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In my previous church in Caledon, ON we had a spell of having Fundraiser concerts. We were fortunate enough to have one among us who had “connections” and so we were able to host some pretty big names in Canadian folk and traditional music. Being the minister I found myself in the (for lack of a better word) awkward situation of having to introduce famous artists and groups like Tanglefoot, The Brian Pickell Band, Pierre Schreier, Garnet Rogers, and a few others. I never knew quite what to say and for the most part the artists themselves didn't care. Yet, as the one doing the introducing, I needed to make it sound like I knew a little something about them and liked their stuff. I had to praise the artists and commend them to the audience. Failure to do so would have offended artist and audience alike.
Well, looking at the Gospel of Matthew and how he introduces Jesus the Jewish Messiah and Lord and Saviour of all Creation I have to say that I'm left scratching my head because it seems he means to offend. He begins with Jesus' genealogical pedigree and simply says, “A record of the lineage of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham.” Then it is name after name after name. Strangely, in the midst of the names Matthew mentions four relationships: Judah and Tamar, Boaz and Ruth, David and Bathsheba otherwise known as the wife of Uriah, and then Joseph and Mary. If you know the Old Testament, then you know that by mentioning those particular relationships Matthew is quite obviously saying that Jesus' family link to David and to Abraham is morally tainted and not upright according to the Law. There’s prostitution, some “uncovering of the feet”, and adultery there. Jesus was born into a whole lineage of “Sin” and, moreover, a lineage into which he had to be adopted.
Moving on from the begets, Matthew is the only Gospelist to portray Joseph's dilemma. Joseph had to deal with the fact that his bride-to-be had suddenly become pregnant with a child that was not his. While pondering what to do, he had a dream in which a messenger of the Lord tells him that this child was conceived by the Holy Spirit and would save his people from their sins. Moreover, there's that prophecy in Isaiah about a virgin conceiving and let's not fail to notice that this baby is Emmanuel – “God-with-us”. Should Joseph believe this crazy dream and be gracious to Mary? Or, should he do what the religious/moral authorities of his day would have him do and that would be to break off the engagement, divorce her? This would have grave consequences for Mary.
And so, Matthew begins his Gospel with a troubling if not offensive introduction. If we are thinking people, and I assume we are, we will want to ask why. Why does Matthew introduce Jesus with scandal rather than by praising Jesus and commending him to us as our Lord and Saviour? Well, venturing a guess, it may be that Matthew wants us at the very outset to catch a glimpse of the steadfast love and faithfulness of God towards us and how God chooses to be gracious towards us rather than condemning. Matthew does this by making us to consider Joseph's dilemma in deciding what to do with Mary and the child.
Joseph graciously stays with Mary and the he honourably adopts Jesus as his own. It’s probably not at the front of our minds, but Joseph had to adopt Jesus for Jesus to be the Messiah of the line of David. So it is with us and God’s adoption of us into the family of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Born from above through the gift of the Holy Spirit indwelling us God has adopted us as siblings of Jesus and thus we share in that relationship that God the Father has with God the Son in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit bonds us to Jesus so that we share in Jesus' own relationship with God the Father. Joseph's steadfast love and faithfulness towards Mary and the child within her beams brightly of God’s steadfast love and faithfulness for Israel and the children of the Holy Spirit to be born through her...that's Jesus…and…you and me.
I find it quite staggering that God the Father in and through the presence and powerful and utterly gracious work of the Holy Spirit loves us as much as he does Jesus, his own Son and is as steadfastly faithful to us as he is towards Jesus. Even when we are in the midst of impossible situations, when it seems all hell is breaking loose around us, God is indeed with us and faithfully working for our good making us to be more and more like Jesus by making us to know who Jesus is in his very self as the one who gives himself selflessly in all love and humility for us. God is working in us especially through our most difficult times to heal and deliver us now in the present from the effects that our sin and the sin of others have on us. As we draw close to Jesus in prayer, devotion, and service, we find that he removes the deepest of our character flaws. He frees us from fear and self-pity, and pride, and our constant striving to be our own god. He truly saves us from our sins by adopting us as his own and from the inside out making us to be like him in such a way as to give us his own blood and DNA, so to speak, by the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Now to ponder Matthew's introduction and Joseph's dilemma a bit further we have to note with an exclamation point how Matthew wants to show us right from the beginning that the reality of God coming and being with us as one of us is going to be something that does not meet our expectations and something difficult to handle especially for those who think they have mastered morality and religion and who indeed think they have mastered God. Grace is the element in this story that is so unexpected, so unpredictable, and so hard to handle. If we were reading or rather hearing Matthew’s gospel back when he wrote it, we would expect Joseph to publicly denounce Mary and that the village would react with such bitter anger towards her “sinful ways” that they took her outside the city and stoned her to death. That’s what we would expect. But instead, grace calls us to take another look at the situation. God calls us to be gracious towards people in situations that trouble us for what we assume to be religious and moral reasons.
Joseph's dilemma was whether or not to be gracious and it reminds us that we must be careful how we judge people and their troubling situations. We never know when we might be passing judgement upon those through whom God is working or will work. We are called to be gracious in all situations. Grace leads people to Jesus. God’s kindness leads us to repentance it says in Romans 2:4. God shows his kindness to people when we choose to be gracious towards others. The baby Jesus, God’s means to save all of humanity, became Messiah as the direct result of Joseph being faithful to God and gracious to Mary rather than condemning her on a false pretence of faithfulness. When we let our hearts be moved with compassion and show grace it lends to salvation, to people discovering that they have been adopted into the loving communion of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It lends to the presence of God working visibly and effectively in people’s lives to save. Amen.
