MATTHEW 1: 18-25 

Matthew in the Margins…4th Sunday in Advent…Revised 2016 

The genealogy has staked claim for Jesus’ Messiahship. He is son of Abraham, of David, of Joseph, &, almost as an after-thought, of Mary. The emphasis is on Jesus being born of the Holy Spirit rather than of a virgin. This is God’s doing before it’s either Mary’s or Joseph’s. But we must gaze deeply into this to discern what’s going on, as Mary and Joseph both have to do. After all, they’re not exactly chanting 'conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary' down in the synagogue, are they? Imagine the stage-whispers at the well, across the roof tops, down the alleys of Bethlehem and Nazareth. Shame and blame are no respecters of Mary’s, Joseph’s, or anyone else’s privacy! Any more than social media is today! Joseph’s good name comes tumbling down with Mary's. They are both the butt of innuendo. But he stands by her. Faithfully. As she does by him. And, Him!

What will make Jesus Messiah for most early Christians is neither royal descent, nor virgin birth, but Resurrection. The truth in the Christmas events depends upon our receiving them in faith. (As do the Resurrection events.) What is the faith-truth of the Joseph, Mary, & baby Jesus story for us? If we haven’t discerned that, what we preach may be as unconvincing as most crib scenes.¹

Today much of the world is muckier than a stable for new-borns and their parents. Are we focussing on a manger in Bethlehem of old to the exclusion of those for whom there is no room in the inns of today’s hearts? Prayerful, emotional, practical support, ‘all meanly wrapped’ in love, not swaddling bands, is what today's parents & new-borns need, whoever or wherever they are. Oughtn’t it be the destiny of every child to be 'conceived by the Holy Spirit’, if not, 'born of the Virgin Mary’? How can we help bring somebody to birth for God from the world's Marys & Josephs, out of many kinds of muck in today’s ‘stables’? How can we help those in difficult, unpromising, real nativity scenes as distinct from make-believe ones?

Joseph's heart is in love with God. Before Mary, even. He lies awake trying to make sense of what's engulfed him. PS 130 no doubt gets a right going over! Then an angel appears. That doesn't always solve our problems either. Even if our angel appears in some form, we still have to do the going-through-it bit. Joseph's angel telling him, "Don't be afraid" is an encouragement to all of us who have to enter into scary territory to take that next hesitant step. Mary is in love with God, too, before Joseph, even. This has to be true of them both in times when family honour and property rate more highly than love in marriage arrangements. Luke [1:26-31] reports the angel of God tells Mary, “Rejoice” before telling her, too, “Fear not”.  Fear, as much as hate, can be the enemy of love. Rejoicing in God is the triumph of Love over any fear or hatred we have about anybody, anything.

Mary & Joseph, are in a Catch 22 predicament. They must withstand Law, Society, & Gossip to bring Someone to birth for God. Can we find the compassion to be present to people in today's family predicaments? Might we be the human angels God is sending in time of someone’s deep need? Do we not catch on because we're too busily listening for the flapping of wings? Catalan architect Antonio Gaudi is said never to have given his angels wings ‘because they'd never be able to fly with the wings artists insist on drawing on them’! Can we fly with ours, flimsy and human though they be, to the side of vulnerable little ones? Today’s Mary, Joseph, and Jesus? To help bring someone, somewhere, to birth for God? 

¹   p.168 of John Irving’s ‘A Prayer for Owen Meany’ features an amazing crib scene. Ponder it.