The gospel
of Matthew begins with a long list of names. It may seem a strange way for
Matthew to begin his story about the life and death of Jesus. For the people
that Matthew was writing to, it would have been really important that Jesus was
from the line of David.
Verse 16
says “and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born,
who is called the Messiah.”
Matthew
lists Joseph as being in the line of David, which seems strange to us when part
of the story is explaining how Jesus was not Joseph's natural son. The people
of Israel had been waiting for the Messiah, the one who would save them, for a
long time. The gospel of Matthew often links events in the birth, the life, and
the death of Jesus to events in the old testament. In the section of the gospel
which was read today, there are some verses quoted from Isaiah. In chapter 2 of
Matthew there are there are at least four times when Matthew quotes from one of
the prophets. Matthew is writing for a community that is in the midst of
tensions within the Jewish religion. Is Jesus really the one they were waiting
for? It was important for the people Matthew was writing for that Jesus was
linked to the Jewish faith, that he was the one who fulfilled the words of the prophets.
There are
other links in this reading with the old testament Joseph has a dream in the
old testament it is Joseph was the one who is able to read dreams of the pharaoh.
A little
background on the rituals surrounding marriage at this time. Mary and Joseph's
betrothal is much more of a contract and what we consider engagement to be, it
was as if they were married just not yet living together. Marriage was a
two-stage process, the first stage the promise and pledge, the second stage the
celebration and moving in together. [i]
What is a
righteous man to do? He finds his wife is pregnant with a child that he knows
is not his. Joseph sees only two options, to dissolve the marriage quietly or
to publicly accuse Mary. The second option, of publicly accusing her would lead
to her death and Joseph would have a hand in the killing. To dissolve the
marriage quietly means Joseph has not participated directly in her death, but
it leaves her in a very vulnerable position.[ii]
Joseph
hadn't considered the third possibility, it was such an absurd thought, that no
righteous man would. Joseph didn't consider the possibility of protecting Mary,
and her child, and raising the child as his own.
That is, until
the dream, when an angel appeared to Joseph and explained to him that Mary was
pregnant by the power of the holy spirit and this child would save people from their
sins.
The
passage we heard this morning is the entire birth narrative in the gospel of
Matthew. No shepherds, no journey to Bethlehem, no stable and manger. Matthew
does tell of the coming of the wise men, but this passage is all we hear about
his birth.
When we read the biblical text is important to note who is the named, who speaks, and who acts in the scene.
Mary is
barely mentioned, and the verbs are passive. It seems that the action is
happening around her:
– Mary had
been engaged to Joseph
– she was
found to be with child
Joseph
gets a little more airplay, but he doesn't speak.
The
speaking is done by the Angel.
I wonder
how Joseph felt. Matthew records what was going on in Joseph’s head, but what
about his heart and his gut. I imagine a sense of betrayal, disbelief, anger.
How could she do this to me? What about our future? But then, for Joseph,
there is still a future. He can either publicly or privately divorce Mary, but
without Joseph she has no future.
Sometimes
it really is important to sleep on a decision. To listen for a voice that is
different to the expected one. To see a third way, a life giving way.
It seems
that often in a culture issues are black and white, you are either for the war
on drugs or for drugs; if you want refugees treated fairly when they arrive in
Australia then you mustn't care about the possibility of death at sea; if you
are in favour of abortion rights you don't value human life. Each of these
issues and many more are treated as either/or situations.
But what
if you are in favour of abortion rights because you value human life, and what
you'd really like is appropriate support for all families. And what if you're
horrified at the way refugees are treated once they are in Australia, not
because they won some lottery of not drowning at sea, but because they are
human. Of course it would be better if real alternatives existed. It would be
better if people did not have to flee their homes because their lives are in
danger. Sometimes we do what we can, rather than not doing anything because the
best possible solution is out of our hands.
What might
happen when we stop looking at either/or situations, and start seeing people.
Real people like Mary.
Jesus was
not the Messiah that people were expecting, he didn't overthrow the Roman
government, but he did transform people's lives. Many of those people whose
lives were transformed by Jesus were people on the margins of society.
In our world what voices do we hear?
What
voices do we listen to ?
What would
happen if we listen for God's voice, might we find a different way?
