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Matthew 1:18-25
The Birth of Jesus Christ
18 This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” – which means “God with us.”
24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
As we sometimes do during the season of Advent, we’re devoting our Friday reflections to the stories of appearances by angels related to the birth of Jesus. This week we’re thinking about the story of the announcement to Joseph of the circumstances of the Christ child’s birth.
But first, let’s stop to think about what the scholars tell us about the Gospel of Matthew which is the book in which this story appears. If you’ve been reading or listening to these Reflections for a while, you might remember that we’ve said the New Testament scholars say Matthew was written for a Jewish audience – to tell the story of Jesus and his teachings to people who had been raised in the Hebrew tradition.
That helps to explain the way Matthew tells about the birth of Jesus. He tells the story from the perspective of Jesus’ earthly father, Joseph. That would have been important to Jewish readers, because it was through Joseph that Jesus was connected to the line of David. And as you probably recall, being descended from David was understood to be one of the identifying marks of the Messiah.
People in our time might question how Jesus would be considered a descendant of David. After all, he had no genetic relationship to Joseph. But in the ancient Hebrew world, the male head of the household into which a child was born would be considered the child’s father. Giving the child a name – as Joseph does in the case of Jesus – would be considered to make Jesus his son.
It seems to me that the most interesting aspect of our passage for today is the contrast it presents between two different understandings of the meaning of ‘righteousness.’
Matthew describes Joseph as ‘a righteous man.’ To the ancient Hebrews, a righteous man was one who strictly obeyed the laws of Moses. The Pharisees, for instance, represented that traditional Hebrew view of righteousness – they were extremely strict in obeying the law. You might remember that one of the things the Pharisees objected to most strongly about Jesus was that he accepted and embraced people who did not meet that traditional standard of righteousness – prostitutes, tax collectors and other sinners.
According to that strict understanding of righteousness, Joseph would have had the right – even the responsibility – to insist that his pregnant fiancée be punished harshly. Infidelity during engagement was regarded as adultery just like infidelity in marriage. In some very traditional areas, Joseph could have demanded that Mary be stoned. But even in more progressive areas, he would be considered perfectly within his rights to send her back to her family in disgrace. If that happened to a woman, no respectable Jewish man would want to marry her. So Mary would have lived a lonely and single life in her parents’ home, or be married off in desperation to any man who would have her.
But Matthew tells us that Joseph resolved to end the engagement quietly and in a way that would not subject Mary to public disgrace. When you think about it, that would have meant that Joseph himself probably would have shared in some of the embarrassment surrounding the end of the engagement. If people knew Mary and Joseph were engaged and then the engagement was broken off, there would be gossip about both of them. So the course of action Joseph was planning – putting Mary away quietly – would have been a self-sacrificial act. He would have been sacrificing his own rights, and probably some of his own reputation, too.
So Joseph’s vision of righteousness was not one that was defined by the strictest possible adherence to the laws of Moses, or by demanding full satisfaction for perceived offenses. Instead, Joseph seems to have held a vision of righteousness that extended gracious forgiveness to someone who might have sinned against him in a very painful way. Joseph’s righteousness included a generous measure of compassion, even under difficult circumstances.
We’ve sometimes reflected in the past that the coming of Jesus marked a turning away from a religious mindset. And this story illustrates that. A religious mindset would reject those who were perceived as not good enough. A religious vision of righteousness would have been inclined to reject and condemn Mary as an adulteress. But the new vision of righteousness that Jesus proclaimed was one that extended mercy and forgiveness – one that included, instead of excluding.
Of course, as it turns out, God sent an angel to call Joseph to an even greater degree of forbearance and grace. And Joseph obediently agreed to play his part in this drama, just as Mary obediently played hers. Joseph probably doesn’t get the respect he deserves among followers of his adopted son.
These two visions of righteousness still come into conflict among people of faith. Some Christians still understand a righteous life to be one that’s lived in strict obedience to the laws and ordinances in the Bible – including those in the Old Testament. But while Jesus taught his followers to strive to live according to those laws, he also articulated a vision of righteousness that included graceful forgiveness for sinners. In fact, he said it was for people like them that he had come into the world.
So when you hear people engaged in disputes about what constitutes a righteous life, think about the role of Joseph in the story of Jesus’ birth, and ask yourself what side of the question comes closest to the vision of righteousness that Joseph – and Jesus – would have embraced.
Let’s pray. Lord, by the working of your Spirit in our lives, enable us to live more and more faithfully by your commandments. But recognizing that we will always fall short of those commandments, let us live out a vision of righteousness that extends grace to others as we ourselves have received it through Jesus. Amen.
Grace and Peace,
Henry
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