Advent 4A + Joseph's Tale + 12/21/25

 

M. Campbell-Langdell

All Santos, Oxnard

(Isaiah 7:10-16; Psalm 80:1-7, 16-18; Romans 1:1-7; Matthew 1:18-25)

 

Hi, I’m Joseph. Jesus’ other dad. I know I look a little different today, but I decided to share my story with you. Matthew does it okay, but I thought I would add to the picture. You don’t hear a lot from me in the scriptures. In fact, today’s gospel passage is one of the ones that says the most about me. I am known for being a mensch. That’s a good guy. Because I wouldn’t disgrace or hurt Mary, or Miriam, as I thought of her. But that sounds so, well, boring!
So let me tell you what really happened. It goes all the way back to Nazareth, a few years before everything happened. Mary was of the age to have her cycle, and folks in town were looking for someone to whom she could be promised, someone who would take good care of her. I was about ten years older than her, and she was twelve at the time. When my walking stick flowered, the priests decided I was the lucky guy. So we began our courtship and engagement. We would visit with each other’s families, and I was getting pretty fond of her. She was truly a young woman of faith and would sometimes keep me company when I worked on my carpentry.

Well, one day she came over to me, a few years later, to say the craziest thing had happened. An angel had visited her, and she was pregnant. Now, put yourself in my shoes. I am a twenty-something-year-old fellow, and I wonder- what sort of angel gets you preggers? It all sounded a bit weird. I figured she had found another man, and I decided just to let her go quietly off to him. I thought maybe she was saving my feelings. You see, according to Jewish law, since we were engaged, I could have asked for her to be stoned. But that just seemed a little much. So I was going to tell her the next day, Look, you’re a lovely girl, but I think you'd better go. I will set you free. I figured that was what she wanted, to be with whomever she had fallen for. All in all, it would be much better this way because she wouldn’t get shamed, and I wouldn’t get shamed for raising someone else’s kid. You see, I still thought she had a thing for someone else. And in a way, she did.

I didn’t realize she had fallen in love with God!
But boy, did I find out that night. You see, I had the strangest dream. I fell asleep, so sure of what I would tell her, how I would righteously deal with the whole matter because that was all I wanted to be, a righteous dude.

And my old dad always said, “Joseph, righteousness is not about just following the letter of the law, it is about following the essence of the law; the heart of the law. You listen to your heart, and you pray on it, and you can’t go wrong.”

So, this is what I did: I prayed about it, and I had made up my mind.

Well, as soon as I fell asleep, I perceived an angel visiting me. Momentarily, I thought through the fog that I might have eaten some moldy grapes or something. Was this gastric distress or a real angel? But the angel put me straight right away. He said (I think it was a he - hard to tell with angels, could have been a they). Anyway, they 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. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” OK, the angel knows my name and lineage. Because even though David’s not my dad, that is Jacob, I am of the line of David. How did the angel know I was low-key freaking out? I care about Mary a lot, but I don’t want to go through it because she was involved with someone else. But this angel says it is God she’s involved with? Wow!
Now, I will be honest. At first, this freaked me out more! I mean, I can deal with another guy, but who can coparent with God? I mean, that is one intimidating person for your wife to be involved with. There’s a reason why all those super religious types live alone in the desert with God—no room for any other person to be in the relationship.

But we managed to do it somehow. I remained faithful to Mary while she remained faithful to God. A lot of folks like to focus on that part, that we weren’t together in that way until she gave birth. But this was an opportunity for her to see a miracle come to birth. I didn’t want to mess that up for her, her miracle, her Jesus. There would be time enough to be close later.

So, back to that moment with the dream and the angel, the more I thought about it, I thought, why not? I love Mary. She’s faithful. I can be faithful to her, and to this son we are going to have. Plus, my father’s name, may his memory be for a blessing, was Jacob, so I can follow the tradition of naming my son with a J name after his grandfather, and thereby adopt him into our family. He will be God’s and of the House of David. He will remind us that God shows up and does amazing things if we are open to them.

Because that’s the other part of Jesus’ name. Emmanuel. God-with-us. Jesus is a reminder to us every day that, while some faith traditions have God come to visit, our God came to us not just for a moment, but in a human lifetime, to show us what God and creation, what life, is really all about from both lenses. I’m a humble carpenter, so these things kind of blow my mind. But I know one thing for sure.

God truly does amazing things. I got to adopt a son, a son who was not only faithful but showed me and so many others what faith really is. And I got my beloved Mary, and there’s more to say, but that is a story for another day.

For today, remember that God is always among you. You may encounter the unexpected in your lifetime, Lord knows I did! And you may be afraid. God knows I was! But if you are open to it, God can and will do amazing things in and through you. Be not afraid. And have faith. Move forward in that faith, showing love to those around you and faithfulness even when others may judge you. God will do the rest!

Amen.