"Deciding to Walk Beside Them"
Matthew 1:18-25
Rev. Everett L. Miller
Preached Following the Burning of the Methodist Church
Maybe someday I will be asked to speak in front of a gathering of Christians from all kinds of different churches: Baptists, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians and so on. I’ll look out on the faces of all these people who have come together, who are maybe a little suspicious of each other: Catholics at the same tables as Pentecostals, Salvation Army members sharing the salt and pepper shakers with the Greek Orthodox. I will know that they are unsure about what the idea of Christian unity looks like when it is lived out, and I will step up to the podium and begin by telling a story from the past.
I will tell the story of how several years back, in late 2007, the Methodist Church burned down just 100 yards or so down the street from the church where I am pastor. And I will tell the story of how all the churches were the hands of Christ to the people of that congregation. I will tell them about the horrible tragedy and the memories lost and how we mourned with them as best we could, going as far as we could with them in their grief. I will tell that varied group of Christians about how we watched as God did what God does, bringing something good out of something terrible. I will tell them about how we prayed for them and how we were encouraged in our own faith by the strength we saw in the people of the Methodist Church. I’ll tell them about how the Christian community in Newkirk put to the side names like Presbyterian, Disciples of Christ, and Methodist and became the body of Christ. Maybe I will read 1 Corinthians 12:12 and 12:26: “The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ… If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.”
As I am telling this story they will think that I made this town up. They will think that there is absolutely no way that Christians in America today could ever put the non-essentials to the side in order to come together to support another group of Christians with a different symbol and a different name. They will think that I am either outright lying or at least exaggerating how it all played out. But a I always do, I will keep talking anyway.
Maybe it will be around Christmastime so I will remind that group of Christians about Joseph. You know, as readers of Matthew we walk in on Joseph as his life is falling apart, as his plans have had to change drastically by no fault of his own. He was betrothed to a woman named Mary, more likely a girl named Mary. To be betrothed was much more binding than our modern engagements. Joseph and Mary were already legally considered husband and wife, although Mary probably continued to live with her family for a year and the marriage was not consummated until after that year. Betrothal was a time of preparation. Joseph was surely preparing a home for his new bride. I’d imagine that Joseph didn’t dream of anything extravagant out of life: a wife, some kids, and their daily bread. It would be a hard life just like everybody else’s around there but they would love God and love each other like good people do. Surely Joseph had dreams of normalcy but was at the same time filled with pride at how his life was about to change.
But then Mary tells him that she is expecting and seeing as how Joseph and Mary have not been together this is of course terrible news to him. Maybe he asked her, “How could you do this to me?” or maybe “Who did this to you?” All of his plans and preparations went down the drain in that moment: the home, the wife, the kids, and the pride. It was all gone. He would become the laughing stock of the town. Mary told him something about an angel and her baby being the Son of God. Good grief, how far will this girl go to deny her sin or to protect the one who has sinned against her?
Matthew tells us that Joseph is a righteous man, a just man, a man of principle. What this really means is that he followed the Law of Moses. But in this particular situation the Law’s prescribed punishment for Mary is death by stoning. Even if the village elders decided not to go that far, she would surely be shamed and her entire family would be ostracized in the community. This is what the letter of the Law says. So what is a righteous man to do? He chooses mercy instead of the letter of the Law. Joseph has found himself in a terrible situation: his betrothed wife is pregnant by someone else, his preparations are worthless, but he will not be spiteful or legalistic. It is easy to see why he is known as Saint Joseph.
With all this weighing on his mind he must have laid in bed for hours. How could this happen to me? Why me? Am I doing the right thing? What now? Then in the early morning hours he finally dozed off. It must have been some dream that he had that night, with a messenger from God telling him not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife. The messenger tells him that Mary was not lying. She is pregnant, but not by any man, but by the power of the Spirit of God. She will, in fact, give birth to the one who will be called Emmanuel—God with us. It appears that Mary did not have much of a choice in the matter. She had been chosen; she could either accept it begrudgingly or as the most blessed gift ever given by God. After all, in Luke’s gospel the angel tells her: “You will conceive and give birth to a son.” And Joseph is told that she “will bear a son.” God is at work through Mary to bless the world. This is going to happen, the angel says.
But although Mary didn’t really have a choice, Joseph does. He can go ahead with the divorce or he can play his role, however small it might be, in God’s strange and miraculous plan for salvation and redemption. The ball is in Joseph’s court now, so to speak. If he chooses to participate his first action will be to name the child Jesus, the name that is also given by the angel to Mary in Luke. When he wakes up from this dream he has a decision to make. Will he see that what originally was a terrible turn of events is really his opportunity to show his faithfulness to God and his beliefs in God’s promises? Will he see that his life’s purpose is about to rise out of the rubble of his broken dreams and shattered pride?
Anyone who has ever seen a nativity scene knows the choice that Joseph made. Matthew tells us that Joseph took the opportunity he had been given. He decided to face the shame and scorn of his community and take Mary as his wife. And then Matthew says simply, “And he named the child Jesus.” He did it. He made the decision to play his part in God’s work of redemption, even though it was Mary who would carry the burden. He would suffer with her as much as he could and he would rejoice with her when she is honored by giving birth to the embodiment of God’s hope and love for the world.
And after I remind that group of Christians how Joseph walked along with Mary, I’ll tell them about how we at the First Presbyterian Church had a choice to make once. God was going to work whether or not we were on board. God was going to save. God was going to redeem. God was going to give hope. But were we going to join in God’s work even though our part was so small?
I will tell them of how all the congregations in our town watched our Methodist brothers and sisters believe in God’s promises, how we watched their lives’ purposes rise out of the rubble of charred memories and a shattered sense of peace. I will tell that group of how we wanted to help so deeply, and how we were sometimes frustrated by how little tangible we could do to help our brothers and sisters in their time of sadness. I will tell them about how we prayed for them, and how we cried with them in their living rooms, and how we listened to their sacred stories of baptisms, weddings, and funerals. I will tell them how we stood in the margins helping where we could but recognizing that ultimately it was they who have to carry the burden. I will tell them how we suffered with them as much as we could and how we rejoiced with them when out of their tragedy there was a new birth of God’s hope and love for the world right there in our own community.
And I will close by telling them that we said yes to the call because we believe those words of scripture, “The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ… If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.”
As I am telling this story they will think that I made this town up. They will think that there is absolutely no way that Christians in America today could ever put the non-essentials to the side in order to come together to support another group of Christians with a different symbol and a different name. They will think that I am either outright lying or at least exaggerating how it all played out. But a I always do, I will keep talking anyway.
Maybe it will be around Christmastime so I will remind that group of Christians about Joseph. You know, as readers of Matthew we walk in on Joseph as his life is falling apart, as his plans have had to change drastically by no fault of his own. He was betrothed to a woman named Mary, more likely a girl named Mary. To be betrothed was much more binding than our modern engagements. Joseph and Mary were already legally considered husband and wife, although Mary probably continued to live with her family for a year and the marriage was not consummated until after that year. Betrothal was a time of preparation. Joseph was surely preparing a home for his new bride. I’d imagine that Joseph didn’t dream of anything extravagant out of life: a wife, some kids, and their daily bread. It would be a hard life just like everybody else’s around there but they would love God and love each other like good people do. Surely Joseph had dreams of normalcy but was at the same time filled with pride at how his life was about to change.
But then Mary tells him that she is expecting and seeing as how Joseph and Mary have not been together this is of course terrible news to him. Maybe he asked her, “How could you do this to me?” or maybe “Who did this to you?” All of his plans and preparations went down the drain in that moment: the home, the wife, the kids, and the pride. It was all gone. He would become the laughing stock of the town. Mary told him something about an angel and her baby being the Son of God. Good grief, how far will this girl go to deny her sin or to protect the one who has sinned against her?
Matthew tells us that Joseph is a righteous man, a just man, a man of principle. What this really means is that he followed the Law of Moses. But in this particular situation the Law’s prescribed punishment for Mary is death by stoning. Even if the village elders decided not to go that far, she would surely be shamed and her entire family would be ostracized in the community. This is what the letter of the Law says. So what is a righteous man to do? He chooses mercy instead of the letter of the Law. Joseph has found himself in a terrible situation: his betrothed wife is pregnant by someone else, his preparations are worthless, but he will not be spiteful or legalistic. It is easy to see why he is known as Saint Joseph.
With all this weighing on his mind he must have laid in bed for hours. How could this happen to me? Why me? Am I doing the right thing? What now? Then in the early morning hours he finally dozed off. It must have been some dream that he had that night, with a messenger from God telling him not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife. The messenger tells him that Mary was not lying. She is pregnant, but not by any man, but by the power of the Spirit of God. She will, in fact, give birth to the one who will be called Emmanuel—God with us. It appears that Mary did not have much of a choice in the matter. She had been chosen; she could either accept it begrudgingly or as the most blessed gift ever given by God. After all, in Luke’s gospel the angel tells her: “You will conceive and give birth to a son.” And Joseph is told that she “will bear a son.” God is at work through Mary to bless the world. This is going to happen, the angel says.
But although Mary didn’t really have a choice, Joseph does. He can go ahead with the divorce or he can play his role, however small it might be, in God’s strange and miraculous plan for salvation and redemption. The ball is in Joseph’s court now, so to speak. If he chooses to participate his first action will be to name the child Jesus, the name that is also given by the angel to Mary in Luke. When he wakes up from this dream he has a decision to make. Will he see that what originally was a terrible turn of events is really his opportunity to show his faithfulness to God and his beliefs in God’s promises? Will he see that his life’s purpose is about to rise out of the rubble of his broken dreams and shattered pride?
Anyone who has ever seen a nativity scene knows the choice that Joseph made. Matthew tells us that Joseph took the opportunity he had been given. He decided to face the shame and scorn of his community and take Mary as his wife. And then Matthew says simply, “And he named the child Jesus.” He did it. He made the decision to play his part in God’s work of redemption, even though it was Mary who would carry the burden. He would suffer with her as much as he could and he would rejoice with her when she is honored by giving birth to the embodiment of God’s hope and love for the world.
And after I remind that group of Christians how Joseph walked along with Mary, I’ll tell them about how we at the First Presbyterian Church had a choice to make once. God was going to work whether or not we were on board. God was going to save. God was going to redeem. God was going to give hope. But were we going to join in God’s work even though our part was so small?
I will tell them of how all the congregations in our town watched our Methodist brothers and sisters believe in God’s promises, how we watched their lives’ purposes rise out of the rubble of charred memories and a shattered sense of peace. I will tell that group of how we wanted to help so deeply, and how we were sometimes frustrated by how little tangible we could do to help our brothers and sisters in their time of sadness. I will tell them about how we prayed for them, and how we cried with them in their living rooms, and how we listened to their sacred stories of baptisms, weddings, and funerals. I will tell them how we stood in the margins helping where we could but recognizing that ultimately it was they who have to carry the burden. I will tell them how we suffered with them as much as we could and how we rejoiced with them when out of their tragedy there was a new birth of God’s hope and love for the world right there in our own community.
And I will close by telling them that we said yes to the call because we believe those words of scripture, “The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ… If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.”
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