December 22, 2019
Hope Lutheran Church
Rev. Mary Erickson
Matthew 1:18-25
Altered Plans
Friends, may grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Differing translations of the Bible can prompt us to reconsider a passage. For instance, the Good News Translation of the Bible phrases Proverbs chapter 16 verse 9 this way: “We make our plans, but God has the last word.”
“We make our plans, but God has the last word.” We can have the best laid plans! But then life comes along and KABOOM! We get taken in an entirely different direction!
That’s what happened to Joseph. Joseph had been betrothed to Mary. But then word got to him that Mary was in the family way. And Joseph knew directly that someone else must have been involved.
According to the law of Moses, when a woman was caught in adultery, she was to be killed. There’s a story in John’s gospel about a woman who is caught in adultery. The religious leaders bring her before Jesus. “According to Moses,” they say, “This woman should be stoned to death. What do you say, Rabbi?”
Jesus instructs them, “Let the person who is sinless cast the first stone.” One by one, the woman’s accusers walk away until no one is left but Jesus.
This is the situation young Mary finds herself in with Joseph. Joseph is not the father of her baby. Joseph holds Mary’s fate in his hands. Being betrothed, they are as good as married. He could accuse her publicly, and it would be curtains for Mary.
But Matthew says something very telling about Joseph. Joseph, he says, is a righteous man.
What exactly does that mean? To some people, being righteous means to cross every T and dot every I. We laud what is right, but what is wrong is pointed out and corrected. Righteousness demands accountability. The wrong must be punished.
If this is the kind of righteous man Joseph is, then he could not allow Mary’s situation to go unaddressed. She would need to be held accountable and meet the full brunt of consequences coming her way. But that’s not the kind of righteous man Joseph is.
Righteousness is a major biblical theme in the Old Testament. God is righteous. Righteousness comes from God and the people of God are called to live righteously. But with God, righteousness isn’t sterile and cold. God’s righteousness has a restorative, healing power to it. It strives for wholeness. God does not break a bruised reed.
Isaiah puts it this way:
I am the Lord, I have called you in RIGHTEOUSNESS,
I have taken you by the hand and kept you;
I have given you as a covenant to the people,
A light to the nations,
To open the eyes that are blind,
To bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
From the prison those who sit in darkness.*
God’s righteousness brings freedom and healing. It makes whole that which is broken. It’s a light, it’s a beacon in the darkness.
God calls us to act and live out this righteousness. We are called to be instruments of God’s love.
Where there is hatred, we can sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is discord, union;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
and where there is darkness, light.
This is what Matthew means when he says that Joseph is a righteous man. Joseph doesn’t wish Mary any harm. He just wants to dismiss their plans.
So Joseph resolves what he’ll do. He will just very quietly break off his intended marriage to Mary. He won’t call her out or humiliate her in any way. The consequences of her pregnancy will make themselves known in due time. But Joseph won’t be the one pointing a finger.
On the night when Joseph resolves what he will do, he lays down his head to sleep. And he dreams. In his dream, an angel appears to him. “Joseph, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife. Her child has been conceived by God’s Holy Spirit.”
“We make our plans, but God has the last word.” Joseph had his plans, but God has something else in mind for him! God offers Joseph an opportunity to play a central role in bringing divine righteousness to the world.
Joseph wakes up, and all of his plans are uprooted. His future has been redirected. And Joseph is fully on board with it. There can be no halfway about this situation. If Joseph goes along with God’s plan, he can’t “sort of” be okay with being a father to a child who isn’t his. He will have to live with this decision for the rest of his life.
Both Joseph and Mary have had profound experiences. Both of them have encountered a heavenly messenger. And there was something in these incidents that touched them deeply. It brought them altogether on board. They were in it 100%.
When Joseph awakens the next morning, he takes Mary for his wife. And then he faces all that will follow. When he has to go to Bethlehem to enroll in Rome’s taxation, he helps his very pregnant wife make the journey. When Jesus is born, he claims this little boy as his own. Joseph protects his young family and flees with them to safety in Egypt. And when at last he can return from exile, he settles into regular family life in Nazareth.
Joseph, this righteous man, becomes the most direct and central model of manhood for his little boy. He becomes Jesus’ example of faithful living and devotion to God.
You might know that for eight years I worked as a secretary at Sacred Heart Hospital. It’s a Catholic hospital, and like any Catholic institution, it’s filled with religious art.
When you get off the elevator on the 8th floor, there you see a statue of Joseph hanging on the wall. Joseph is depicted holding the small boy Jesus in his arms. The artist depicted a loving affection between them. Joseph’s cheek brushes up against Jesus’ head. No doubt: this is his boy, and he is Jesus’ father.
When Joseph said yes to God’s alternate plan for him, this is what he signed up for: to accept this baby as his own, to protect him, to love him. In every important way, Joseph is Jesus’ father.
Joseph wasn’t the only person to face altered plans. We do too. God’s Spirit is active. It’s breathing among us. It blows in unexpected directions. As Jesus said to Nicodemus, “The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” The Holy Spirit is leading us into new pathways.
Several years ago, psychologist M. Scott Peck wrote a bestselling book called "The Road Less Travelled." The book addresses healthy ways to maneuver through life. Peck says that each one of us develops a personal road map for life. We learn from the unique life situations we experience. We glean our findings and use them to form our road map. That map helps us maneuver similar situations in the future. The more situations we encounter, the more information we can add to our internal road map.
Unfortunately, Peck says that most of us stop amending our internal road map when we reach our 30’s. We’re confident that we’ve learned all we need to know to successfully maneuver through life. We declare our road map finished.
But there’s a problem with finalizing our mental road map. It leaves us with hardened pathways. We become resistant to change.
But God’s Holy Spirit breathes new pathways. God is always in the process of doing a new thing. A fresh, green shoot emerged from the stump of Jesse. Joseph, righteous man that he was, remained open to this new thing. He was receptive to an unfolding pathway. And he was blessed.
When the Holy Spirit nudges, it urges us into ways we have not considered. As people of faith, we are called to remain open to new possibilities. “We make our plans, but God has the last word.” Thank goodness!
*Isaiah 42:6-7
