Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and 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.” All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.” When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.”
(Matthew 1:18-25)
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You may think that this is a strange way for me to start a sermon, but I do not much care for Rodney Dangerfield. I suspect that you all know who Rodney Dangerfield was. He was a comedian who was pretty well known in his day. I have to admit that I never much cared for Rodney Dangerfield. I’ve always found his humour to be foul-mouthed rather than funny, and most of his movies that I’ve seen I would describe as “disasters.” And, of course, his famous tagline was “I don’t get no respect.” Which is true. I can’t deny that as much as I didn’t care for him, Rodney Dangerfield made a pretty good career for himself. But he never won any big awards, and – depending on your era – he would never be mistaken for Clark Gable or Gary Cooper or Marlon Brando or Tom Hanks or Brad Pitt. Indeed, in spite of his long and respected career, he got no respect. And believe it or not, whenever Christmas starts to approach I start to think a bit about Rodney Dangerfield, because he reminds me of someone else who got no respect.
Spare a thought for poor Joseph at this time of the year. He really does fade into the background, doesn’t he. He’s overshadowed by the stars of the show – Mary, and of course, Jesus. And if they’re the stars of the show, then even the supporting players get more attention and are more noticed than Joseph: the angels, the magi, the shepherds. We sing songs about Mary and Jesus and the shepherd and the angels and the magi – but do you know how hard it was for me to find a song that was actually about Joseph? “Saint Joseph Was A Just Man” was the only one I could come up with, so I had us sing it this morning. Joseph generally gets forgotten – and not just at Christmas. He barely rates a mention in the Gospels, except for some cursory references to Jesus as “Joseph’s son” or in one instance (even more anonymously) to Jesus as just “the carpenter’s son.” No one thinks about Joseph. He’s just another part of the nativity scene. Even in the earliest days of the Christian faith, Joseph tended to be overlooked or ignored. He was inconvenient. Jesus was the Son of God, after all – so what are we supposed to do with this man? And so, Joseph largely faded away into oblivion – except for one thing. He shows us how to play our parts in the unfolding drama of God’s redemptive plan for the world.
As I was reflecting on Joseph this week I thought of a joke by another comedian - George Carlin: “I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, ‘Where’s the self-help section?’ She said if she told me it would defeat the purpose.” Sometimes there is value involved in having to figure things out for ourselves rather than being given easy answers. I’m sure that Joseph was confused. I have no doubt that Joseph was a man of big dreams. He was about to be married, after all – which is a time of big dreams and giant expectations. Marriage, family, respect in the community. It was all working out pretty much the way Joseph had expected. He was on the way. Nothing could stop him now! Except perhaps the unexpected pregnancy of his fiance – a pregnancy that he wasn’t responsible for! I’m quite certain that nowhere in the recesses of Joseph’s mind did Joseph ever dream about becoming the father of someone else’s baby. In a way, Joseph’s silence and his relative anonymity are a bit of a surprise. All things considered, you kind of assume that when he found out that Mary was pregnant, he would have had a few words to say about that. And perhaps he did. I suppose it’s altogether possible that when he wrote his Gospel, Matthew just couldn’t come up with the appropriate Greek words to translate whatever it was Joseph had said in Aramaic! That’s possible, but on the other hand if Matthew is to be believed then Joseph actually took this news rather well. Here are a few things to consider about this man who so easily fades into the background.
Joseph was “a righteous man.” Those words are pretty simple. Joseph was right with God. He had lived a life of faith and he had tried to please his God. The reality is that leading such a life meant that Joseph was probably fairly anonymous even before these events, because living righteously doesn’t usually make you noteworthy. People are usually much more interested in the unrighteous and the scandal-ridden and the controversial. But Joseph was “righteous.” That actually made him the ideal choice for the role he was about to play. Being righteous before God implies among other things being humble. Joseph had no problem with pride. If he had such a problem, he probably wouldn’t have been chosen for this role. Usually we tend to focus on the righteousness of Mary. What made her worthy to be the mother of Jesus? But we can ask a similar question about Joseph as well. What made him worthy to be so highly favoured of God that he would be chosen to play the part of worldly father to this holy child about to be born? It was, quite simply, that he was “righteous” - not in the negative sense of the word (not proud and self-righteous) but in the best sense of the word (humble and obedient to God.)
Joseph was “unwilling to expose [Mary] to public disgrace,” and so he “planned to dismiss her quietly.” That demonstrates Joseph’s essential compassion. Joseph could have been very angry. He could have made a spectacle of Mary. He could have made sure that everyone knew about her pregnancy by someone other than him. But Joseph was a man of integrity who wanted to do the right thing in the right way. To end this marriage before it had even started would have been a serious thing, and if he had called attention to the circumstances the punishment for Mary could have been stoning to death. At the very least, she would have been shamed and humiliated and cut off from her people. Some wronged husbands to be might have chosen that route. The society would have expected it and the law would have condoned it. No one would have blamed Joseph if he had taken that step. But in his righteousness there was compassion. Because while a self-righteous person might become proud and full of judgment, a truly righteous person is humble and full of compassion. Joseph’s essential compassion made him the perfect choice for the part assigned to him, because humility combined with compassion made him willing to listen to the message of the angel: “...do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.”
So Joseph “… did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife ...” In the end, out of his righteousness, out of his compassion and out of his humility, Joseph did what God required of him. What a lesson that is for us! When our lives seem to take a wrong turn, we cry out (as Joseph must have cried out) “God, how could this happen to me!?” And it’s easy for us to drown God’s response out with our cries and refuse to hear. Joseph, though, kept listening, and finally he heard that still, small voice from God that said to him, “Trust me. I have a plan and you have a part.” God’s ways are not always our ways. God’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts. God doesn’t always act in the ways we expect. The truth is that we may never fully understand everything that God is doing, but God said “Trust me, and all things will work together for good.” And for Joseph, and Mary, and Jesus – they did. Not without hardship, not without trial, not without suffering and not without tears – but all things did finally work together, and through these three, the world was blessed.
Joseph isn’t the star of the show. He’s a lot like Rodney Dangerfield – he gets no respect, he’s always in the background; he’s never quite front and centre, he’s often overlooked – but he’s there, and unless he had played his part perfectly, none of this plan would have worked. It takes a special quality to be a Joseph. I once heard of a Sunday School Christmas Pageant. There were two boys who wanted to play Joseph. Only one could get the part, of course, and the boy who didn’t get the part was jealous. He got cast as the innkeeper instead, and he began to plot his revenge against his rival. On the day of the pageant, everything was going according to plan. Joseph and Mary showed up at the door to the inn, and – well, you know the story. The inn-keeper answered and Joseph asked for a room. “Now,” thought the boy playing the innkeeper, “is my chance for revenge.” He had it planned. He’d leave the boy playing Joseph tongue tied and embarrassed. Rather than turning the couple away by telling them that the inn was full, he looked at his rival and said “Come on in. I’ll give you the best room I have.” But the boy playing Joseph was quick on his feet. After a moment’s hesitation, he looked past the inn-keeper into the inn and then said “You expect us to stay in a dump like this? Your barn would be better!” And the congregation laughed and applauded. Joseph saved the day again, and the play went on to its inevitable conclusion – ending with all the attention once again on Mary and Jesus.
Joseph is an example for us all. We all have a purpose; we all have a part to play in God’s unfolding plan. It may not be the starring role. No one may notice our efforts. We may not get pats on the back. No one may remember us. It might take us a while to figure it out. And we have to puzzle it out. We have to listen to and for God’s voice. Others can walk the walk with us, but ultimately only God can direct us. But each and every moment – each one of us is a part of God’s plan in some way, and we have a purpose. To God, you’re vitally important. More than that – by God, you’re loved.
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