The Waiting Room... Scandal

Dec 22, 2013                                                      

Matt. 1:18-25

Prayer

We’ve been waiting in the waiting room nearly a month. And we began this sermon series with the image of pregnant women waiting in a doctor’s waiting room. The waiting room is a good metaphor for us because waiting for the birth of a child can seem long and arduous. In fact… It can be uncomfortable and tiring…. Right Ladies.

We’ve pictured Mary being pregnant and that she’s blessed by God. Joseph on the other hand is at the opposite end of the emotional spectrum than Mary as he can’t phantom how this can be possible. But… it will all come together for the good of all.

We started this series with the angel Gabriel surprising Mary that she will have a baby despite not being with her husband to be. We’ve reflected on how God often surprises us by his love for us no matter how we might live our lives. We’ve also reflected on how there’s need for us to be prepared. Just as expecting parents need to prepare for the birth of a child. We too… need to prepare for our journey of faith as God comes to be with us. Last week… was all about expectations… and how expectations often disappoint us… yet… God loves us nonetheless and we to need to look at how we can love as well. Today… we conclude our series perhaps a little differently than you thought.

In Matthew’s version of this story… there are no angles dancing in the sky.

There are no shepherds on rolling hills.

No songs of praise.

No peace on earth, good will to all.

In Matthew’s version… one could get the impression that this child Mary is carrying is an embarrassment… perhaps even…SCANDALOUS.

Let’s look at this a bit closer as it might help to explain where I’m coming from.

Matthew says Vs 18, “Mary was engaged to Joseph.”

The CEV I use as well as the NRSV describes Mary and Joseph as “engaged.” The NIV describes them as “pledged” to be married, while the KJV says Joseph was “espoused” to Mary.

No matter how you describe it… that means Mary and Joseph at this time were in a contractual relationship, not merely social, as would be the case when talking about “engagement” in our day. This engagement constituted the legal contract and pledge of marriage. The wedding itself was the time when the bride and groom celebrated with others the occasion of actually joining together.

Lutheran Theologian, David Lose says, “For all intents and purposes, Mary and Joseph were married but had not yet moved in with each other or consummated their union. Hence the turmoil created by discovering that Mary was pregnant. It could, as far as Joseph was concerned, mean only one thing: that his espoused wife had been unfaithful. And this is why Matthew describes Joseph as a righteous man -- he lives according to the law. And so, wanting out of what he believes is an unfaithful union, he has two options -- public stoning or divorce. He opts for the latter course, not wishing, as Matthew describes, to expose her to public disgrace and, punishment.”

So… you can see the dilemma Joseph finds himself. Whether or not he’s all that righteous doesn’t matter because he’s going to follow the Law of Moses… Because if he doesn’t he understands this to be scandalous. You can kind-of understand how Joseph might want to deal with this fast & quietly.

Furthermore… because Matthew is writing to a Jewish audience you can understand why he only records a couple of verses about the birth of Jesus.

We’re not used to looking at the birth of Jesus like this. We’re accustomed to seeing the beauty and wonder of the manger birth. We’re accustomed to all the praise and majesty of angels & shepherds &  the star. We’re accustomed to all the pageantry of how Mary & Joseph find themselves in a manger because of no room in any Inn’s.

But let’s not forget the distress, sense of betrayal, disappointment, and a host of other emotions that Joseph must have experienced, or the fear and hurt that Mary would likely have also felt as they sorted out their divinely complex relationship.

Let’s keep in mind the humanness of the event and that Mary & Joseph are flesh & blood… not merely characters in a book or etched on stain glass windows. The more we can imagine them as people like us -- with emotions and ups and downs like us…The more we might imagine ourselves to be people like them – as people who go through all kinds of things, yet whom God uses nevertheless to accomplish God’s purposes.

While… Luke’s version might be more popular with mangers and shepherds and angels and all the drama of Luke…There is something fitting about Matthew’s depiction. Because, truth be told, most people did miss it. There’s no local news team, no camera crews or reporters, no baby showers, nothing to indicate anything was happening. From Matthew’s story it appears just about no one even noticed.

Perhaps, that’s why Matthew records this the way he did.

Perhaps… according to Matthew… if this got out the humiliation of Joseph & Mary would have been too much to bare. Maybe for Matthew, it’s important that Jesus… the Messiah comes into the world just like everyone else.

Which may be the point… that being… Jesus came as one of us. That Jesus was born like we are… Lived as we live… Loved and laughed and suffered as we do… and died as we will die… which points to another scandal… The Cross. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

For now… we wait… we’re not quite there yet… God is still at work… and he promises to love and save us… to supply forgiveness and grace in our rough and tumble world. Perhaps… in our waiting… we can come to see and understand that there’s nothing all that exceptional about having a baby, except that God works through it to draw us closer to himself and to his love and grace for us.