this new thing—it could change everything if you let it.
“But I don’t want change. I like things the way they are.”
Can’t you just hear Joseph making his decision to leave Mary on her own—“I want to keep my life the way it is, thank you. Change sounds like a lot of work and I would rather stick to the path I’m on.”
You know this feeling, right? In transitions, we have a tendency to want to double down and dig our heels in. We resist, we want to make it easier for ourselves. For Joseph, the temptation was to remove this obstacle from his path, and get back to his regularly scheduled programming.
The path he was on may have led him to a simple, quiet, honorable life. He seems like the kind of person who would want that peaceful existence, and he had a plan to live it.
But Joseph’s path, if he had followed it, would have led him to pass right by Mary and Jesus.
The next chapter of Matthew is full of trouble he’d have missed out on if he stuck with his own path: he wouldn’t have had to flee to Egypt, or relocate to Nazareth, or worry about keeping his wife and baby safe from a jealous King. (I can only imagine the struggle he endured co-parenting a child as powerful as Jesus.)
But Joseph said yes to a new path—to God’s path.
For two chapters at the beginning of Matthew’s gospel, we hear how Joseph accepted the shockwave of the coming Christ into his life. Jesus changed the direction of Joseph’s life, shattering Joseph’s ideas of what life was supposed to be like—isn’t this what love does?
This baby changed what he thought was important, how he loved, what he was willing to die for.
And then Joseph disappears from the story. But maybe from all this chaos, he’s been transformed.
You see if Joseph had said no, if he had followed through on his plans to quietly dismiss Mary and Jesus, they would have been ok. Joseph’s unwillingness to participate wasn’t going to foil God’s plan.
But Joseph would have missed out. He would have missed out on the chance to have his whole life flipped upside-down by this unexpected love. He would have continued in his faith, but he would have missed out on the trust and intimacy he had with God from this chaos—from saying yes to marrying the wrong person, from a child outside of wedlock, from all the deviations to his plans—he would have missed out on so much life if he’d stuck to his path.
But Joseph opened his life to God. He surrendered to the Holy Spirit’s winds of change, and he received her chaos into his world.
Receive the Christ, my friends, and receive and receive and receive some more—Our God has more love to give than you could ever hold,
So open your lives wide!
Receive the Holy Spirit’s winds of change—and let the story unfold from there, because life with this Love will never be what you expected.