A Just Man

Introduction

Matthew 1:19–21 ESV

And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

Psalm 19:14 BCP1928:P

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be always acceptable in your sight, * O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.

It is the last Sunday in Advent

We are at the cusp of Christmas

The season of waiting is almost at an end and the celebration of Christ’s birth is very near

This is one of the blessings of the Church Calendar - it provides a way to understand the seasons of life we experience

We will not be waiting forever, what we wait for will happen in time

We will not mourn or lament forever, joy and gladness will return

Celebration and festivity, though seemingly fleeting, are a foretaste of the abundant joy and satisfaction we will have with Christ in his Kingdom

I have heard from several friends that this season of Advent seems especially difficult

People have experienced recent loss

Work situations are unsteady

We have loved ones who are dealing with illness and poor health

There’s a general sense of waiting for the fog to lift and gloom to be turned to brightness

Exegesis

Our Gospel reading this week signals the beginning of the end of the season of waiting

For the past few weeks, the readings have been all about the promise of things to come

We heard about Jesus’ prophecy regarding the destruction of the Temple and his Second Advent

We heard about John the Baptist’s ministry and prophecy about the imminent coming of Christ

We heard last week about the purpose of prophecy - to point to the coming kingdom

This week, we hear about the birth of Jesus

But why is this at the end of Advent? Isn’t Christmas the Feast of Christ’s Nativity?

The birth of the Christ-child signals the end of the long wait for the coming of the promised ruler from the stump of Jesse

But with his birth comes a new period of waiting

Our reading includes the birth of Jesus in the very last verse, but of course we know that Jesus doesn’t immediately take up his ministry

He is an infant, he has to be cared for by his parents

It will be another thirty-odd years before the son of Mary begins to proclaim the coming of his Kingdom

In this light, it makes sense that we read about the birth at the end of Advent, because his birth is the beginning of the end of waiting

Since, for a time, Jesus was under the earthly authority of his human parents, it is important to know something about the people that God, in the divine plan of Salvation, placed over Jesus

If this were a human story, we might expect his parents to misunderstand him, or perhaps to mistreat him - a popular trope in fiction is the hero-child who grows up under tyrannical parents or guardians

But, this being God’s story, we find Jesus brought up under two paragons of virtue

Mary is the Blessed Virgin who submitted herself to the will of God and is honored and highly favored by all generations

We hear in this reading that Joseph is “a just man, unwilling to put [Mary] to shame”

The Greek behind “just” can also mean “righteous”

It is important to understand that Joseph is not just righteous in the eyes of the Law, but, more importantly, in the eyes of God

Righteousness solely under the Law afforded Joseph the right to publicly accuse Mary of adultery and divorced her in a public trial

But he was “unwilling to put her to shame,” and so thought to divorce Mary in a private proceeding, probably with no more than two witnesses

The angelic visitation in Joseph’s dream is itself a mark of God’s mercy and blessing to Joseph, just as much as it facilitates the working of the plan of salvation

By sending an angel, God removes the uncertainty and doubt in Joseph’s mind regarding Mary’s virtue - and God does this swiftly, he seems to allow Joseph just long enough to come to a righteous resolution about how to handle the situation with the least harm to Mary, but it doesn’t seem like he has time to take any action toward his resolution

Joseph receives reassurance and instruction from the angel, and, since he is “a just man” he obeys what he is told to do

Could the plan of salvation have gone forward without Joseph? Certainly. God willed that Jesus would be born and raised in a righteous Jewish family, and so that is what would have happened whether Joseph were involved or not

Even so, Joseph’s obedience is not some accident of history. His being “a just man” necessitated that he obey the instructions given to him - if he didn’t, then he couldn’t be called righteous (since we know that the righteous live by faith, and failure to heed the angel would have been a sign of faithlessness)

Joseph, as a son of David, gave legitimacy to Christ-child as an heir in the line of David by naming him, an act of acceptance

In a couple of weeks, the Church will celebrate Holy Name Day, so I won’t dwell on it too much here, but in the text the angel instructs Joseph to call the baby Jesus “for he will save his people from their sins”

As you may know, “Jesus” is a transliteration from Aramaic to Greek to Latin and eventually to English of the name Yeshua, which itself is a form of the same name that we get Joshua from

Joshua means “Yahweh is salvation” and was not an uncommon name in the first century

So the angel tells Joseph that the child he at first though would bring the dissolution of his coming marriage to Mary would instead bring salvation to all Israel

How this resonates with the Gospel story!

Again and again throughout Scripture, God’s people, when faced with something that looks bleak and hopeless, find that God is turning it to their good

Joseph the patriarch, sold into slavery in Egypt, became the principle human actor in saving God’s chosen family from starvation

David, the youngest son of Jesse, unjustly persecuted by King Saul, became the Prophet King of Israel, and received the promise of the coming Messiah

Joseph, the earthly guardian of Our Lord’s childhood, thought his future with Mary was over before it began, but found that he was to help raise the savior of the world

Peter and the disciples, who watched their Teacher beaten and nailed to the cross, thought that everything was falling apart and that they would be arrested and put to shame, found that instead their Lord was raised from the dead by the power of God, and gave them the mission to spread the Good News of the Kingdom to the world

Application

What does this mean for us?

There are three main takeaways I have from this passage for this Advent

First, the example of Joseph as a just man and what that means

If we are to be counted as righteous, which every Christian should long for in the sight of God, that righteousness is found in obedience to God

Not obedience as in works, but as in faithfulness

Joseph wasn’t proven righteous because he “resolved to divorce [Mary] quietly,” though his being “a just man” led him to that conclusion

His righteousness was proven because he kept faith in God even in the face of something exceptionally straining to his understanding

So, too, our righteousness is proven by our faithful obedience to what God says is right, even if it isn’t politically, financially, socially, or personally expedient or we can’t see the personal benefit in the moment

Second, how God repeatedly turns our darkness and grief into light and warmth

I have made no secret of my battle with anxiety the last month or so

Advent this season feels especially like waiting for something to turn good

I think there are many people who feel that today, and not just among people who are at all experienced with Advent and the Church calendar

What gets us Christians through the dark times in our lives is the knowledge that our God is indeed working all things for our good, the night will not always be dark, and mourning will be turned to dancing

We have hope because God consistently shows his love and goodness to his people - we have the testimony of Scripture, the traditions of the Church, and our own family and personal stories attesting to God’s steadfastness

Third, the meaning and joy of “Immanuel,” God with us

We do not worship a God who is far off, removed from our reality while we slog through bitter disappointments and threatening despair

We are not step-children held at arms-length by a reluctant guardian

No, we worship a loving Father who sent his Son to walk with us for a time as one of us, God in flesh who tasted disappointment, knew rejection, felt mortal fear, and submitted to a shameful death for the Triune God’s love for each of his creatures

We are sons and daughters of the Living God, adopted children set as joint-heirs with Christ of the riches of the Kingdom of God

We have the assurance of this by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, who lives within us as we are sanctified and built up into a holy Temple for the Lord

Conclusion

As we come to the close of this Advent season, consider the ways you are waiting for God to act in your life

Maybe you are troubled by health of body, mind, or spirit

Perhaps there is a job situation that is burdensome

The general state of the world around us cries out for action

Whatever it is that weighs on you, God and the Church calls us to the respite meal of his Eucharist, so that we can taste the goodness of the Lord and receive grace in his sacrament

It may be that with the turn from Advent to Christmas, something that you are waiting for will shake loose and turn from darkness to light - I’ve personally experienced this, so I know that sometimes God works this way

But even if you are in for a long wait, know that God is with you and all of us who are burdened with sorrows and disappointments, tempted daily with despair

Our part is only to keep faith with him, remembering his love and choosing hope at every turn

Remember Joseph, who’s justness was proven by his faithful obedience to God’s instruction through the angel

Remember that our Lord is named “Jesus” because he will save us from our sins, and he is called “Immanuel” because he is God with us

May we always be a people who seek the righteousness of faith in God. Amen.