Pastor Steve, our new Bridge Pastor, presided over a Creator service for the first time as a Supply Pastor.
His sermon wove in all the day's lectionary readings, particularly the Gospel reading, Matthew 1:18-25. Joseph accepting Jesus as his son because of a dream, differs from the traditional Mary-focused Luke narrative.
Advent in describing the birth of Jesus naturally follows a woman's perspective. The dominant voices heard in Luke are women's, a refreshing change of perspective that seems very intentional in the Biblical stories of Christmas. For example Mary proclaims the birth of Immanuel, God-with-us, in her eloquent, devoted Magnificat. By comparison with the participating men take Zechariah, the husband of Elizabeth. He is literally rendered mute until his son John is born. And we do not hear Joseph's voice in today's text.
Pastor Steve emphasized the importance of Joseph's dream in the birth narrative. The Gospel text, Matthew 1:18-25, describes the angel
coming to Joseph in this dream. Can we experience what God wants for the
world in dreams? Did Jesus dream for us when he declared God's kingdom
is at hand?
God
is with us. Everything changes when we are living that truth out. This is our alternative as Christians It reminds me of a conversation in a film where a bartender
justifies an unjust action by saying "That is the way things are in the world" in the Baz Luhrmann's Australia. The hero finally comes to a hard-won realization reflected in his response at the end of the movie, "Just because that's the way it is does not mean that is the way it should be." The hero is then able to change his reality.
We tend to spend an inordinate amount of time learning about, and
adapting ourselves to, the world as it is. We spend less time dreaming
about how it might change. We try to conform our dreams to the reality we think
that surrounds us and not reality as it should be.
Joseph is faithful to what the angel reveals in his dream. He names his son Jesus, which means saved from sins, as a result of what the angel says. This is not what Joseph planned
or dreamed for himself and his family and yet he trusts in this new truth. This
may be why he is often imagined by Biblical readers as being significantly older than Mary.
He was already seeking for a righteous way to respond to Mary's being
with child by resolving not to expose her to public disgrace. After the
dream he moves farther into what he resolves to do by accepting Jesus as his son and believing in the angel.
Pastor Steve preached about Jesus birth as a new creation and detailed how much how what and how God creates is mysterious to us. When I heard Pastor Steve mention this text in relationship to Genesis I pondered how the story of Jesus would be heard by first century Jews. I believe they would likely associate the story with that other Joseph — the one who interpreted many dreams — in Genesis.
We all know the story of Joseph's brothers selling him into slavery. And when the brother's acknowledge how they have sinned against their brother at the climax of their reunion, their wronged sibling proclaims, “As for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” Indeed, Joseph's name implies both prosperity and protection. The Hebrew word asaf means to gather, collect, bring in, or assemble. A related root word means Harvest.In the same way that Genesis’s Joseph gathered and protected Israel “that many should be kept alive,” so Matthew’s Joseph also gathered in and protected Mary and her child, the hope of Israel, that many would be saved.
The story of the Holy Spirit is, in many minds, too hard to believe. Without this problematic betrothal story, other possibilities leads to something ugly. And there was an ugly rumor around Jesus’ birth — that Jesus was the son of Mary through either an indiscretion with, or a rape by, a Roman soldier. There is some historical confusion as to whether Christians first claim divine conception and their critics then smear Mary with some sexual shame or the converse,
Mary’s adultery or rape leading to a virgin birth tale could be a cover to preserve Mary’s integrity. In any case, the salacious story was out there, referenced in some ancient texts.
What was meant for evil, God meant for good. So Matthew does not shy away from possible scandal. Indeed, his entire gospel is framed with this gossip. Mary was “found to be with child” before their marriage - with the father unknown, “from the Holy Spirit.” Matthew could have easily ignored it; he could have chosen not to give it any credence. But he puts the truth right out front, essentially the opening line in the first narrative of Jesus’ life.
What keeps Biblical fresh and provocative is how the truth is approached and told in the stories. Reminds me of an Emily Dickinson poem:
Tell all the truth but tell it slant
Tell all the truth but tell it slant —
Success in Circuit lies
Too bright for our infirm Delight
The Truth's superb surprise
As Lightning to the Children eased
With explanation kind
The Truth must dazzle gradually
Or every man be blind —
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