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Mary's day is coming. Soon we will celebrate her giving birth to the baby Jesus. But today we ponder Joseph. If ever there was a male figure whose faithfulness has been tossed aside, it is Joseph. Joseph is usually remembered for almost dumping Mary when she became pregnant before their formal marriage. Other than that, he is seen as little more than that guy leading the donkey on Christmas cards, or the rather feeble fellow who couldn't even find a place for his wife to give birth, or the tall kid wearing his father's bathrobe who doesn't have to do or say anything in the children's Christmas pageants. Is there any worse role in a Christmas play than that of Joseph? Mary coos and beams and acknowledges all the visitors. Shepherds adore, angels sing, wise men bring gifts, and even those children cast as sheep and cows get to make animal noises. But Joseph only gets to stand there. But look at what Matthew wrote in today's lesson. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is Joseph who grappled with the unexpected intrusion of the Holy Spirit into his well-planned life. In Matthew, the entire miracle of Christmas momentarily rested on Joseph's shoulders. His response was one of complete openness and acceptance. At this time of year when we all become a little more aware of our own blessings and the needs of others, we see that Joseph practiced the ultimate in hospitality. He opened his heart and spirit, his home and his whole future, to God. The trusting welcome Joseph gave to God he also offered to Mary. He gave her his name, which safeguarded her reputation and welfare. Not only did Joseph keep Mary with him throughout her pregnancy, during this time he did not try to exercise his conjugal rights. Joseph's obedience to the divine message meant he had to see to it that Mary remained a virgin. Joseph's dedication to Mary was so complete that when he travelled to Bethlehem for the required census, he took her along. She was his family now, no matter how her pregnancy had come about. Primarily through Luke's birth story and through our Western bias, we see Joseph foolishly dragging a very pregnant Mary out on a long hard trip. Instead we should see a man who had so welcomed the Holy Spirit into his life that he took the pregnant Mary for his wife without any reservations. She was so thoroughly his wife that he did not dream of leaving her name off the official Roman role-call. In Christian art, Joseph, when he appeared at all, is often depicted as a very old man...apparently too old to be tempted by the lovely young Mary. But after the counter Reformation artistic representations of Joseph pictured a much younger man. Even so, paintings of Joseph holding the Christ child are still quite rare. Today, we hear so much about "dead-beat dads" and absent fathers. United Methodist Bishop Woodie White writes, "In a scene often repeated in football games, the ball carrier receives the ball and with good blocking, skillful movement and lightning speed, dashes by the opposing players to score a touchdown. Cheers comes from the fans and congratulations from teammates. Nearly out of breath, he goes to the sidelines and sits on the bench. The television cameras focus a close-up shot of the hard-breathing hero. He looks directly into the camera, aware that he is the center of attention of millions of television watchers, and raises his hand. "Hi, MOM!" he says. Almost never does he say, "Hi, Dad!" or make an effort to be inclusive by saying, "Hi, Mom and Dad." Rarely are songs or poems written about fathers. Frequently portrayed as not too bright or the butt of jokes, they have also a more negative characterization: stern, sometimes tyrannical, a figure to be feared or hated." Recently a number of scholars have tried to shed some light on the truth about Joseph's family's situation by investigating the living conditions and customs of Palestinian peasants. The most important point to keep in mind is that if Joseph and his pregnant wife showed up in his family's village of origin, they would be greeted as long lost brothers and sisters. No effort would be spared on their behalf. Kinship ties were the strongest realities governing the everyday life of these peasants. To turn away visiting relatives was unthinkable. If Mary had shown up pregnant and alone in a strange town, the story might have been different. But she had Joseph's name and the status of wife, making her pregnancy a positive, joyful expectation. But why did they have to look for a room in an inn? The word translated as "inn" is a term used to designate a special guest room attached to a home. What seems likely is that upon arriving in Bethlehem, Joseph sought out family with which to stay. Yet because of the census, the town was crowded with visitors and the separate guest room of the relative's house was already filled. Okay, but why did this newborn baby have to sleep in a manger, a feeding trough for animals? In our Western arrogance we see this wimpy Joseph settling his whimpering, laboring wife into a stable for the night, leaving her nowhere to put the newborn when it arrived but in a manger for animals. What scholars point out is that Palestinian peasants kept any livestock they might own in their homes on cold nights. Not only were the animals likely to be their most valuable possessions, they also added to the home's warmth at night. Palestinian homes were often built with an upper level to be used by people, leaving the packed earth floor below for the animals. Built into this floor were wooden or stone feeding troughs, mangers, with sturdy sloping sides that would serve nicely as a cradle. Keeping this new perspective in mind the events of Jesus' birth offer a different possibility. Joseph brings Mary to the home of some relatives. With their separate guest rooms already filled, the family invites Joseph and Mary to join them in their regular living quarters. There in the midst of family, and certainly with other women to attend her for childbirth was ritually unclean for men, Mary gave birth. Once the baby was cleaned and well swaddled, he was placed in the safety of a secure manger below, enabling Mary to get some much needed rest. Just as Joseph welcomed Mary and her child into his life, and just as he invited God's Holy Spirit to work through all of them, so Joseph's own relatives surely extended the hospitality of their home and their help to the young couple. Jesus' birth was therefore not an indicator of his later rejection by the Jews. It is a lesson for all of us in the gift of being gracious and hospitable to the stranger in our midst, and in the strangeness of God's ways. Joseph was not as distant and weak as we have been led to believe. He was a faithful husband and devoted father. But more than this, he was obedient to the Holy Spirit. I'd like to close with a poem entitled "Joseph's Lullaby," by Ron Klug. [text of poem removed]
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12/17/00 - Welcome Home, Joseph
