Joseph's scandal

This morning we hear the story of Jesus’ conception and birth from Joseph’s perspective. From this perspective we see that his conception was scandalous, miraculous and world-changing.

The Gospel of Matthew is the only one of the four that gives us a little insight into Joseph. It lists his origins and we see his biological connection to: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Solomon...etc. If Joseph appeared on an episode of ‘Who do you think you are?’ the show would be a visual portrait of the key figures and kings of the Old Testament.

But apart from having such a prestigious Jewish background, we learn in this brief passage a few things about Joseph’s character and personality.

Matthew describes him as a righteous man. This suggests that he followed the laws of his religion. But as we read we see that Joseph is not just a law-abiding Jew. Not just someone who follows the rules and practices as a habit. Instead, he is someone who has seen beyond the laws into the heart of the law-giver. He has encountered God – who is Love. We can know this because of Joseph’s actions when he discovers his fiancée is pregnant ahead of their marriage – a scandal in his religious community and family. Even more shockingly, he knows that the baby is not his as he hasn’t slept with Mary.

As a ‘righteous’, law-abiding Jew, this is a scandalous situation to be in. In the best case scenario, his family and community would believe that Joseph and Mary had slept together ahead of their marriage – an action breaking their religion’s moral laws.

In the worst case scenario, if it was discovered that the baby wasn’t his, Joseph would face a life-time of ridicule and Mary would face the death penalty.

Jesus’ conception was scandalous and poor Joseph had to make a choice about what to do in the light of this scandal. He could have chosen to loudly justify his own integrity and law-abidingness, declare Mary an adulteress and effectively sentence her to death.

But because Joseph was a righteous, law-abiding man, who knew the God of Love behind the Law, he made the loving choice. He put aside his own hurt and embarrassed feelings and decided to spare Mary from public disgrace.

From Joseph’s perspective we not only see the scandal of Jesus’ conception, we also see the miraculous nature of it.

Before Joseph can carry out his plan to quietly divorce Mary to minimise the scandal, he encounters one of God’s messengers in a dream. The angel explains the miraculous nature of Jesus’ conception, conceived from the Holy Spirit. Fully God, fully human.

Joseph chose to listen to his dream and believe in the sign God had spoken of through the prophets and enter into a story and a purpose bigger than himself. A story that would overshadow him.

How could he make such a difficult choice? Because he believed in the miraculous. He believed in a Supernatural God who could act in supernatural ways.

Joseph had to take a leap of faith in order to make the choice to believe in what God had told him in a dream. It was something intangible, something he would struggle to convince his family and neighbours of later. It was something he would no doubt be mocked and ridiculed for believing for the rest of his life. But Joseph chose to believe in a Supernatural God, a God who is beyond our understanding and working out. He chose to believe in the miraculous: That this Supernatural God of Supernatural Love would and could provide salvation to his people by Supernatural means.

So, through Joseph’s eyes we see the scandal of Jesus’s Advent, we see the miraculous nature of it, and we also see the world-changing meaning of the expected baby.

In the dream God sends to Joseph, he tells him that the baby will be called Jesus and that “he will save his people from their sins.” This is world-changing news.

This baby, born in scandal and miracle, would restore God’s original intention for creation and humans to walk with Him as He had walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden before the fall.

This baby would save his people from the separation from God that is caused by sin. Jesus – God with Us – Emmanuel, would be born into the scandal and struggles of humanity, to meet us where we are and walk with us through it.

And Joseph makes the choice to claim this world-changer, this supernatural child as his own, giving Him his name and the claim to Joseph’s family tree.

Even though we don’t hear very much from Joseph in the bible, he speaks loudly through his actions in this short Gospel passage.

Joseph shares the Gospel message, God’s message of love in action. He points us towards a God who is full of grace and truth. A God who is slow to anger and quick to forgive. A God who is not afraid of the mess and the scandal of our lives, who loves us enough to enter into the middle of it all and transform our lives. A God who is not ashamed to call us by name and claim us as His own.

This Christmas, let’s look again at the familiar nativity story through Joseph’s eyes. Let’s remember the scandalous, miraculous and world-changing love of God that has come down to us – Emmanuel, God with us.