Isaiah 7.10-16; Ps 80.1-7, 17-19; Romans 1.1-7; Matthew 1.18-25
May I speak in the name of God, always creating, redeeming, and sanctifying.
In John 8.3-11, a group of Pharisees bring a woman to Jesus. They say,
“Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?
Does Jesus know this part of his origin story? The story we just read in Matthew?
I wonder, if he does, how we might begin to understand what is happening for him when those Pharisees bring the woman to him for a judgement on the Law.
Joseph is characterised in Matthew as a “righteous man.” This means that he followed God’s Law handed down to Moses. But what on earth did Joseph think had happened? Had Mary – the one “who had found favour with God” (Lk 1.30) – committed adultery, or far worse, been raped? Matthew also states that Joseph was “unwilling to expose [Mary] to public disgrace [and] planned to dismiss her quietly” (v 19). Note that the righteousness and the unwillingness to expose Mary to disgrace are two different points, Joseph is not righteous because he is unwilling to expose Mary. I am curious, as one who has born children, how long that saving from disgrace would have lasted? Three months? Six? Eventually, it would be known that Mary was pregnant and not married. Eventually there would be someone looking to carry out the Law upon Mary, likely resulting in her death and therefore, the death of Jesus.
And I can imagine what you’re thinking… God would not and did not allow that to happen. And you’re right.
My point is to open up to you the danger lurking in these passages. It is alluded to in the preceding chapter when Matthew gives us Jospeh’s genealogy and names four women: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and “the wife of Uriah,” otherwise known as Bathsheba. I won’t unpick these women’s stories here, but suffice to say that they were victims of the patriarchal society they lived in and they set the scene for the as-yet voiceless Mary.
Joseph clearly knows his way around the Law, and it seems that he was also a faithful man. A humble man, willing to listen to a voice that directed him in God’s will and purpose for him and his life with Mary that contradicted the Law.
Think about that for a second.
Joseph finds out that Mary is pregnant and not by him, her betrothed, which would have been against God’s Law in the first place, he would have to grapple with her story that she was pregnant by the Holy Spirit – somewhat unbelievable – and has decided his most compassionate, yet righteous response is to divorce her on the down-low. When he falls asleep, he dreams an angel visits him to tell him “[not to be] afraid to take Mary as his wife.”
Imagine waking up from that sleep. Matthew writes it as an instant response, but I wonder if it took him a couple of cups of strong coffee before he went to Mary to tell her the ‘good news’.
This kind of humility and deep listening to God’s will for our lives is righteousness.
I wonder if that is part of what Matthew is doing here: reshaping the idea that righteousness is about strict adherence to the Law into a compassionate, humble, listening for God’s will in our lives and then doing it. Because here is the thing… by taking Mary as his wife, he joins her in her shame. If it is known that Mary was pregnant before she joins Joseph in his house, then it would be assumed she is pregnant by Joseph when they do live together.
Previously, when Joseph chose to save Mary from disgrace (for a few months anyway), he is also saving himself from disgrace. By taking her in, he shares it.
In a world where people feel that masculinity is being eroded, I wonder how many people look to the examples of Jospeh and Jesus for what masculinity looks like: humble, faithful, courageous in the face of shame, compassionate.
Whether or not Jesus knew this part of his origin story he exhibits his earthly father’s qualities along with his heavenly father’s qualities when faced with the woman caught in adultery.
Humble. Faithful. Courageous. Compassionate.
Amen.