Matthew 1:18-25
“What Dreams Are Made Of”
December 22, 2019
We are entering the homestretch to Christmas. For those who are anxiously anticipating its arrival in 3 days it can’t come soon enough while for of us with a to-do list that doesn’t seem to get any shorter because as soon as one task of preparation is completed at least another one is added and so, we too, are anxious for Christmas to arrive but more for the opportunity to rest and put our feet up. And in the midst of it all is the wonder and joy, the traditions and rituals, the familiar sounds and smells and tastes that have the ability to transport us back in time.
On this final Sunday of Advent, having just lit the candle of love, we have here the ultimate love story but not the typical Hallmark Christmas story that gets wrapped up with a nice bow and a picture perfect ending. Instead we get a dream that often is given short shrift with a character from scripture who is usually depicted as the strong silent type who is in more of a supporting role than a lead, relegated as many fathers have been over time when it comes to birth stories to just watching the action, holding the mother’s hand and, in the old days, handing out the celebratory cigars and gladly accepting the well wishes of family and friends.
This story is different and all because of a dream.So many stories in the Bible have dreams or visions providing the guidance from God, often through the voice of an angel, presenting a new possibility, a new point of reference, a call to a change of mind and heart – remember that other Joseph, the one of the so-called coat of many colors – he paid attention to a dream and he himself as well as history were forever changed.
The trajectory of this birth story is changed because this particular Joseph, at the moment when he was about to walk away from a pregnant Mary. He is visited by an angel who offers an explanation of how this young woman to whom he was engaged which at that time was the first step of the marriage process and usually involved the matchmaking of the parents of the couple who negotiated the dowry and arrangements for the actual coming together of these two lives.The way one writer describes it, “The groom’s father offers gifts or services to the bride’s father to win the wife he wants for his son. The bride’s father makes the final decision. The women of both families negotiate the contract to be certain neither family is shortchanged, but the patriarch of each family ratifies the contract publicly. When the groom takes the bride into his home, the marriage process is completed.” (John Pilch, The Cultural World of Jesus: Sunday by Sunday, Cycle A, pp. 10-11)
Most likely Joseph would have been one of the last to know that Mary was pregnant. He had figured out the best way to get out of this predicament – he wouldn’t make a scene. He was trying everything he knew to be gracious and kind. He went to bed that night with a plan. But alas, this good and righteous man was to be visited by an angel of the Lord. Suddenly all of the preparation, getting up his courage to let her down gently and in the least humiliating way went out the window. Just when he thought he had figured out the right thing to do, a new way is shown to him. Joseph was now going to be put in the role of raising a child that was not his own but rather one born of the Holy Spirit. God’s will is at play here. In fact, if we listen carefully to this account of the birth of Jesus we never hear a word from either Joseph or Mary. The Lord’s angel does all talking.
The solution we search for, the hope for all of creation, is not out there somewhere waiting to be unearthed but rather within each one of us waiting to be born. With God, through this birth of Jesus, we are shown that the journey is inward. That is where the answers lie. That is where our hope can be found. We are children of God. Joseph is being asked to go through with his marriage and take this baby as his own. This union of a woman with a child from another source and this good man who is to build a new family is an example of the theology of adoption. That theology of adoption that we are all part of says that as church we are a “family of faith” made up of people who are not biologically related. What binds us together is our faith in God. The message here is regardless of the family with whom we share genes, family means more – no one is excluded from God’s love.
The lengthy lineage that came right before this story Matthew tells of the birth of Jesus is all tied to being the son of David and that is Joseph’s family tree which is fascinating to consider because he is the adoptive father. He hears what the angel has to say and he reconsiders his first inclination to quietly part company with Mary. He is willing to take on all that comes with fully embracing Jesus as his son and Mary as his wife. Some families who adopt children observe what they call “Gotcha Day” in addition to birthdays. With all the traditional trappings of cake and presents they instead celebrate not the day the child was born but rather the day, as some put it, that they were chosen to be a family together. What the angel of the Lord is announcing to Joseph is that he has been chosen by God to parent this remarkable baby. This is the Holy Family’s Gotcha Day. And now everything will change.
Everything definitely changed for one family we know who had also made a long journey under challenging circumstances to arrive at their own Gotcha Day, August 1, 2012. Their journey, however, was quite a bit longer both in time and distance. In time it took six years and the distance was over 7,000 miles. They, too, would be parents whose love for each other was great enough and strong enough to hold tight to a dream in spite of doubts and unexpected hurdles along the way. Scott and Tammy Lang yearned deeply for a child and they followed perhaps not a vision as Joseph had but certainly a dream all the same, willing to do what it would take to be parents to Kelly.
And so, too, did Joseph do what was necessary regardless of the cost. The angel tells Joseph that his name Emmanuel means “God is with us.” That means this birth that we are about to celebrate and which Matthew describes using a birth announcement rather than the more intimate details that Luke shares, is for all of us. I invite you to come back on Tuesday at 5:00 p.m. and you will get to hear the specifics from Luke’s account. In the meantime, let us remember that here the angel did not say “God is with you” but rather was much more inclusive. This birth is for each and every person – God is with us.
What will make this birth so extraordinary this time? We know the story, hey – we’re part of the story. A baby will be born and everything will change. Such is the dream that Joseph paid attention to and we all were blessed in his heeding. Let us share this great love that God has for us and do so extravagantly and continue to allow ourselves to be changed by that love sharing. This is how we, the family of God, are all related. Thanks be to God! Amen.