Fourth Sunday of Advent, Year A

Today I’m sure we all have a lot on our minds:  buying and wrapping last minute gifts (or just buying and wrapping gifts if you’re like me and all of your shopping is last minute), planning meals, buying groceries, cleaning house, making up guest rooms, hyping yourself up to deal with the stress that is to come….  Sometimes all of this stress can make us feel lost and so burdened down that we don’t know what to do.  And in that spirit, I want this morning to talk about someone else who was quite burdened down, facing some really big decisions; and that is Joseph.

Joseph is the guardian, earthly father, adopted father, stepfather of Jesus (any and all of these titles apply), and is married to Mary, the mother of Jesus.  He is a carpenter from the town of Nazareth, and is a direct descendant of David.  For most of us, that’s about all we know of Joseph.  He doesn’t get much attention in the Bible, even at the birth of Christ, but there are extracanonical historical records and apocryphal writings that do give us a larger window into the life of Joseph, and I want to bring those in to frame up this morning’s text from Matthew, particularly the righteous aspect of Joseph we just read.

While we aren’t exactly certain of the age of Joseph when he wed Mary, we do know he was older; some scholars believe he was in his 40’s, and some believe he was 90.  We do know he was a widower and had four sons and two daughters already, and we also know that Mary was significantly younger than him (by tradition, a teenager).  We know he was well respected.  And while we tend to dwell on the fact that Mary was chosen to bring the physical form of God into the world, it should not be overlooked that Joseph was also chosen to guard, care for, and raise the God in flesh. 

Today’s text picks up with Mary being with child, and she reveals this fact to Joseph, the man to whom she was to wed.  Not only was she pregnant, but it was not his child.  Who’s child was it then?  Mary tells Joseph that the child she carries is of the Holy Spirit.  While Joseph’s direct response is not quoted here, we can pretty accurately assume his reaction from the text to follow.  The emotional response he experienced must have been overwhelming.  I would have had a hard time believing this story as well, and truth be told, I would not have believed it.  That aside, in our world today, we don’t have laws about being pregnant before you’re married, whether the child belongs to the person you are to wed or not.  If I’m engaged to someone, and she tells me she is with child, and there is no physical way it’s mine, if I take her to her father’s front door and stone her to death, by our laws I have murdered her and will face trail and sentencing for that.  But, in the day of Joseph, that’s one of the possibilities that lay before him in this situation.  By their customs, Mary had brought great shame upon him and his family, and he had the legal right (and even moral obligation) to do what I just described; he could call the elders of the community together, take Mary to her father’s front door, and stone her to death, because she was with child…a child that wasn’t his. 

Another option was divorce.  But divorce in this day and culture was much different than divorce today.  When we divorce, it’s a lawsuit, a division of assets, etc.  It carries almost no social stigma…we all have family and friends who have been divorced at least once, and we think nothing about it.  That was not the cast in Joseph’s time, nor was marriage what it is today.  While we marry someone we’re attracted to, someone we’re compatible with, someone we love; that was not why people in this culture wed.  Marriages were often arranged for the benefit of status, goods, and money.  There were certain things put into play to protect the potential gain from the marriage; we’ll refer to these as a dowry, since most of us are familiar with that concept, and we’ll add to it a reverse-dowry, if you will.  Both parties would put up collateral, or earnest money, insuring the other party would be financially taken care of if the marriage didn’t actually happen (in the case that someone committed a breach of contract…like become pregnant with someone else’s child).  This wasn’t a few hundred dollars; it typically consisted of large tracts of land, livestock, money, and servants.  We also think of marriage as not existing between two people unless a duly recognized officiant pronounces two persons as legally wed; back then, this was a more lengthy process with many phases.  While Joseph and Mary weren’t “married” in the way we would consider them married, because the ceremony hadn’t happened yet, they were in a phase of their process that recognized the two persons as married, even though consummation had not yet occurred and could not yet occur.  Hopefully that somewhat clears up the “while they were not yet married” and the “divorce talk” that we’re about to get into. 

So, we see, Mary has actually violated the legal agreement of marriage by being pregnant with a child that is not Joseph’s.  Joseph was then, expected, to publicly divorce her.  In doing that, the repercussions would be far reaching.  Mary would forever be marked and shamed by her community; think Hester Prynne from The Scarlet Letter.  She would never marry, forever being cast out to the margins of society, destitute, homeless, clinging for survival.  Not only that, but her family would suffer, because Joseph would be entitled to take back the goods he had put up as insurance in the agreement, and he would receive the goods put up by Mary’s family, leaving them financially gutted. 

Joseph was faced with a choice. 

We see that in this choice, Joseph made the selfless decision to divorce Mary quietly.  What that means is, instead of exposing her and villainizing her, he would admit fault, forfeit all rights due him, and the shame would be on him.  This would insulate Mary, preserving her honor and status, keep her eligible to wed in the future, and all the assets would go to her.  Joseph would be shamed, and at his (possibly) advanced age, die while living a life of poverty. 

This time of year we all get caught up in gift giving, and believe it or not this text reminded me of that.  Not because of the gift of future Joseph was willing to give his young bride to be, but because of the gift Joseph used to make his decision…a gift we all possess and is one of the most valuable gifts given to us by our Maker:  the gift of free will.  Joseph had the right, the entitlement, and some would argue obligation under the law to publicly divorce Mary, yet he chose not to do that.  He chose to put himself last, and in doing so, making sure that Mary and the unborn child she was with were both cared for and would live a life of prosperity.  This is what made Joseph a righteous man.  This is why Joseph was chosen.  This is the type of man God wanted to teach and mold God’s son.

Every day you and I are faced with choices; sometimes those choices come without parameters and our paths are wide open, and sometimes those choices are a little more defined within moral, legal, and cultural boundaries; when those situations come our way, my hope at this close of Advent is that we would have our eyes opened by a booming sign, and we use our free will in such a way that the world would see that we, too, are chosen people, and be called righteous.

First Sunday of Advent, Year A

 Today is the First Sunday of Advent.  Today begins our season of waiting; waiting on a child, a Savior, who will redeem the world.  As I thought about this week’s lectionary scriptures, I began to think more and more about the Christ child, the baby that would be born.  We know of Jesus’ works, miracles, teachings, and why he came, but what do we know of the time leading up to this point?  Last year we focused more on Mary through the Advent Season, thinking about her perspective, so this year I thought I would focus on Joseph, the earthly father, adopted father, step father of Jesus…all of these terms apply.

Has anyone here ever traced their genealogy?  As a Christmas gift last year, I received an Ancestry DNA kit (as did, I’m sure, many of you).  I found out a lot of things I knew, but more things I didn’t know.  After I embraced the Wesleyanism I had always felt present in my heart, my family really struggled with that.  What sealed the deal was moving my membership from The Southern Baptist Church to The United Methodist Church.  I had family members (especially in my Mom’s family) that didn’t speak to me for months because “we have always been Baptist”!  So, imagine everyone’s shock when, low and behold, eight generations from me, through my mother’s line, was a Methodist Circuit Rider.  Not “just” a Circuit Rider, but a Circuit Rider who was on the very first group of ministers ordained in the new world by Bishop Francis Asbury, who was best friends with Andrew Jackson (who not only served as his personal chaplain in the war of 1812, but was the only person Jackson allowed to train his men to shoot), who was ran out of (what would become) Nashville for teaching persons of color to read and helping establish a house of worship for these same people (this was the late 1700’s and early 1800’s), and who was responsible for bringing Christianity and Methodism to  “the great bend in the Tennessee River”, which is now what we refer to as the Tennessee Valley (southern TN/northern AL).  So, as it turned out, they were wrong and I was just realigning with the Methodism that resonated deeply within my DNA.  Science proves it!

That’s a long story to intro what we will be talking about this morning:  the ancestry DNA of Christ.  This genealogy is recorded in both Matthew and Luke, and from Adam to David, the lists are identical, but do begin to vary some after that point.  Since Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary focuses on Matthew, Matthew’s listing is what we will focus on. 

Matthew’s family tree of Jesus from Joseph begins with Abraham, then moves to Isaac, then to Jacob, Judah and Tamar, then skip a few generations to Boaz and Ruth, and their grandson was Jesse.  Now I’m hoping that you’re thinking a few of these names are familiar to you, since we’ve talked extensively about a few of them.  There are some truly incredible stories that accompany many of these ancestors of Jesus; there’s a podcast that I love to listen to, and a few seasons ago they devoted every podcast to this ancestral line of Christ, and it was amazing to hear. 

This time of year, we start hearing in our hymns, the scriptures, and the prayers about the “stump of Jesse” or the “root of Jesse”.  Growing up, I had no idea what that meant.  These terms were somewhat foreign and seemed to never really tie in to anything.  These terms are metaphors, and they relate to the earthly lineage of Jesus.  Jesse, the grandson of Ruth and Boaz, was a prominent sheep farmer in the town of Bethlehem, in Judah, and was of the Tribe of Judah.  He was the father of seven sons, and two daughters.  But there’s one son we all know pretty intimately:  David.

During this time, Israel had transitioned from the rule of the judges to a king, and their first king, King Saul, was ruling.  But things weren’t going all that well, and Saul fell pretty hard from Diving grace.  So, God sent Samuel out to anoint a new king of Israel, but God didn’t tell Samuel directly who or where to find him.  So, to cut our story short, Samuel winds up at Jesse’s home, and asked Jesse to bring his sons to him.  Samuel started with the oldest, Eliab, to whom God said “he is not the one”.  Then to the strongest, Abinadab, and God said “he is not the one”.  Then to the wisest, the purest, and down the list, and to each one God said “he is not the one”.  Samuel asked Jesse if this was all of his sons, to which he replied all but one; his youngest son David is in the field shepherding the sheep.  Samuel went to David, the shepherd boy; and to understand the implication here, you need to know that sheepherding wasn’t looked upon as a desirable trade.  It was less something you wanted to do, and more something you were saddled with because of family obligations and the inability to move into any other trades (typically you were mentored into your trade, per Jewish traditions, and it was typically your father that mentored you, teaching you the only thing he knew, etc.).  So, when Samuel came to David, the sheepherder, and God said “he is the one”, it was one of those almost Cinderella moments, because the shoe fit on the least likely candidate.

And this is the man from whom Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus, would come, fulfilling prophesy that the Christ would be of Davidic lineage.

I love King David and all things about this man.  And when you think about what we know about David, I’ve stopped and wondered more than a few times, why him?  This boy, this child, was anointed king while he was in a field working.  He wasn’t born into a royal line; he had no claim to a throne.  He wasn’t educated.  He wasn’t “special” by the definition of the word, but look at all he did in his life: he slayed a giant, he soothed the ruling king, he wrote numerous psalms and prayers, he was a valiant warrior, and the unified Israel under his rule was stronger than it had ever been. 

But, while many of us know these things, most of us don’t think of these immediately when David is mentioned.  We, in typical people fashion, tend to remember first the story of Bathsheba.  Now, David had a bunch of wives, eight of whom are named in the book of Samuel.  But it seems that he was never quite satisfied, and one day, while strolling along the rooftops, he spotted a woman whose beauty was more than he could handle.  He does a little digging, and finds out that she is married to a soldier named Uriah.  So being married wasn’t enough to dissuade his longing for this beautiful woman; he was consumed by want for Bathsheba.  He was so consumed, that, he ordered Uriah to the front of the battle line, securing Bathsheba’s widow status.  He had a man killed in order to take his wife. 

So, this was the man God chose to be the King of Israel?  This is who he chose to be the patriarch of the line that would bring forth Joseph and the Christ child?  If you’re asking why him, know that you are not alone.

And I think that’s exactly what we should be asking, because I think that’s what we are to learn from this.  We affirm that we are all broken people in need of God’s grace, but do we really believe that?  Do we live that? 

I am encouraged when I think about the ordinary boy that God made a king and in whom God established the earthly line that would bring forth His Son; because if God can do that with David, think about what God can do with you.  Amen.

The Reign of Christ the King Sunday

November 24, 2019

The Reign of Christ the King Sunday

Luke 23:33-43

Does anyone here remember 1925?  Show of hands…I personally do not and I didn’t think anyone here did either.  It was 55 years prior to my birth.  But a lot of things happened in 1925:  we had not been clear of World War 1 for long at this point, and Adolf Hitler, who had been incarcerated, was released from prison and promptly held a rally proclaiming the relaunch of the Nazi party.  The Great Gatsby and An American Tragedy were both published.  Calvin Coolidge was inaugurated as the 30^th President of the United States.  John Scopes was arrested and found guilty for teaching the theory of evolution in Dayton, TN.  Something else happened in 1925 as well that you may not be as familiar with.

Today is the last day of Year C in our liturgical calendar.  Today is The Reign of Christ Sunday, or Christ the King Sunday.  When we think of the lectionary and things in the church calendar, most of us thing of medieval times and of all things, old; or, at least I do.  Christ the King Sunday came to us in 1925, not even 100 years ago, and was instituted by Pope Pius XI during a time of great unrest and anxiety in our world.  Today we celebrate this Sunday as the last Sunday of the lectionary or liturgical calendar. 

Christ the King…that’s something we affirm with our praying, our hymns, and the exposition of scripture, but I often wonder if you and I as western people actually know what we are saying and if we actually do affirm Christ as our King.  Because, we as western people, we as people who were born here in the United States, have lived here our entire lives, who were born to parents who were born here and lived here their whole lives…we are a people who live in a land that was founded on a unified principle:  NO MORE KINGS.  The people who signed the Declaration of Independence did so for that very reason and declared we would no longer be under the rule of a monarch.  So, it’s no wonder that we might be somewhat jammed up on this subject, being that we have no idea what it’s like to be ruled by a King or Queen.  So, for the rest of this sermon, for simplicity and understanding, I want to put us in the mindset of “ruler” or “politician” (although not orthodox, this is the closest to our perspective that we will attain).

When I take this personal perspective and marry it with the lectionary texts today, I want to say that I’m a little confused.  This is Christ the King Sunday and we view kings as all powerful, all ruling, and all controlling, but this morning’s text is anything but royal.  In Luke’s Gospel, we are reminded of the suffering of Christ at his gruesome death.  We are very familiar with this account.  Here we have this man who we refer to as our King, Jesus, who has been beaten near to death at this point.  He has been forced to carry his instrument of torture and death to the place his life would be taken from him, and there he has been hung between two criminals.  He had committed no crime, he had done nothing wrong, but he would pay the ultimate price.  As he hung there awaiting death, those that surrounded him mocked him.  They gambled for who would own the soon dead king’s clothes.  They ceremoniously dressed him in a purple robe, the placed a crown on his head made of thorns, and they placed a sign on his cross, displaying his identity:  The King of the Jews.  All of this, of course, being paradoxically done to psychologically break the one whom they tortured.  One of the criminals hung with him joined in their mocking, hurling sarcastic insults. 

The biggest question I had at the beginning of exploring this text was, why are we juxtaposing the Kingship of Christ with the crucifixion of Christ? 

Because Jesus rules by example.  Because Jesus shows us the way in lieu of telling us the way.  Because in the crucifixion of Christ, our preconceived notions of power are shattered. 

During his short time on earth, Jesus taught us many, many things; things that he continues to teach us through his death.  Jesus lived a life that demonstrated submitting to violence over committing violence.  He taught us forgiveness in portions that stretch our capacity.  He taught us to invite vulnerability and not exploit it.  He taught us many things that you and I don’t exactly correlate to power.  And that’s the point.

Jesus continued to undermined this preconception of power by doing something else; he interceded for those who were mocking and torturing him, and asked for forgiveness, because they knew not what they were doing.  They knew not what they were doing.  They truly had no idea.  Whether they had been swept up in the frenzy of the moment, or they truly wanted Jesus dead, he asked that this not be held against them.  He asked God to look upon them with grace. 

To bring this somewhat into the contemporary, I started thinking about the person and persons who “rule” our country…our politicians.  So, I immediately started thinking about the debates, both in recent time and previous.  Those that we look to rule us, to guide us, and to govern us, I saw nothing in their behavior that resembles the example we are given in Luke today.  Instead, what I and many of us see, is self-serving politics, self-fulfilling agendas, and the exploitation of vulnerability.  I’m not picking on a particular politician, a particular party, or a particular agenda; these are generalized statements, and these are the people we pick to rule over us.

So, then, what does it look like for us to pledge our allegiance to a king who does what Jesus does?

Then, in what is one of the very few beautiful moments in this gruesome picture of horror being played out on the stage of Jesus’ life, he received confession from one of the men who hung with him and invited him to be with him in paradise.  I think this image came at just the right time in our lives as we prepare for Thanksgiving this week.  If you’re traveling for Thanksgiving instead of everyone traveling to you, well, congratulations.  But, if you’re one who is hosting this traditional meal, there’s one thing we all worry about:  room.  Do we have enough space for everyone, do we have enough chairs for everyone (or, at least this is the worry for my very large family).  Every year something happens like clockwork, and that’s the leaf for the table comes out of the closet and a few people wrestle with pulling the table apart, which is inevitably stuck since it hasn’t been opened up since this time last year, and we put the leaf in, enabling a few more people to come to the table. 

What it looks like to pledge our allegiance to a ruler that does what Jesus does is to serve a master who always has another leaf to go in the table, a king who invites everyone to the great banquet and has a place set for every single one of us.  Thanks be to God.