Christmas Vigil, 2008

MATTHEW 1:18-24
I'VE JUST READ THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, CHAPTER 1, VERSES 18 TO 24. IF WE HAD READ VERSES 1-17, WE WOULD HAVE HEARD 42 LINES THAT ALL HAD THE SAME REFRAIN: ABRAHAM WAS THE FATHER OF ISAAC, ISAAC THE FATHER OF JACOB, JACOB THE FATHER OF JUDAH AND HIS BROTHERS – AND SO ON DOWN TO ELEAZAR THE FATHER OF MATHAN, MATHAN THE FATHER OF JACOB, JACOB THE FATHER OF JOSEPH; AND THEN WE HEAR, JOSEPH THE HUSBAND OF MARY, OF WHOM WAS BORN JESUS, WHO IS CALLED CHRIST. IN LUKE'S STORY, WE HEAR THAT JESUS WAS CONCEIVED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT BEFORE MARY AND JOSEPH LIVED TOGETHER; MATTHEW IS MAKING MUCH THE SAME POINT IN HIS GENEALOGY; HE WANTS US TO UNDERSTAND THAT IN SOME WAY JESUS IS A LINEAL DESCENDANT OF ABRAHAM, AND DAVID, AND MANY OTHERS, SOME OF WHOM WERE FAMOUS AND SOME OF WHOM WE NEVER HEARD OF; BUT IN ANOTHER WAY, JESUS IS SET APART, BECAUSE JOSEPH IS THE HUSBAND OF MARY, BUT OF ALL 42 INDIVIDUALS NAMED IN THIS GENEALOGY, JOSEPH IS THE ONLY ONE NOT REFERRED TO AS FATHER.
THIS GOSPEL PASSAGE SEEMS TO BE MORE ABOUT JOSEPH THAN EITHER JESUS OR MARY. MATTHEW HAS JUST ESTABLISHED THAT JOSEPH IS NOT THE FATHER OF JESUS IN HIS GENEALOGY. THEN HE SHOWS US THAT JOSEPH IS A MAN OF GREAT COMPASSION. THE LAW SAYS THAT IF A WOMAN IS CAUGHT IN ADULTERY, YOU CAN TAKE HER OUT TO THE EDGE OF TOWN AND STONE HER TO DEATH; IN THE TIME OF JESUS, CAPITAL PUNISHMENT WAS RESERVED FOR THE ROMAN GOVERNMENT, BUT MOBS STILL FORMED TO STONE THOSE SEEN AS SINFUL, AND IF THEY COULD NOT, YOU CAN BE SURE THAT THE WOMAN WOULD BE SHUNNED AND ABUSED, AS WOULD BE HER CHILD. AND THE WORD OF JOSEPH, A MAN, OVERWHELMED WHATEVER MARY MIGHT HAVE SAID, SINCE SHE WAS A WOMAN. SO THE FIRST THING WE NOTICE ABOUT JOSEPH IS THAT HE IS WILLING TO BREAK THE LAW; HE IS WILLING TO SAY SOMETHING THAT IS NOT TRUE, NAMELY, THAT THE CHILD IS HIS, BUT HE NO LONGER WANTS MARY AS HIS WIFE. JOSEPH IS WILLING TO SHARE IN THE SHAME THAT MARY WILL INCUR, BECAUSE OF HIS COMPASSION.
JOSEPH THEN HAS A DREAM. HOW MANY OF US WOULD SO RADICALLY CHANGE OUR LIVES BECAUSE OF A DREAM? YOU CAN IMAGINE THAT MARY, WHO WAS WIDE AWAKE WHEN SHE MET AN ANGEL, BELIEVED THE ANGEL; AND ZACHARY, WHO WAS WIDE AWAKE WHEN HE MET AN ANGEL, BALKED AT WHAT THE ANGEL TOLD HIM, AND HAD HIS ABILITY TO SPEAK TURNED OFF IN A MINUTE. BUT IN A DREAM? I THINK, THOUGH, THAT THIS IS HOW GOD SPEAKS TO MOST OF US – IN DREAMS, IN FLASHES OF INTUITION, IN IMPULSES THAT SEEM TO ARISE OUT OF NOTHING, BUT WE FEEL A COMPULSION TO FOLLOW THEM, EVEN THOUGH WE USUALLY DON'T. I THINK, ALL THROUGH OUR LIVES GOD SPEAKS TO US IN THESE LITTLE WAYS, WAYS THAT WE CAN EASILY DISREGARD, BECAUSE HE LEAVES US FREE. BUT IF WE FOLLOW THOSE DREAMS, THOSE HUNCHES, GOD SPEAKS TO US MORE CLEARLY, UNTIL FINALLY WE ARE IN A STATE OF CONVERSATION WITH GOD. MANY SAINTS HAVE WRITTEN ABOUT THIS PHENOMENON. ST. FRANCIS, ST. JOHN BOSCO, ST. CATHERINE OF SIENNA – THEIR STORIES SHOW THAT HUMAN BEINGS CAN ACHIEVE THIS INTIMACY. AND JOSEPH, WHO HAD A DREAM, AND ABRUPTLY ROSE AND DID AS HE WAS TOLD, MUST HAVE HAD THAT INTIMACY AS WELL. THE PERSON WHO LIVES IN COMMUNION WITH GOD DOESN'T NEED PRODDING TO DO HIS WILL; TO DO GOD'S WILL IS “MEAT AND DRINK”, AS JESUS PUT IT.
SO JOSEPH IS A MAN OF GREAT COMPASSION; JOSEPH IS ATTENTIVE TO THE WHISPERS OF GOD; AND JOSEPH LEAPS UP FROM HIS REST TO DO WHAT GOD COMMANDS, EVEN THOUGH IT IS IN DIRECT OPPOSITION TO WHAT HE HIMSELF INITIALLY WANTED.
IN ALL OF SCRIPTURE, WE HAVE NO WORDS OF JOSEPH. MARY AND THE APOSTLES, PONTIUS PILATE, HEROD, AND MANY OTHERS ARE GIVEN AT LEAST BIT PARTS. BUT JOSEPH SAYS NOTHING. AND YET, THE WORDS OF JOSEPH DO LIVE ON; HIS INFLUENCE ON THE CHURCH IS FAR GREATER THAN WE IMAGINE. JESUS GREW UP IN JOSEPH'S HOME. HE NEEDED FORMING, AS ALL HUMANS DO. CERTAINLY MARY HAD A PART IN FORMING HIS CHARACTER, BUT JOSEPH PERHAPS HAD A GREATER PART. THE VERY COMPASSION JOSEPH SHOWS, THE WILLINGNESS TO GO AGAINST THE RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR THE SAKE OF ANOTHER, IS THE SAME COMPASSION THAT JESUS SHOWS OVER AND OVER AGAIN. THE DESIRE TO DO GOD'S WILL, THE WILLINGNESS TO PUT THAT FIRST, EVEN IF IT MEANS DYING ON THE CROSS – JOSEPH SHOWED JESUS THAT THAT WAS WHAT A MAN OF GOD DID. THE WORDS THAT COME OUT OF JESUS' MOUTH, MANY OF THOSE WORDS, THOSE STORIES, THOSE ATTITUDES, CAME FROM JOSEPH. SO WE HEAR JOSEPH, AND OUR CHURCH OWES SOMETHING TO JOSEPH, NOT JUST THE FACT THAT HE PROTECTED JESUS AND MARY, BUT THE FACT THAT HIS HUMAN COMPASSION AND HIS HUMAN DESIRE TO DO GOD'S WILL WERE PASSED ON TO THIS CHILD GOD GAVE HIM TO RAISE.
WE THINK JOSEPH DIED LONG BEFORE JESUS BEGAN HIS PUBLIC MINISTRY. HE DIED WHILE JESUS WAS STILL JUST A CRAFTSMAN, GRADUALLY TAKING OVER HIS FATHER'S BUSINESS. JOSEPH LIVED AN ORDINARY LIFE, FULFILLED ORDINARY OBLIGATIONS, ALWAYS TRIED TO SERVE GOD AS WELL AS HE COULD, ALWAYS TRIED TO EXERCISE COMPASSION FOR OTHERS .
AND YET WE KNOW THAT GOD WAS WITH JOSEPH, GOD LIVED IN JOSEPH'S HOME, GOD ATE THE FOOD JOSEPH PROVIDED, GOD LEARNED WHAT JOSEPH TAUGHT SO PATIENTLY.
AND THAT IS WHAT CHRISTMAS MEANS. GOD IS WITH US. IMMANUEL. WE MAY NOT KNOW IT OR FEEL IT MOST OF THE TIME; JOSEPH PROBABLY WAS THE SAME. BUT BECAUSE GOD IS WITH US, EVERY LITTLE PART OF OUR LIVES HAS AN IMPACT DOWN THROUGH ALL THE GENERATIONS OF TIME; EVERYTHING WORKS TOGETHER TO FULFILL GOD'S PLAN; AND OUR MOST INSIGNIFICANT ACTION TAKES ON COSMIC MEANING.
AND THIS ORDINARY MAN WHO DID HIS BEST LEFT US ONE WORD THAT WE KNOW HE HAD TO SAY; JESUS. BECAUSE JOSEPH RECEIVED THE INCREDIBLE PRIVILEGE OF NAMING THE SAVIOR OF THE WHOLE HUMAN RACE.