The Second Sunday after Christmas

         What do we make of Joseph? He always seems to be on the outside of the story looking in. He gets no beautiful song to sing. He seems to have nothing but orders to obey, and pretty tough ones at that. In our tradition, he’s the nice guy who sticks around while everyone else gets all the attention. He becomes stiff and old in our minds: an old man who does the right thing and exits the stage as soon as we don’t need him anymore.

         Tradition assumes that he’s an old man, kind and hard working. In our historical rush to lift up Mary, we seem to leave Joseph down on the ground. Maybe we think he is old because he isn’t around to see Jesus as an adult. Maybe we think he’s old because all of the brothers and sisters of Jesus must be Joseph’s children through another marriage – if we believe that Mary had no children except Jesus.

         If we think about Joseph, we remember him steadying Mary on the donkey on the road to Bethlehem. Maybe we bury a statue of Joseph in the garden to help sell our house. He’s a character actor with a bit part. He moves off the stage and is forgotten.

         Joseph is a dreamer, much like his name’s sake. In Genesis, Joseph is the favorite child who irritates his brothers with his big dreams. He imagines himself as better, smarter, and favored over his brothers. His pride and their anger lead him into slavery and much suffering in Egypt. Later, God uses Joseph’s dreams and interpretations to save Egypt and Joseph’s family in Canaan.

         There are many ways to read the story of Joseph in Genesis. It is a story of pride and humility and repentance. It is a story of God’s dream for us and for God’s people. It is a story of integrity and about how to live rightly through suffering and blessing. It is a story about family – favorites and grudges, fights and reconciliation. It is a story about how hatred can turn to sadness and can, even then, turn to joy and new hope. It is a story about the stories we tell to make sense of what has happened to us.

         There is more to Joseph in the gospels than as an extra in the Christmas pageant. He has dreams. He listens to the voice of God. He is open to what God suggests. He does not insist on his own plan or his own needs. What were these dreams? In the gospel we hear dream after dream after dream. Were they commands? Visions? Urgings? Gut feelings? The time is compressed. I suspect they were really quite spaced apart. I suspect that Joseph had to have an open heart and an open ear to hear what God was offering.

         This is in opposition to what else is going on in the story. The reason for all this movement and travel is the angry and fearful actions of Herod. To shorten the story we don’t hear about Herod’s plan to use the wise men to find Jesus (the king of the Jews.) We don’t hear today about Herod’s plan to massacre all the newborn boys in Bethlehem to kill God’s true heir. Herod does not dream, nor does he listen. He makes his plans and acts with haste.

         Like Joseph in the ancient Hebrew story, human plans do not thwart the will of God. The fear and greed of his brothers do not stop God’s plan. The desire and pride of Potiphar’s wife does not stop God’s plan. In staying true to God, Joseph learns the will of God and he can be used by God for great good. In the same way, the gospel Joseph is obedient and ready to take whatever next step God offers.

         We are not part of this kind of miraculous and epic story. God does not speak to us through angels to announce some unexpected plan of world salvation. In other ways we are more privileged than Joseph. We know the whole story. We have already been saved. We are not told what to do. God’s spirit dwells in us to enable us to do what we know already to be right.

         We may know the end of God’s story and we have hope of God’s fulfillment. Like Joseph, we do not know the end of our story. We do not know where we will be tomorrow. We do not know how we will cope with the difficulties of our day. We too are surrounded by strong forces outside of our control.

         Joseph is the righteous man, the stand up guy. He is the stepfather, taking on the responsibility to raise another’s child. He is the hard worker who does what he has to do (if not always what he wants to do.) He is willing to move on to what needs to happen next. He reminds us that there are commitments bigger than our own personal need. It’s not about him (or his own family, or his pride.) Joseph pays attention. He does what he needs to do. He gets out of the way.

         There is no obvious reward for this. We want to be recognized by our good deeds, and often we are not. How often are parents rewarded for staying up late with a child? How often are spouses rewarded for moving to a new home for the sake of the family? We don’t mean to take each other for granted. It’s just that as soon as we do the right thing, there’s something else we have to do.

         So we should thank each other for the good we do. We should also take heart that life is not about rewards. It’s all about living the right way, because it’s what we do. God blesses this. There might not be much fanfare but it is just this way that God saves the world.