Hosea 14
by Rev. George Miller
What would Joseph do? Thats the question I find myself
wondering. By the time you read this Christmas will be over, but
Im currently knee deep in holiday preparations. Just last week
we read Matthew 1:18-24 where Joseph discovers his fiancee
is pregnant with a child that is not his. Talk about a situation that
is hard to accept and out of ones control.
What is he to do? Joseph is said to be a righteous man, which
means he follows the laws and the commandments as revealed
in scripture. It also means that Joseph believes that harmony
comes by following all of the law, right down to the letter. Now,
the laws were very clear. According to Deuteronomy an unfaithful
woman is to be taken to the entrance of her fathers house
and stoned to death by the men of the city. Joseph is torn. The
law is straight-forward and not to be argued: Mary is to die.
Does he follow the letter of the law, or the letter of his heart?
Imagine the conversation Joseph must have had within his
head:
She is my wife and I love her/ But she has brought shame
onto your family.
There must be an explanation/ Explanations dont matter, all
that matters is the law
But my heart says to care for her/But the law says to kill her.
But then a surprising event happens, as they always do in the
Bible: An angel appears to Joseph in a dream and tells him that
the child Marys carrying is from the Holy Spirit. The angel
convinces Joseph to stay with her and make her his wife.
Joseph is called to a higher and newer righteousness that
moves from the old law to a new law. Joseph awakes from his
dream, and he takes Mary as his wife. In doing so, he becomes
a transformed man. He is still righteous, but in a new way, a way
that does not mean blindly looking up what to do in a rule book,
but to wrestle with the complexities of lifes situations, listen for
Gods voice and to do what God calls one to do.
How interesting to know that the birth of Jesus Christ resulted
not in someone following the Word of God as written in a book,
but the Word of God as written in their heart. Joseph becomes a
model of acceptance. He accepts that his life as Marys
husband will never be as he imagined or hoped, he accepts that
the son she will have and they will care for is not his own.
Joseph accepts that due to their situation, life will not be easy:
there is bound to be talk, gossip, judging looks, people accusing
him of unrighteousness.
As hard as it must have been, Joseph accepts the situation, and
perhaps, in that way, Joseph becomes a role model for all
righteous parents and people who discover someone in their
life is LGB or T. We hear of and know of Christians who have a
hard time accepting or opening their hearts to the homosexuals
in their life. And for what? For 7 questionable passages that
appear in the Bible? Instead of fixating on those 7 passages
they would do better to follow Josephs example.
If Joseph had indeed followed the laws as laid out in Scripture,
he would have killed Mary, and in doing so would have killed the
fetus inside of her that would become Jesus. Simply put, Jesus
lived because his father knew better then to follow an archaic,
uncompassionate law that justified senseless violence.
Instead his father followed a new law that was placed upon his
heart by God himself.
It is time for those who condemn us to lay aside their justification
through scripture, and one way we can do that is to simply
ask them What would Joseph do? Joseph, who welcomed a
unique child with healing love and courageous forgiveness.
Yes, asking What would Joseph do? will not change minds
over night, but it can certainly give the so-called righteous
something to think about, and in doing so perhaps bring them
one step closer to the acceptance we require, the acceptance
we all deserve.
Joseph looked beyond what was said and instead did what was
right, and in doing so helped usher in a new way of life.
I pray your Holidays were healing and that your New Year be
bright.
Amen.