Isaiah 7.10-16 The young woman is with
child
Romans 1.1-7 Our apostolic mission is to
preach the obedience of faith to all nations
Matthew 1.18-25 How Jesus Christ came to
be born
[NB text in square brackets was not used
in the delivery of the sermon]
'And Joseph did as the angel commanded him'
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Perhaps it is because Joseph is a man of
few words, in fact no recorded words at all in the Bible, that he gets rather
overlooked in the noisy chatter of the world
[At the reforming of the Church of
England in the sixteenth century, the Book of Common Prayer, whilst it kept the
feasts of saints, including a number in honour of Mary, dropped the feast of St
Joseph altogether.
Mercifully he has since been restored to
his proper place: Joseph of Nazareth, husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and
he is honoured on 19th March each year.]
What do we know of Joseph?
[He shares the name of one of the great
patriarchs of the biblical tradition, Joseph - of coat fame - the one to whom
God revealed his purpose in dreams and who had a deeply practical side: think
of the provision he made in times of want and in times of plenty.]
We know Joseph’s family had ended up in
Nazareth but his heritage, as we might say today, was Judean, from Bethlehem,
the City of David. And aren’t we going to hear about that city a lot in the
coming days.
What we all know about Joseph is that he
was a carpenter.
Perhaps there’s more to it.
In Mark’s gospel there is a reference to
Jesus as ‘the carpenter, the son of Mary…’ The Greek word used is τέκτων (tekton) which means a bit more.
A tekton could be a woodworker,
carpenter or builder. And the word tekton comes from the root meaning ‘to
carve, to chisel, to mould’. Joseph was highly skilled craftsman, almost certainly
Jesus was trained in his craft.
[John
Everett Millais’ painting ‘Christ in the House of His Parents’ (1849–50) captures
this and some of the associated symbolism this brings.]
I wonder how much Joseph carved,
chiselled and moulded Jesus’ human character as a boy and young man back in
Nazareth. (cf Luke 2.39-40)
So, this skilled, quiet and strong man
was entrusted with the task of protection, care and provision for his wife,
Mary, and her son, Jesus.
[What we do know is that Joseph did the
right thing by Mary: first by wanting to break off their betrothal quietly and
discreetly (v19); then doing the right thing by her by marrying her (v24) and
then by honouring and respecting her body before her child was born (v25)]
Together Joseph and Mary presented Jesus
in the Temple at 40 days old; offering up the child as the son entrusted to
them both, but to whom Joseph was not biologically related: whatever he felt
about that, we do not have his words.
Twelve years later they took him to the
Feast of the Passover in Jerusalem, as they did every year (Luke 2.41-52) and
Jesus remained in the Temple unbeknownst to his parents.
Joseph and all the family searched
frantically for Jesus and on finding him Jesus uttered words that must have
been at once painful and deeply fulfilling for Joseph, ’why were you looking
for me, did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?’ (Luke 2.49).
This wasn’t an adolescent outburst, but
was a statement of what Joseph learnt from the angel in his dream, ‘the child
conceived in Mary 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.’ (v20b,21).
*
Consideration of Joseph opens up areas
that we rarely go to in church – where preachers fear to tread - and that is
the role of men and masculinity in society and in our culture today.
There is a wide academic field that
speaks of the ‘crisis of masculinity’: What are men for? What is the role of
men today?
On one extreme there are the hyper-masculine
men who live in a fantasy world of male dominance and imperviousness; and on
the other a rhetoric that is unremittingly anti-men.
The behaviour of some men - violence, sexual violence, control, exploitation and
domination - is used to declare all
men toxic.
Feminism has clearly righted many wrongs
and injustices, and has helped men and women see the proper valued contribution
women make to society.
Yet there are real challenges for men in
the culture today.
It is true: men are significantly more
violent than women and towards women; yet men are vastly more likely to be
subjects of violence.
The highest rate of suicide is amongst
men, by some way.
The prison population is overwhelmingly
male.
It is also clear in current culture some
young men find it hard to read signals and know boundaries with regard to the
opposite sex.
In one version of masculinity men should
not express feelings, and in another they should be ‘New Men’ pouring out their
emotions all the time.
No wonder men are in a muddle, or
society in a muddle about men.
*
And there’s a gender gap in church too:
in the UK typically congregations are 2/3 female and 1/3 male. [And it’s most
prevalent in Western European and North American Christianity.
Men are not less spiritual as witnessed
in other faiths and religious traditions, but their churchgoing is declining
rapidly: what do we do about that.
One study found that ‘in the last 20
years 49% of men under 30 left the church! At the current rate of loss it is
predicted that by 2028 men will all but have disappeared from the Church in the
UK’. (Why so few men in Church? | Why Church)]
So how might Joseph help us all, particularly
men, in our spiritual lives? And along the way help the women those men seek
‘to love, comfort, honour and protect’ (Marriage Service CW 2000)
*
Here are some pointers.
Joseph is described as ‘a righteous
man’.
Righteousness is not a sense of patriarchal
superiority but about being right with God; about training and honing one’s
body, mind and spirit - like an athlete, or musician, or craftsman, or tekton -
such that one is in a right relationship
with God.
I have mentioned that not a word of Joseph’s
is recorded.
Does that mean he’s one of those men who
bottles things up and doesn’t disclose his inner emotion and life even to his
nearest and dearest? I don’t think so.
In St Luke’s gospel we hear of Joseph’s
‘great distress’ when he and Mary were searching for Jesus in Jerusalem for
hours (Luke 2.48).
What the Gospels make clear is that
Joseph freely acts; his eloquence is in his actions.
Joseph as a righteous man acted with a
sense of duty.
He didn’t run for the hills when Mary
was found to be pregnant and the child not his; he wanted her reputation
protected; he was ready to overcome his longing for her by quietly letting her
go.
All too often we see today men running
from responsibilities and duties; the consequences of which harm both women and
children.
Joseph didn’t ditch Mary and her child
at the threat of the murderous Herod; he shielded them from danger until it
passed, because most men are physically stronger than most women.
Good male role models are good for boys
and for girls.
We don’t say and hear that enough.
Many men crave a clear role in life, and
being able to be stable and supportive in their relationships: Joseph is an
exemplar of this.
Men are not uniquely wicked; and, God
knows, men are not perfect; indeed we are all, men and women, sinners of God’s
own redeeming.
Today, as we approach the birth of
Emmanuel, God with us, who was entrusted with his Blessed Mother to the care of
Joseph let us ask Joseph’s prayers that we may all, men and women, be capable
of receiving Jesus Christ into our lives, where he will shape, mould and chisel
us into his image and likeness afresh.
