“The Gospel According to Joseph”

First Sunday after Christmas

Sunday, December 30, 2007

I have a good friend who has often commented that Joseph does not get enough attention at Christmas time. 

And he is probably right. 

After all, think of most of the stained glass windows, Christmas cards, nativity scenes, and Sunday School pageants that you have seen over the past few weeks.  In most of those depictions and images, Joseph is ‘just that guy in the background’.  He is usually just trudging along in front of the donkey as the young family is heading towards Bethlehem, or he is situated in the stable in such a way that he has to peek over Mary’s shoulder to catch a glimpse of the baby Jesus.  Throughout Christian history, Joseph has not made it into very many of the Christmas hymns or carols -- as I was reminded when I was trying to choose hymns for today’s service.  What’s more, when Joseph is mentioned at all, in relation to the Christmas story, it is usually with some pious proviso that he was not the baby’s real father anyways!

Of course, the way that the Christmas story is usually presented bears very little resemblance to the specific details of any one Gospel account; rather, the story as it is popularly presented is an account that has been woven together from a number of different biblical sources and popular legends.

There is no biblical account, for example, which suggests that the star appeared over the stable in Bethlehem; there is no indication that there were only three wise men; there is no suggestion that the wisemen and the shepherds were there, in Bethlehem, on the same night; and the Bible explicitly states that the angels who appeared to the shepherds were speaking to them, not singing.  However, “Hark, the herald angels just said something” does not have quite the same poetic resonance.  What is more, I have been present now at three births, and I can quite honestly say that the last thing that a mother wants, in the immediate aftermath of giving birth, is the noisy appearance of a little drummer boy!

It is likewise interesting to notice that, if the Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of John had been the only surviving Gospels, we would have no Christmas story at all.  Two of the four Gospels -- Mark and John -- begin their accounts at the moment of Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River, and neither makes any mention of any events in Jesus’ life before his baptism. It is only in Matthew and in Luke that we find mention of events linked with the Jesus’ birth – and, as we shall see, the popular portrayal of Christmas has far more to do with the account in the Gospel of Luke than it does with today’s reading from the Gospel of Matthew.

In spite of these popular renditions of the story, however, it can be interesting for us to unweave these interwoven texts, and ponder what the Christmas story is, according to each of the Gospel texts on their own.  That is, by separating out what is unique to each of the Gospel writers, we come to a more accurate understanding of what each of the Gospel writers were attempting to present to us, as readers.

And, as we pay particular attention to today’s Gospel reading, we begin to realize that if the only text that we had was the text of the Gospel of Matthew, there is a very good chance that Joseph would be the main character in the Christmas story.

Consider the differences between Matthew and Luke. In the Gospel of Luke, Mary is very much the central character in the events preceding Jesus’ birth.  It is in the Gospel of Luke – and only in that account – that we read about Mary’s visit with the angel, and about the angel’s announcement that Mary was about to become pregnant; about Mary’s conversations with her cousin Elizabeth; about Mary’s own inner thoughts and prayers in that lovely poem so often called the Magnificat; and about the way that Mary observed all that was taking place and treasured those experiences in her heart. 

The Gospel of Matthew, by contrast, mentions none of these experiences whatsoever, and has virtually no focus on Mary at all.  Rather, the Gospel of Matthew focuses almost exclusively on Joseph’s experiences in the months leading up to, and in the years following the birth of Christ. 

This focus on Joseph begins in the first chapter of Matthew.  The famous list of ‘begats’, in the opening verses of the first chapter of Matthew, traces Jesus’ ancestry back to David and Abraham – but what we sometimes overlook is the fact that that lineage is traced through Joseph’s side of the family.

Matthew chapter 1 then turns its attention, after that famous genealogical list, to the way that Joseph was told what was about to happen.  It was to Joseph that an angel appeared – in a dream – to announce that Mary was not to be shunned for having become pregnant before her marriage.  It was to Joseph that the angel said that the name ‘Jesus’ was to be given to the child.  It was to Joseph that the angel explained that the child would be the fulfillment of the prophecies.  And then, as today’s text begins, we are once again presented with the idea that it was to Joseph that God appeared in a dream, warning the family to flee to Egypt. 

And how did all of these conversations between God and Joseph take place?  Through Joseph’s dreams.  In this short passage that we read today, there are three separate dreams that are described.  In verse 13, we read that “the LORD appeared to Joseph in a dream”, telling them to go to Egypt to escape from Herod’s wrath; in verse 19, we read that “an angel of the LORD suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt” and told him that it was safe to take Mary and Jesus back to Israel.  And then, in verse 22, a third dream is mentioned, as we read, “and after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee”.  Through those three dreams, Joseph protected his family – and, in particular, the child Jesus – by taking them down into Egypt and then back up into their homeland.  Because of the dreams of Joseph, the promises of God were fulfilled in spite of the threat that was present because of Herod’s murderous intentions.

As we allow the Gospel of Matthew to stand on its own, and to be unwoven from the other texts, we realize that it is only in this text from Matthew that we encounter this story about Joseph and his dreams.  There is no mention, in the Gospel of Luke, or in any of the other Gospels, or in the rest of the New Testament, about Joseph’s dreams, about the murderous intentions of Herod, about the escape to Egypt or about the return from Egypt. 

This attention to Joseph and his dreams is unique to this passage.

But this is not the only place that a character named Joseph saves his family and thereby safeguards God’s chosen servants by journeying down into Egypt after listening to dreams.

Rather, those of you who remember your Sunday School lessons – or those of you who have seen Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” – will remember the story of another dreamer named Joseph.  The last section of the Book of Genesis – from chapters 37 – 50 – tells the story of Jacob’s young son Joseph, who dreamed that his older brothers would one day bow down to him, and who was sent as a slave to Egypt because of his brothers’ animosity.  According to that story, Joseph’s dreams, his strange ability to interpret dreams, and his integrity and faithfulness allowed him to rise into a position of prominence in Pharaoh’s court, to the point where he was the most powerful official in the land of Egypt.  Years later, a famine in the land of Joseph’s ancestors – the land that would one day be called Israel – led his estranged brothers to come to Egypt begging for food.  Because of Joseph’s high position, he was able to save his family – the descendants of Jacob – from death because of the power that he had attained in Egypt.  Many years later, in the time of Moses, the descendants of Jacob also made the journey back from Egypt when God made it safe for them to escape and to return to their beloved land. 

When we realize the strange parallel between that story in Genesis and today’s text from Matthew, we begin to realize that our reading from Matthew may best – and most powerfully – be interpreted not in the most literalistic, historically objective sense, but rather in a more symbolic and metaphorical sense. 

That is, this clear and intentional parallel-- between the story of Joseph and the people of Israel that we find in Genesis, and the story of Joseph and Jesus that we find in Matthew -- invites us to ask what the author of Matthew was actually suggesting about who this child was -- and what the gospel message is. 

I would like to briefly suggest that there are three important lessons which we might draw from this symbolic or metaphorical interpretation of this text.

The first is that the text is making the claim that Jesus was a new form of Israel, a true Israelite, and the fulfillment of the prophetic expectations.  The author of Matthew structured his version of the Christmas story in such a way that he was making the claim that the result of Joseph’s obedience to his dreams was that Jesus was a new form of Israel, and the fulfillment of prophetic expectations. Through the genealogical lineage which began the Book of Matthew, and through these parallel experiences of the dreamer Joseph, the flight to Egypt, and the return from Egypt, the author of Matthew was situating the life and experience of Jesus within the history of God’s chosen people.  Something new was happening with this child – but what was new was also a direct parallel with God’s liberating, saving purposes in the past. 

And, as the frequent references, in today’s passage, to sections of Hosea, Jeremiah and other prophets attest, the author of Matthew was suggesting that the words of the ancient prophets could now be interpreted in relation to this new Israelite. “Out of Egypt I have called my son” now applied both to Israel and to Jesus.   The author of Matthew was seeking to send a clear message to us, as readers, that in his opinion, the prophecies had been fulfilled and One who had lived the ancient experiences of the people of Israel had come.

The second message that we might draw from this text is that because of the birth and experiences of the young child, a new form of the exodus was taking place, but it was no longer an exodus just for the people of Israel.  What was specific was becoming universal. We can only fully appreciate this dimension of the story when we keep today’s passage within the larger context of the Gospel of Matthew.  As the Gospel of Matthew unfolds, we realize that the unique experience of the first Israel was now giving way to a more universal experience which would be extended to all people.  That is, even though the opening verses of Matthew focus almost exclusively on Jesus’ Jewish lineage, experience and identity, by the end of the Gospel of Matthew, we read that Jesus sends his disciples to baptize, to teach and to declare the good news – to all people.  The final words in Matthew’s Gospel are these – “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.  And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” 

Because of the birth of the child, what had once been specific and unique -- to the chosen people Israel -- had now become inclusive and universal – extended to all nations, including the Gentile nations. 

But the type of liberation and exodus that was now being offered, in Christ, was different.  Israel had been liberated from slavery in Egypt; the new liberation and exodus that would be offered, through the life, death and resurrection of the baby, was a liberation from a different form of slavery – namely, the slavery of sin and death.  And, just as the first exodus created a new community called the people of Israel, so too this new exodus would create a new community called the Church of Jesus Christ.  The coming of this new Israelite would signal the coming of a new liberation, a new exodus, and a new community.

Which leads us to the third important implication of this text.  That is, that our inclusion in this new community – our inclusion in the Body of Christ, the Church – draws all of us into a relationship with Yahweh, the God of Israel.  Through baptism, that universalizing mission of Jesus’ followers forms a community, throughout the world, which includes people of every race, language, culture and background, who now join with the Jewish people in the worship of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, of Sarah, Miriam and Deborah, of David and Solomon, of Jeremiah and Isaiah, of Mary and Joseph and Jesus.  It is through Christ that all of us, sitting here today, even know about the Ten Commandments, about the Psalms, about the prophets, about the God of steadfast love, faithfulness, justice, holiness and creative power.

Last Friday, I attended a funeral, and one of the passages that was read at that service was Psalm 23, a Psalm that is so often used in times of mourning and death because of the comfort that it brings.  And yet, we seldom stop to realize that the reason that we even have that Psalm to read is because the specific relationship that God had with the Jewish people has now, through Christ, become a relationship into which all people are invited.

Which is not to suggest that God’s covenant with the Jewish people has been rendered obsolete because of the coming of Jesus; rather, it is by way of our baptism into Christ that we now join, with the people of Israel, in the worship of God and that we join them in sharing in God’s covenantal relationship once established with Abraham.  It is through Christ that we, who were once, as the letter to the Ephesians puts it, “aliens to the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world” have been brought into a relationship with God. “So then,” continues Ephesians, “you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.  In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.”

So what, then, is the Gospel according to Joseph?  It is this. 

A child has been born, whose coming into this world signaled the advent of a new exodus.  Even though the powers of the world sought to stamp out the birth of that child, God acted, through Joseph, so that the work of the child would be accomplished. 

And what was that work? 

To liberate all of us – Jew and Gentile alike – from the violence of this world, from the tyranny of sin and from the dread, despair and oppression of death, and to lead us towards a new community in which we shall dwell with God, and God with us – both in this world and for m all eternity.

And that is good news.

Amen.