Readings: Isaiah 11:1-10 • Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19 • Romans 15:4-13 • Matthew 3:1-12

The theme of these passages is the arrival of the kingdom. The kingdom, which arrived with Christ, is discussed or hinted at in these passages. Isaiah 11:1-10 describes the kind of supernatural peace and joy of the kingdom. Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19 shares a vision of a kingdom well-ruled which points to the wholeness of the kingdom. In Romans 15:4-13, Paul rings out the call of the gospel to the Gentiles—the unity of the kingdom in that now all people are God’s chosen people. Matthew 3:1-12, on which the sermon is based, tells of John the Baptist heralding the arrival of the rightful king—God himself. Prepare the way of the Lord!

John the Baptist: The Wilderness Voice

Matthew 3:1-12 ESV

Introduction: For a fun introduction, sing, play or read the lyrics to Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord from the musical Godspell.

In the 1970s, the play Godspell was popular. The hit song, “Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord” was a big hit on the radio at the time and has been covered by all kinds of bands ever since.

Many are fascinated with the phrase, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord.” Even in the secular time and society in which the musical was first written, there was a fixation with John the Baptist, and with Jesus. Interesting how the truth of gospel fascinates all people, and always will. God may reach out to you through a song or a play in Greenwich Village in the swinging ’70s if the church doesn’t do the trick.

Prepare ye the way of the Lord…

Today we will look at John the Baptist, this mysterious shadowy figure who comes before Jesus and then quickly disappears. He is the “wilderness voice” in Gospels who is proclaiming that the Messiah is coming, and disrupting the system at the same time. Today let’s look at…

• What it meany in John’s day to be the wilderness voice
• Paying attention to the wilderness voice in our lives
• What it means to be the wilderness voice ourselves.

Let’s read the text:

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’”

Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

“I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” (Matthew 3:1-12 ESV)

It’s interesting that John the Baptist is part of our readings in Advent. When we think Advent, we think Christmas. We think Advent calendars— perhaps with Norman Rockwell paintings, and doors that open and chocolates inside. For Americans, we think of that gooey time of the year between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Just leave “It’s a Wonderful Life” out on the DVD player, and we’ll play it again in a couple weeks! Good-bye family; see you in a few weeks! We don’t usually think of a rough-cut guy like John when we think of Advent.

Yet here he is throughout the Advent season and throughout the Gospels. And he sounds a bit like a wild man wearing a garment of camel’s hair and eating locusts and wild honey.

We must understand that this scene with John the Baptist didn’t look like the traditional clean-cut picture you may have seen in Sunday school—a white guy and a lot of happy white people in their Sunday best out to have a dip and hear a good sermon.

It was more like a protest with screaming and marching and tear gas in the air. More like people throwing rocks in the streets. I’m not advocating any type of protest – what I’m trying to show is what was going on when John the Baptist came on the scene. He was disrupting the system. And like a protester, he was doing so with some powerful symbols.

Matthew says he was in the wilderness. This little detail is very important, especially to his Jewish audience. You might remember a bit of trivia from a long time ago about the book of Numbers. Numbers is our English title for it, but the original Hebrew title was “Into the Wilderness” or “In the Desert.” The Wilderness—a wild, untamed, dangerous place—is where the story of God’s people started.

So, our first point: What it means in John’s day to be the wilderness voice

John is out in that wilderness, and as it says in verse 6: “they were baptized by him in the river Jordan.” John is in the wilderness, and he’s taking them through the water. Does this sound familiar to anyone? John is taking them through the Jordan for a specific reason. He is re-enacting the story of the Exodus—God’s deliverance of Egypt. And now it will be God’s deliverance of all people in Christ.

The Jews were familiar with a similar story of one coming out of the wilderness—Elijah. In 2 Kings 1 we find the story of messengers of the king of Samaria telling the king about a man who gave them a message. When he asked them to describe the messenger they said:

“He had a garment of hair and had a leather belt around his waist.” The king said, “that was Elijah, the Tishbite.” (2 Kings 1:8)

Like Elijah, John the Baptist ate what was provided for him. “His food was locusts and wild honey.” The wild honey sounds OK, but locusts? One internet ad talked about the current trend of locust eating: “the crunchy, kosher snack that’s taking Israel by swarm.” Yuck!

We need to be careful with biblical interpretation here. Does God want us all to go eat bugs? Is that the message? No, the message here is that John, like Elijah before him, had dropped out society. He had gotten off the rollercoaster, out of commerce, even out of how most people got food. He is in the desert eating only what God provides directly off the land. There wasn’t a pocket in his camel skin coat with a wallet in it; he wasn’t amassing a fortune or trying to start a political party.

He was the wilderness voice. Just as the prophets before him, especially Elijah, he was someone outside the everyday, self-centered rhythms of human society who was calling for something very new and something very old at the same moment.

Prepare ye the way of the Lord…

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’” (Matthew 3:1-3 ESV)

Now, at that time in history, the Jewish people had come up with a way for Gentile converts to enter their community. When the Gentile wanted to convert, he would be baptized. It was, not an uncommon practice by the time John came along. So, he’s evangelizing, kind of.

Why is everyone so mad at him? Why does he eventually have some sort of run in with an hors d’oeuvres plate in the palace of Herod? What’s everyone so mad about?

Who is he baptizing? He is baptizing Jewish people. He is converting the already converted. Remember that Jesus hasn’t done his work yet, so John’s not preaching the gospel here, like we might. He was calling his people back to the ways of God to prepare for the movement of God, and he was doing so in the boldest, rawest way possible—he’s telling them they have to start over.

What if we held an altar call at church Sunday morning only for those who are already Christians? What if you told Billy Graham that he needed to get saved? That’s what we’re looking at here. John is telling them they need to get back to square one.

To the people whose ancestors came from the wilderness, a voice comes out of that wilderness. To the people whose ancestors passed through the parted sea, he calls them to plunge back into the waters. To the people who practice baptism to bring in new converts, he offers baptism.

The wilderness voice! Not exactly Amy Grant’s Christmas album. But it is still a vital part of the journey of God’s people.

One of my favorite stories of church history is about Bishop Nicholas, who you all may recognize. Later known as St. Nicholas, or St. Nick, his red and white robe is the one thing that lasted. He’s the guy that Santa is based on. But the real Bishop Nicholas in the 3^rd century was a strong leader fiercely devoted to the gospel. A particular heretic was gathering a following in the 3^rd century at one of the first ever conferences of the global church at the time. Old St. Nick got tired of this guy carrying on, so he jumped down off his throne and punched this guy right in the nose!

John the Baptist is much the same. He is disrupting the system. He is breaking down the old barriers and the old sophistications. Sometimes the voice of God is like this, isn’t it? In order for the new to grow, the old has to be taken away, stripped off, knocked in the nose sometimes.

The voice from the wilderness shakes us, gets our attention, and says “This isn’t all there is! There is more to life, more to God, more to love than just what we’re looking at!”

John spoke to get the people’s attention. His heralding verse can actually be punctuated in two ways:

I’m the voice of one crying in the wilderness, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord!”

I’m the voice of one crying, “In the wilderness prepare ye the way of the Lord!”

Christmas can be one of the most disappointing times of the year, , and I’m not talking about how sad you might feel at not getting the present you hoped for. Christmas is the height of our culture’s longing for connection with something greater than themselves, when the “god-shaped hole” in everyone’s heart is particularly open wide. As we stampede into WalMart at 4 a.m. for the Black Friday special, or we watch sentimental movie marathons and spend hundreds of thousands on plane tickets just to see each other for a moment, are we deeply searching for ways for fill our greater need—connection with God? When we are in the wilderness, John tells us to ache for connection with God—this is the taproot, the lifeline of our lives.

John is saying, “Pay attention!” Those of us in the kingdom who know that Christmas—or any other celebration or achievement or possession or relationship on earth—can’t fill us and heal us. Our lives are not pinned on whether we get the right widescreen TV or whether we get those reservations at the right restaurant,—our lives are pinned on Jesus. We want to make straight a path in this wilderness for the Christ of Christmas. We want to share that Jesus is our hope.

John calls out to those of us who know there is something wrong, something missing, something that needs to be reconnected. Jesus is the message of hope for all of humanity. Sometimes it takes the wilderness voice, who has jumped out of society’s rhythms and tail-chasing to remind us of that truth.

How will you prepare him room this Advent? How will you make space in your heart in the midst of black Friday stampedes and close-out sales and distracting sentimentality for the Lord of all the universe? Many of us choose to give more this holiday season, and that’s wonderful. It’s usually the season the church depends on for larger offerings. Many of us will choose to volunteer, which is also wonderful, to give of our time when so much focus is on receiving.

But let’s also look just to the side of us this season. Do you see that tired single mom trying to get her shopping cart out? Do you see people fighting over that Xbox on black Friday? Sit that one out. Buy that mom a coffee. Be a symbol of grace in the jungle of human greed this year. Be a symbol of the hope that is far beyond and far greater than any earthly holiday can bring us.

Now, our second point: What is the wilderness voice in your life today?

Where is God calling you to change—change not in just your mind, but your heart and your actions, the deepest part of who you are? Where are those wounds that Jesus is pointing out deep in you that need healing?

Where is that voice that God is using to call you attention? It may not feel especially wonderful, but God speaks that way sometimes. Sometimes his voice will come to you in the form of someone in camel hair, eating bugs, whose eyes don’t exactly meet. Pay attention.

Finally: Is God calling you to be the wilderness voice?

Is God calling you to speak into a situation or a culture or a group that is going wrong? We think of Christians like Dorothy Day, who spoke up for the rights of women and the poor in her day, and paid for it. Or Rosa Parks, whose most famous quote is “…nah.” She spoke up as the wilderness voice against the racism of her day and paid for it dearly.

Or even some of the most mundane, small details. Chick Fil-a restaurants, which we all know and love, have refused to open their doors on Sundays. They have set it apart, said this day is holy and it is a day to remind us of our great hope. Other restaurants, I believe Burger King and Wendys, have said they would be devastated if Chick-fil-a opened on Sundays. But Chick Fil-A’s owners have refused to change. They believe that the bedrock reality, the reality of Christ, is more important than who sells the most sandwiches. Will God call you to stand out and to stand up? To say my hope and my identity is rooted somewhere far beyond this world?

Now, if that is the case, look at how John approached that high calling.

He first took care of himself. He first made sure he was listening to his own voice. He lived out in the wilderness, eating and clothing himself with only what God provided. Are we able to live with that kind of radical trust? He could speak out of it because he lived it first, not just because he felt like saying it.

There is no shortage of Christians and others out there who elect themselves to be a “voice in the wilderness.” They are ready to judge the world and think of themselves as martyrs. Is that what you want to do? Before you speak with the wilderness a voice, have you been to the wilderness? Are you living in complete dependence on God, forsaking the ways of the world?

We live in a culture, that right now, especially in a time of transition and frustration, romanticizes the wilderness voice. The church has a tendency to do this too, but in our case, it becomes an idol. As if all there is to do as Christians is decry our culture. As our culture drifts further away from its traditional roots, this comes up a lot. We can sometimes justify our judgmentalism and raging frustration because we think we are speaking prophetically. And in the wider culture, especially among younger people, there’s a fascination with those who tear down, those who protest, those who yell the loudest.

Which brings us to the most important thing John the Baptist ever said, John 3:30: “He must increase, I must decrease.” Jesus said there was no greater prophet born of woman than John the Baptist. That is a ringing endorsement, for sure. There is no greater wilderness voice in history, and yet when Christ arrived, “He must increase, I must decrease.”

When we speak that wilderness voice into our culture and the church, we must leave the stage when God arrives. When God starts changing hearts, we give him the spotlight immediately. A great statement many Christians throughout history have used is this: “It is the Holy Spirit’s job to convict, God’s job to judge, and my job to love.” The most important thing John the Baptist ever said, in the right circumstances and in the right moment, was good-bye. He prepared the way, and when Christ came, he got out of the way. We know very little about him after that, and that was exactly the way he wanted it. Praise God.

Prepare ye the way of the Lord…

 

Small Group Discussion Questions

From “Speaking of Life”:

• What do you think was going through Isaiah’s mind as he faced the destruction of his nation, and God inspired the prophecy of Jesus?
• Share a time when all seemed lost to you, and God gave you a glimmer of hope.

From the sermon:

• Has God ever spoken to you through someone you didn’t expect? Maybe someone from a different culture or value-system, an outsider like John the Baptist?
• We talked about John the Baptist as the “wilderness voice”—someone who dropped out of society so he could hear from God and speak for God. How do yo think him going “off the grid” helped him fulfill this role?
• John got into trouble for baptizing those who were already Jewish. This was a highly offensive symbolic act that disrupted society. Does God still use disruption—of society and our own lives—to speak to us?
• How is God getting our attention this Advent? Is there somewhere he’s calling us to “prepare the way” for him in our own lives and in our community?
• When Jesus arrives—in our lives, our churches, and our communities—how do we “decrease”? How do we let him take the stage?

Quote to ponder: “The folks you’re shutting out of the church today will be leading it tomorrow. That’s how the Spirit works. The future’s in the margins.” —Rachel Held Evans

 

Readings: Isaiah 35:1-10 • Psalm 146:5-10 • Luke 1:46-55 • James 5:7-10 • Matthew 11:2-11

This week’s theme is Jesus brought the kingdom of God. The prophet Isaiah said the kingdom is coming and you will see people healed, the blind will see, the mute will sing praises. The Psalmist looked forward to the time when God gives food to the hungry, sets the prisoners free and gives sight to the blind. Matthew recounts Jesus telling John’s disciples to describe what they see, “the blind receive sight, the lame wall… the deaf hear, the dead are raised…” Mary sings of this kingdom in her song. The sermon is from Mary’s song in Luke 1 and reminds us that a significant part of the kingdom message is that God has chosen us to participate in this kingdom, today and in the future.

You Are Chosen to Participate

Luke 1:46-55

Introduction: Share a couple personal stories of how you felt when you were rejected, and how you felt when you were chosen. You can use examples from school, work, home, church or somewhere else.

Few of us have made it through school without feeling left out, overlooked, or not chosen. If you think about it, I’m sure you can remember a number of times when you wanted to be included in something—a team, a project, even a clique—but you were not chosen. While we might be able to laugh about it now, at the time, no matter how old we were, it really hurt.

Many of us can also recall the joy of being chosen—in a sport, in drama, as part of the choir, on a debate team, by our spouse when he or she said, “Yes” and then the joy of hearing those words, “I do.” Being chosen gives us affirmation, encouragement, courage. Knowing we are chosen helps beat depressive thoughts and changes our thought process. Rejection does as well.

Researchers performed a study to see how rejection registers in the brain. Using an online game of catch, three participants were playing together, but then two of the players excluded the third and only threw the ball to each other. An MRI of the excluded player’s brain showed that the areas of the brain that typically show a response to physical pain were engaged, and according to those researchers, maybe “a broken heart is not so different from a broken arm.”

We are made for connection, but humanly speaking, we tend to “qualify” who we connect with based on a set of unwritten cultural rules. We rate others’ value based on what our culture says is valuable. If we consider the mother of Jesus, Mary, for example, we probably would not have chosen her for the job of bearing God’s son. She was poor, young, and inexperienced. But neither would we have chosen the Son of God to come as a baby and be born in a stable.

Let’s face it, we are often at odds with God’s way of choosing, and thank God for that. Because we might not have chosen ourselves to join Jesus in what he is doing. We might be so focused on the reasons God should not include us, that we fail to see ourselves from his eyes. But here’s the truth: God has chosen you, and not just to know him, but to participate in sharing the gospel – the good news that Jesus has brought the kingdom to us.

So how do we respond? I suggest Mary’s response is there for a reason. Not just to show her joy in being chosen, but to show she realized she was doing more than carrying a child – she was participating in God’s plan for humanity.

Like Mary, we have been invited to participate in his plan for humanity—bringing good news to the poor, healing the sick, setting prisoners free, bringing sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf. We’ve been called to participate in that kingdom now, even as we look forward to Jesus’ glorious return. This is what Advent is all about – one of the comings of Jesus is his coming to live in us and inviting us to participate with him now.

May we respond with the humility and enthusiasm we see in Mary’s response.

Mary has just visited her relative Elizabeth, who is carrying John the Baptist in her womb. Elizabeth says her babe leaped in her womb at Mary’s presence and she pronounced a blessing on Mary. Mary responds with a song of praise.

And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.” (Luke 1:46-55)

What can we learn about how God chooses people to participate in kingdom life?

Expound on these points with personal examples, or ask the members to share their own personal examples.

• It’s more about what God can do than what we can do. Mary understands her circumstances and limitations. She knows she is poor, young, and unmarried, but she says God “has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.” Despite her lack of credentials, she knows that God can make up for it. He does the same with us.
• It’s more about having a willing heart than an awesome resumé. Notice how Luke uses present tense in the first verse: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior…” Mary was not given a clear plan or set of steps to follow, yet she was praising God in that moment. We often don’t see the end, but we can trust God that it is good.

Application:

• Understand the importance of being chosen. Human beings were created for connection, and we need to be “seen,” acknowledged, and appreciated. As the research study showed, when we feel rejected, we are hurt just as badly as if we were physically hurt. Jesus chose you—believe this truth. You are called the beloved—so be loved.
• Give the gift of acknowledgment. We must try to “see” others, include them, and show them they are valued and loved. Ask God to help you see others from his eyes—as beloved sons and daughters. Some people are easier to acknowledge and love because they fit into the unspoken cultural rules. Others are more difficult, but that means they probably need to be “seen” and acknowledged more.

Oprah Winfrey calls this “validating people,” and in her experience as a talk show host she says that everyone she interviewed always asked afterward, “Was that OK?” It didn’t matter if it was the President of the US or an unknown singer, people wanted to know that 1) they were heard, 2) they were seen, and 3) what they said mattered. Winfrey even asserts that when we get into arguments, we are asking for validation in these three areas.

• Know that you are chosen by God to love others the way God has loved you. Though we are aware of our shortcomings, we treat ourselves kindly because we know God loves us in spite of any challenges we face. And as a result, we treat others kindly despite their failings because we know God loves them, too.

When the angel Gabriel called Mary the” favored one,” he wasn’t praising her awesome qualifications to be the mother of God’s Son. He was speaking to God’s view of Mary. God knew who she was and who she wasn’t; there were no masks she could hide behind. Likewise, God has chosen us to extend love to those we encounter every day, and God has uniquely equipped each of us for that task. Our response is one of joyful participation because we know God will make up for anything we lack. Our response “magnifies” and “rejoices” in the chance to let others know they are chosen, too.

 

Small Group Discussion Questions

From “Speaking of Life” and the sermon:

• Mary’s response to Elizabeth (outlined in the verse above) takes place a little while after Mary’s encounter with the angel Gabriel. How does time help us process and understand when we’re asked to step out of our comfort zone?
• Even though Mary didn’t know exactly how everything would work out, she praised God because she knew God knew how everything would work out. Some might say this is the definition of faith, not the absence of uncertainty but the presence of Someone bigger than uncertainty. Can you think of a time when you had a sense that a situation would work out even though you couldn’t predict how that would possibly happen?
• Can you remember a time when the importance of being chosen was made clear to you? Was it a childhood experience or perhaps watching your own children navigate human relationships with peers?
• Have you ever noticed how people desire to be heard, seen, and to know that what they say matters? Have you ever acknowledged a person in this way, and if so, what happened?

 

Readings: Isaiah 7:10-16 • Psalm 80:1-7 • Romans 1:1-7 • Matthew 1:18-25

This week’s theme is the intervention of God. As God’s people, we believe that he not only makes sense of history, he also intervened in it. Isaiah 7:10-16 discusses the intervention of God in the strange, multi-meaning words about a virgin that will one day bear a child. Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19 is a lament asking for God’s intervention on Israel’s behalf. In Romans 1:1-7, Paul introduces the gospel as God’s great narrative history throughout history that culminated in God Himself entering history. Matthew 1:18-25 tells the story of God’s intervention in the lives of two young people to change history forever. The sermon is based on this Matthew passage and tells how God used an uneducated tradesman to be the stepfather to his Son at the grand intervention of the incarnation.

Joseph, the Stepfather of God

Luke 19:1-10 NRSV

One of the greatest novels ever written tells the story of the ex-convict Jean Valjean. Valjean is released from prison and wanders the French countryside looking for work or a place to stay. But he finds nowhere because of his ex-convict status, and he is rejected over and over.

He finally finds an old country priest who takes him in. He gives Valjean a meal and a bed. In an act of desperation, believing he can only act like a criminal, Valjean steals the old man’s silver and flees into the night.

The police catch Valjean quickly and drag him back to the priest. The priest can crush him like the thief he is. He has every right to put Valjean away forever.

But the old priest takes the ex-con by the shoulders and tells the police he gave Valjean the silver as a gift. He says, “My friend, you forgot the best part.” And he hands him the silver candlesticks.

Valjean goes on to live a life of forgiveness, beauty, and grace because of this act of love. He carries the candlesticks with him wherever he goes, and eventually dies as they flicker on the bedside table. When the priest could have sent him to his death, he showed grace, and it changed the life of a bitter ex-convict forever.

Caught in the act. The offender has no other way to explain their actions. The enforcer has every right to crush that person. There is no question about how this should play out.

Have you ever been caught like this? Some of those stories are funny: having your hand in the cookie jar or joyriding in your parents’ car as a teenager. The light flicks on or the door opens and there you are—busted.

Some of the stories are not as funny. You get caught in the middle of a lie or talking behind someone’s back. Or someone calls you out for being unkind or spreading a hateful rumor. They have you red-handed, in their crosshairs.

We’ve all been on the other side, too. Cornered that rival or busted a family member and suddenly the long arm of what seems like justice is on our side. It can be a wickedly delicious moment to bring the hammer down. We like it more than we think we do.

By rights, the old priest should have put Valjean away forever.

Joseph had Mary caught in a corner. His fiancé suddenly tells him she’s pregnant. This is basically a death sentence at that time in that culture. By rights, he can drag her out to the street by her hair.

We don’t know much about Joseph, the stepfather of God. Even in Greek, there is only about a solid paragraph or two on him in Scripture. He was a tradesman—the word [teknon] means some kind of trade work with his hands. Whether he was a carpenter, stone mason, or worked with metals, we don’t know. But he was blue-collar, and Jesus was born on the side of town where all you had was what you built and work wasn’t just a means of income, but a lifestyle. Work was probably unpredictable and rudimentary. Joseph—the stepfather of God himself—might have been missing a few fingernails and may have said some choice words when he dropped lumber or a stone on his toe.

But we do not even hear him speak. Ultimately, his actions speak to who is, and that seems like the way he wants it. Three lessons we can take from this gentle shadow in Scripture, lessons every man would hope to pass on: grace, wisdom, and love.

Grace…

Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. (Matthew 1:18-19)

It was Joseph’s “right” as a fiancé to drag Mary into the street by her hair and put her on public display for execution. As far as anyone could tell, he had been duped. She’d been fooling around on him and now he was embarrassed  in front of the community. It only makes sense—it’s only logical that he would punish her to the full extent of the law.

So often we are faced with what’s “only logical.” You hurt me, so I hurt you. You insulted me, so I undermine you. You stepped on my petunias, so I take you to court. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

But Joseph’s first reaction is grace. This is a small picture of the gospel that was to come. Pre-emptive grace. To divorce her quietly means that he didn’t take his “rights” in this situation.

Is our first reaction grace? Especially when we have all the cards? A quote often attributed to Abraham Lincoln, but actually written by Robert Ingersoll about Lincoln, said: “Nearly anyone can withstand adversity. But, if you want to know the true test of someone’s character, give them power.” This is true grace: to show grace even when you’re in the right, hands down.

Of course, the situation was a little more complex, but Joseph didn’t know that yet. He didn’t have to, though, because grace was who he is.

Grace by every right. Grace that shows mercy when there’s nothing in it for him.

Wisdom…

But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 1:20 NRSV)

In Joseph, we also see wisdom. I don’t mean wisdom by educational standards—he was probably illiterate and from a backwater town. His hands were rough, and his world was very small.

But Joseph has this tenacity about him, this ability to know when he doesn’t know. He also knows his Bible—he knows the story of his people and what it looks like when God is on the move.

Luke tells this same story, but from the point of view of Mary. While both narratives tell the same story from different perspectives, the one moment they parallel exactly is the phrase “do not be afraid.”

Joseph heard those words and he knew. He saw the angel in the dream, and he knew. He’s surrounded by a rigid, rule-centered culture but he’s able to bend. He’s able to see beyond the moment to the greater story, and that is wisdom.

Another detail came in the names given to this special baby.

“She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.” Matthew 1:21-23 NRSV)

The name Jesus was Joshua in the original language. Joshua—the Old Testament hero who took his people to the promised land. It was the name of the deliverer. It was a name as common as John or Mike in our day.

On the other hand, the name Emmanuel was never given to a child, probably because of the expectation it would put on someone. The Hebrew literally translates “God with us.”

The intersection of the everyday and the eternal, the common name and the name of God. Joseph had the wisdom to see that this was something he’d never seen. Do we have that kind of flexibility? Are we paying attention that closely? Wisdom is about watching to see when God’s plan is deeper than what we see on the surface.

Wisdom moves on God’s frequency. Wisdom knows that things don’t always go as we think they will, and yet it moves accordingly.

Love…

Look at John 8:

They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.” (John 8:41 NRSV)

Here Jesus is in a tense discussion with the Pharisees about their lineage from Abraham. Commentators speculate that this may have been a taunt, and perhaps something that Jesus grew up with. “We were not born of sexual immorality”—but Jesus, you were. It was most likely the case that Mary’s untimely weight gain and her quick marriage to Joseph raised some eyebrows.

Jesus likely grew up as someone who was whispered about because of this. And Joseph, his father and Mary’s husband, chose to go into that situation out of faith. Joseph might have been whispered about, too. He married a pregnant girl. Grist for the rumor mill; a butt for the jokes. He joined himself to that because he was a man of faith, he put himself in the line of fire.

This is love. Love has skin in the game. Love walks into a complex situation and stays the course. Like all stepparents in history, Joseph walks into a family where the die is already cast. It’s love that keeps him there in the middle of that complexity, taking some of the shame and confusion of it into his own life.

When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus. (Matthew 1:24-25 NRSV)

Here’s another example. In an ancient society like this one, the marriage bed was considered a man’s right. The wife had almost no say in the matter. She was his property. Yet Joseph did not take his rights.

Our society, which claims to be more advanced, has some primitive, dysfunctional ideas of its own. We treat sex like a right as well, but from a different angle. We act like any boundary, any limitation, any moral barrier put up in this area is a violation of our rights, as if we should have unbridled freedom in this area as a matter of rights. We’ve made a basic drive into a basic need.

Here we see Joseph walking away from his rights. Consistently, he put his own desires and drives to the side for reasons he doesn’t entirely understand. This fasting from intimacy was a difficult sacrifice and would have been as foreign in his society as it is in ours.

Love. Love to take someone’s checkered story on as your own. Love to wait and restrain and hold back. Love to put yourself second for the long haul.

We learn from Joseph, the stepfather of God, about:

• Grace—Joseph’s first reaction was to show grace, even though he was well within his rights not to.
• Wisdom—He put his own expectations on hold and was flexible and responsive in God’s hands.
• Love—He came into the strangest family situation in history and stayed there with a quiet, persistent presence.

Joseph, the stepfather of God. No doubt Jesus thought of his stepfather’s quiet strength on his own journey, and we should too. Amen.

Small Group Discussion Questions

From “Speaking of Life”:

• Why do you think it’s important that Jesus came from a virgin?
• Share a time Jesus defied one of your expectations.
• What does it mean, Jesus puts twists of grace in the plot?

From the sermon:

Prepare ahead of time—Play the clip from “Les Misérables” discussed in the last question, “I give you back to God.”

• Have you ever thought very much about Joseph? Is he a biblical character you draw example or strength from, or is he more of a background fixture?
• Said about Abraham Lincoln, “Nearly anyone can withstand adversity. But, if you want to know the true test of someone’s character, give them power.” Joseph had all the power in this situation, and his reaction showed his character. Is our first reaction grace—especially when we hold all the cards?
• We also talked about Joseph’s wisdom— watching to see when God’s plan is deeper than what we see on the surface. Joseph showed grace and wisdom when he refrained from publicly humiliating Mary when he thought he had her “busted.” Have you ever been in a situation where God’s plan was difficult to follow and you had to trust him for wisdom? How do we grow in wisdom?
• Joseph was a great example of love—a stepparent who walked into the strangest family dynamic in history! He showed that love has skin in the game—“love hopes all things, believes all things, endures all things” (1 Cor. 13:7). Have you seen an example of this kind of love in your life? What did it teach you about God? About yourself?
• In the sermon, we talked about one of the great stories of love in a difficult situation: the saga of Jean Valjean in Les Misérables (by Victor Hugo). If possible, watch the beginning of the movie until Valjean is forgiven by the priest. The song “Valjean’s Soliloquy” from the musical also summarizes the story. If none of these are available, the story of Valjean and the priest is summarized in the sermon as well. How does this offbeat story show God’s love? Have you ever, like Joseph, seen love come through in an unlikely situation?

Quote to ponder:

“Jean Valjean, my brother, you no longer belong to evil, but to good. It is your soul that I buy from you; I withdraw it from black thoughts and the spirit of perdition, and I give it to God.”—the old priest, Les Misérables