God With Us
Matthew 1:18-25
We’re used to hearing Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus. Luke 2:1-20 appears in the Lectionary on Christmas Eve every single year without fail. If you don’t remember, you’ll hear it again in a few days. But I’m sure you’re familiar with the outline of the story. The decree from Caesar Augustus. The journey of Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem. There being no room at the inn (or guest room, as is more accurate). The manger. The shepherds. The angels. Peace on Earth. Goodwill toward men. All of that.
For my money Luke’s telling of the birth of Jesus is among the most beautiful, most delightful, most moving passages in the New Testament. No matter how many times I hear it, I never mind hearing it one more time. Like a child who has just finished listening to her favorite bedtime story, I say, “Read it again!”
But every so often, usually no more than once every three years, the Lectionary presents Matthew’s account of the birth of Jesus. Matthew’s account is quite different from Luke’s. Matthew’s version doesn't feature any of the much beloved imagery found in Luke. There’s no decree from the emperor, no birth beside ox and ass, no manger, and no shepherds. And whereas Luke tells the story largely from the perspective of Mary—the angel Gabriel announcing that she will conceive via the Holy Spirit, her visit with her cousin Elizabeth, her song of praise to God—Matthew tells the story from Joseph’s point of view…sort of.
While Joseph takes on a more prominent role in Matthew’s telling than in Luke’s, we still don’t hear him say a word. Joseph never speaks. And yet through Matthew’s narration, we are still privy to his thoughts, and we are able to get a sense of his character. Matthew describes Joseph as a righteous man, i.e., he is someone who does his best to live according to the law of Moses. When he discovers that the woman he is engaged to is pregnant, even though they have yet to share a bed, he knows that the law allows him to divorce her.
This appears confusing to us. How can a couple who are merely engaged but not yet married get divorced? Here’s how. In Jewish custom, marriage was a two-stage process. The first stage, which was akin to our engagement, was a legally binding contract, complete with vows and witnesses. The second stage saw the bride moving into the groom’s home. Thus, Joseph and Mary are bound to each other—they have entered into a legal contract that can be ended only by death or divorce—but they have not yet lived under the same roof and thus have not yet consummated the marriage.
And yet Mary is pregnant. Undeniably so. Mary knows it. Joseph knows it. One look at Mary’s profile confirms it. Joseph, of course, knows that the child is not his. In such a situation, a righteous man has two options. Divorce is one option. But there is another. According to the Law of Moses (Leviticus 20:10 for those who are curious), Joseph can have Mary stoned to death.
You might remember the scene in the Gospel of John when the scribes and Pharisees bring before Jesus a woman who had committed adultery. They cite the penalty prescribed in Leviticus. “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now, in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. What do you say?” (John 8:4-5). The question is a trap, of course, presenting Jesus with two bad options: approve of stoning the woman or go against the Law of Moses. Yet Jesus, without disavowing the Law, teaches a lesson in mercy, telling them that whoever among them is without sin can throw the first stone.
Like father, like son, you might say, because Joseph also opts to show mercy for Mary’s perceived sin. Rather than pursuing the full penalty prescribed by the Law, Joseph plans to divorce Mary quietly. He is not out for revenge. He just wants to move on.
While we know what Joseph plans to do, Matthew doesn’t tell us what Joseph is feeling. However, I don’t think it’s a great leap to imagine that he is, at the very least, disappointed. He is probably mourning the loss of the life that he had envisioned living with Mary: sharing a home, raising a family, building a life together. That’s all over, or so he thinks.
But like his namesake in the Old Testament, who received a word from God in his dreams, Joseph also hears from God in a dream. When Joseph lays his head to the pillow that night resolved to divorce Mary, an angel of the Lord appears to him in a dream. “Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife,” the angel tells him, “for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.”
I’m going to paraphrase the next part of what the angel tells Joseph. This is not a direct quote. And that’s not all, the angel begins. I’m sorry to spoil the surprise, but the child…it’s a boy. And don’t worry about names. The Holy Spirit already has the perfect name picked out. The boy will be called “Jesus,” which, I’m sure you know, is the Greek form of the Hebrew name “Joshua,” meaning “he saves.” And that’s no accident, for this child born to you and Mary will save his people from their sins.
Now, I don’t know about you, but I’ve had some pretty vivid dreams over the years. For example, even though I’ve been out of school for years, I still have that dream wherein I have a term paper due or an exam to take for which I am wholly unprepared. Each time I wake from that dream it is with an enormous sense of relief. “Thank God that was only a dream!”
I wonder what goes through Joseph’s mind when he wakes from his dream. How does he process all that the angel has told him? First, Mary has not been unfaithful to him. Second, in fact, she has been faithful to God because, third, the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. Fourth, the child is to be named Jesus because, fifth, he will save his people from their sins. I mean, dream or not, that’s a lot to take in!
In Luke’s telling of the birth of Jesus, after Jesus has been born and laid in the manger, after the angel has appeared to the shepherds, and after the shepherds make known all that the angel revealed to them about the Savior born in Bethlehem, Luke writes that all who heard what the shepherds told them were amazed. And then Luke adds, “And Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2:19).
You get the sense that Mary is overcome with wonder at all that God has done and is doing. I imagine Joseph feeling a similar wonder at the promises spoken by the angel who appeared in his dream. In the span of one night Joseph has gone from resolving to divorce Mary to being willing to serve as an adoptive father to the Savior of the world. There’s just no precedent for this. No roadmap. No handbook. It wasn’t in the job description!
There are times in life when God says to us, essentially, “You’re just going to have to trust me on this.”
But somehow Joseph has the wherewithal to trust the promises of God. He trusts that Mary has not been unfaithful. He trusts that she has miraculously conceived. He trusts that somehow this child whose father he will become will save people from their sins. He doesn’t know any of this for a fact; it’s only been revealed to him in a dream. Nevertheless, he trusts.
There are times in life when God says to us, essentially, “You’re just going to have to trust me on this.” I’ll bet that you can think of at least one such time in your own life. I know I can think of one in mine. When I quit my job as a copywriter to go to seminary, I trusted that God would provide. Believe me, it was not easy. I had a mortgage and two car payments. But I trusted that God was with me because going to seminary certainly was not my idea. In fact, I resisted the idea when it was first suggested to me. I knew I was not ready in any way, shape, or form.
But you don’t have to be ready for however God shows up in your life and leads you to a door that you would not choose to walk through on your own. Look at Joseph. How do you prepare to be the father to the Savior of the world? You don’t prepare, you simply trust.
Now, this is important—our trust is not a blind trust. Joseph trusts because he knows that God is with him. At the very moment that Joseph feels most alone, thinking that his bride has betrayed him, God appears to him. God is with him.
This is what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown…God coming to be with us. Matthew writes:
All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “Look, the virgin shall become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.”
God is with us. God is not far off, watching from a distance to see whether we can make it on our own. God is with us…not to offer moral support, encouragement, or even empathy. No, God is with us to save us. Because as the history books, the headlines, and our home lives all reveal with equal clarity, this world needs saving. We need saving. We need a God who will save us by coming to be with us.
With us in the manger. With us on the cross. With us on the mountaintop. With us in the valley. With us in our waking. With us in our dreaming. With us in life, in death, and in resurrection. With us when the boilers go down a week before Christmas. From Emmanuel until the end of age, God is with us.