Joseph Teaches us Three Simple Things
A 2023 Lenten Sermon by Dan Rice
Text: Matthew 1:18-25
During Lent each of the preachers focuses on a particular saint. The focus of my
sermon tonight is St. Joseph, the husband of Mary and the adoptive father of Jesus.
The story in the Gospel of Matthew about the conception of Jesus is first and
foremost a theological narrative about the divine origins of Jesus but it gives us a
rare glimpse into the character of Joseph. There is very little in the Gospels about
this central person in the life of Jesus, Mary’s husband and, if we take this
narrative literally, the adoptive father of Jesus.
Joseph is described as “faithful to the law,” in other words a devout Jew. When he
discovered that Mary was pregnant, he considered divorcing her, which meant
ending their betrothal or engagement. One translation reads, “he decided to
dismiss her quietly.” I am not sure how that would have worked out in a small
community. But Joseph’s reaction was a very human response.
After Joseph has decided to end the relationship, an angel appears to Joseph in a
dream and tells him that Mary’s pregnancy is a mystery and a part of God’s plan
and that he should keep his pledge to Mary, which he does. It is interesting that an
angel comes to both Mary and Joseph to explain to them the role they are being
asked to play in God’s plan to fulfill the scriptures through the birth of Jesus.
Both Mary and Joseph accept the invitation to take on these important roles as the
parents of this special child, Jesus.
There is much more that may be said about all of this but tonight I want to focus on
what Joseph teaches us about the role of a parent. In fact, I am suggesting that
Joseph’s role as a parent is a metaphor for what it means to be a follower of Jesus,
a Christian.
In Joseph we learn three essential aspects of being a parent and, more broadly,
what it means to aspire to be a Christian.
1. You don’t have to be a biological parent to be a parent and a good parent.
(repeat)
The Gospel of Matthew makes it clear that Joseph was not the biological parent of
Jesus but he was a real parent of Jesus, his human father. In our time, “blended
families” are commonplace. Parents who have been previously married come
together with their children to form a new “blended family.” The children in these
families often have four parents and, if all goes well, are loved by both their
biological and their new parents.
Same sex couples may adopt children when only one parent or neither parent may
be a biological parent. Yet, they love their children and are both parents.
More broadly, as Christians we are prepared to take others into our family network
accepting them as family members. We call this a “family of choice.”
As Christians we embrace “radical hospitality,” as Jamie reminds us often in his
sermons. We willingly and happily welcome people who come as strangers into
our church family, caring for them and surrounding them with love and support
when they are in distress or need. And they reciprocate when we are in despair, ill,
and alone.
I learned about this kind of “radical hospitality” growing up in a Methodist
Parsonage. I remember there was often an extra face at our family dinner table
during the holidays.
There was the young man with a disability who worked on the garbage truck in our
parish in Newcastle, Wyoming.
And there was the family with several children who lived in our basement for a
few weeks while the father earned enough to travel on to their destination.
There was the “out and proud” young gay man in the parish in Denver.
And the older African American cowboy in our parish in Sheridan, Wyoming.
As followers of Jesus, we are called to love people who aren’t our kin, who are
outside our clan, who are not of our race, nationality, even our religion.
That is the point of the parable of the good Samaritan. It would be as if we,
progressive Christians, were traveling and saw someone lying in the ditch, beaten,
robbed and unconscious. And as we approached, we discovered it was Marjory
Taylor Green. Our first reaction, at least mine, would be to speed on, leaving her
there. She would be the last person I would want to help. But I hope my
realization would be, I must stop and help. At least call an ambulance and wait
until medical help arrived. Cover her with a blanket or coat. Or get her into the
car and take her to the nearest hospital.
The Samaritans were the outcasts in Jesus’ time, the “others” who were beyond
any obligation or sense of responsibility. Jesus’ point was clear, our love of others
must go beyond our kin, our kind, to include even those we consider the most
undesirable.
2. The second lesson we learn from Joseph is sometimes we have to tell people
what they don’t want to hear.
We do not have an example in the NT of Joseph doing this, but if he truly loved
Jesus as a child, he had to learn that a caring parent sometimes has to tell one’s
children what they don’t want to hear. When Jesus was a toddler, Joseph had to
tell him that he couldn’t play with Joseph’s sharp carpentry tools for fear Jesus
might hurt himself.
I find that one of the most difficult moments in being a parent or a good and loyal
friend is when I know I must tell someone what they don’t want to hear. The
loving thing to do is to tell them what they need to hear in that moment. And I
confess that I am not the most skilled at this task. I would rather delay, hope the
moment passes, the situation improves on its own, which some times it does but
not always.
There are times when if we really love someone, we are called to tell them what
they don’t want to hear. We can do it with care, and tact, with love but with
enough clarity to speak the truth. This is easier said than done, especially done
well.
This is also a lesson for the Church if it is to be faithful to the Gospel. Sometimes
we have to proclaim a message people don’t want to hear. As a community
sometimes we fail in our effort to be faithful in following Jesus. We have blind
spots, we allow our comfort, our culture, our prejudices to stop us short of doing
what we are called to do out of Christian love.
And speaking the truth should not be the burden of just the Priest or Pastor. Each
of us has the duty to call our community to account when we have missed the
opportunity to be a witness to the love of God in Jesus Christ.
3. The third and final lesson we learn from Joseph is that, as Christians, our love is
unconditional. This is the positive, affirmative and affirming way of the Christian
faith. Our Presiding Bishop Michael Curry preaches this truth better than anyone I
have ever heard preach it and I have heard some pretty powerful preachers. Bishop
Curry sums up the Gospel in four simple words, “The Way of Love.”
Until preparing this sermon, I never thought of this aspect of Joseph’s love for the
adult Jesus. Joseph disappears from the Gospel narrative before Jesus is
crucified. Some Bible commentators speculate that Joseph may have died when
Jesus was a young adult. If that was the case, it tells us that Jesus suffered the loss
of his father. Many of us know the grief that comes with the loss of a parent.
But if Joseph was alive during that time his heart was breaking because he couldn’t
save Jesus from suffering and even death. This is one of the most painful lessons
of life. Sometimes we can’t save the people we love.
You won’t be surprised to hear that Senator George McGovern was and is one of
my heroes. He and his wife Eleanor’s third child out of five was a daughter. Her
name was Theresa. Theresa struggled with alcoholism much of her life. George
and Eleanor never gave up hope that Terry, as her family and friends knew her,
would recover.
On a wintery day in December of 1994, Terry’s frozen body was found in a
snowbank in Madison, Wisconsin where she was living at the time. Terry was 45
years old, divorced and the parent of two children. Terry was living alone and the
day she died, she had picked up the key to a new apartment her father had rented
for her. The key was found in her pocket.
Losing a child is a devastating loss.
Our love as Christians is unconditional but sometimes we can’t save those we love.
But we never stop loving them.
Karl Barth, also one of my heroes, was a German theologian who fled to
Switzerland when the Nazis took over the German Lutheran Church. He wrote
many scholarly books and is best known for his 14 volume Church Dogmatics
which took 30 years to complete.
Once in an interview he was asked “How would you sum up your life’s work, Dr.
Barth? He replied without hesitation, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible
tells me so.”
It’s that simple—and that complex.
This Lenten season we are called to rededicate our lives to the example of Joseph,
the human parent of Jesus, to follow the way of love.
God knows the world needs it.
Our country needs it!
North Dakota needs it, Lord how it needs it!
Fargo/Moorhead needs it!
And we need it--don’t we!
The way of love!
Amen
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