"COURAGE" - Matthew 1:18 - 25
A Sermon by Alex W. Evans, Pastor
Second Presbyterian Church, Richmond, VA
Sunday, December 18, 2022
Matthew 1:18-25
“Courage”
Divine Disruption.
Think about that phrase. Do you think you have ever had one – a divine disruption in your life – when the presence of God, the voice of God, the Spirit of God did something to disrupt, or re-orient, or save, or adjust your life?
Divine Disruption. It is, according to the Bible, a very real thing.
This week I was moving through a four-way stop intersection – where there is a stop sign for every vehicle in every direction. I had just come to a stop. I was beginning to move forward through the intersection, when a big white pick-up truck came rapidly through his stop sign and also turned right in front of me. This generated a moment of shock, with a bit of fear – I was hoping not to wreck my car. I stopped quickly again to avoid a crash. . . . . The truck just went on his way.
Was that divine disruption? Who knows? I certainly felt relief from a very close call. I certainly felt grateful – and a bit angry at the reckless driver. Maybe God was present, disrupting an unexpected crisis on my way home.
But, accidents happen every day. God is not present with a divine disruption on every roadway. So, who knows?
I can think of other moments that might well be a divine disruption. I was happily teaching high school history some 40 years ago, coaching football and lacrosse, with a new baby in our house. And then events led me and Ginger to Union Seminary. Looking back on how all that transpired feels like a divine disruption – God at work, God leading us in a new way, for a full and blessed life of serving in ministry with some very wonderful congregations, especially this one for more than 14 years now. I can count a few divine disruptions along the way.
I can also think of other people . . . . and other situations . . . where it might indeed be considered a divine disruption:
- A bad relationship, or a terrible job, or a paralyzing addiction, or a critical diagnosis – and with the care of the right people, the encouragement from loved ones, the help from professionals – the Spirit of God - and a new season begins for that person. Looking back especially – we may be able better to see the divine disruption – God using moments, and people to make a way when there was no way.
- Or, maybe it was a sense of failure, a slew of bad decisions, for a person, or a business, or even a church . . . but then the tide changed, a new calling emerged, and healing and hope were visible. A person found forgiveness. A business found new life. A church found new ministries, a new direction. It could indeed look like a divine disruption – God, God’s Spirit, God’s grace at work.
The Bible is full of divine disruptions. You recall Abraham and Sarah: God said, “go from your country to a place I will show you – and I will bless you and make you a blessing.” Their lives were totally disrupted and set on a new course – the course that continues to unfold in the whole Bible.
Then in the middle of Holy Scripture – the story of God redeeming the people from defeat, from exile, from alienation and frustration, and restoring them. Divine disruption. God at work. God never leaving them. God continuing to be their God and they, God’s people. There are many disruptions in the Bible.
And today, we have a great and familiar story of another divine disruption. Listen to these words from Matthew 1:
18Now 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. 19Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. 20But 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. 21She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”22All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: 23“Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.” 24When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, 25but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.
This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
As we know, since most of us have heard this story, this is one of God’s greatest divine disruptions. Each Advent and Christmas, we are reminded how God interrupts the holy couple’s betrothal and launches them on a journey that changes the world, redeems the whole world.
And here’s the thing – every divine disruption presents options and questions: what are people going to do? Do we actually see God at work? Do we believe that God is doing something to lead us a new way? Do we sense God’s care and will we respond? Will we align our lives with God’s plans? Or do we stay on the same path, just carry on with the ho-hum, and maintain the status quo?
Most often, this story of God’s divine disruption in the lives of Mary and Joseph gets focused on Mary. The angel appeared to Mary, saying “do not be afraid, you have found favor with God.” Mary rejoices with Elizabeth, who confirms the birth: “blessed are you among women.” Mary sings about God’s magnificent ways. The birth in a manger, the angels singing “Glory to God” as we heard today – and Mary pondering all this in her heart. All of that is in Luke’s gospel.
We only have a few verses that give insight on Joseph. He is mostly a mystery; but we have these verses in this text today. And here is what we know about Joseph – Joseph is engaged to be married. Some texts say betrothed. Joseph and Mary have pledged themselves to each other but not yet married, and not living together.
Marriage in that time was a two-step process. The engagement – which would include signing a marriage agreement, and also a negotiation on the price of marriage - money would be exchanged between families. The second step would be a marriage feast, which would launch the couple’s life together. Sometimes, it could be a year or more between these two stages, often because the woman was very young. Mary and Joseph are between these two stages.
Then, we learn that Joseph is a “righteous man.” That is a high complement for anyone – it means Joseph lives by keeping the commandments of God; he is honorable. Imagine that. But this is what causes a crisis, the tension in the story. Mary is found to be with child – pregnant – and Joseph, a righteous man, is not the father. To Joseph’s thinking, Mary, his engaged wife, has been unfaithful to him. And if you follow the law, the commandments, the woman then can be cast aside, perhaps even put to death, according to Deuteronomy.
But remember – this is a divine disruption – and God has not finished. This passage also conveys that Joseph is compassionate, kind, honorable – it says he is “unwilling to expose (Mary) to public disgrace.”
And then we learn the real divine disruption. An angel appears to Joseph in a dream. The angel addresses Joseph, calls him “son of David,” which affirms the royal lineage to God’s steadfast love and prevailing ways. God promised David that God would establish God’s covenant and it would be forever. Joseph hears he is part of THAT plan. Then the angel says what angels say: “Do not be afraid.” And not just that – but more specifically: “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. . . . She will bear a son and you will name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
Divine disruption. This is how God works, and keeps working, by showing up, making a way when there is no way, and bringing about God’s plans, God’s healing, God’s hope in the world.
The title of this sermon, as you can see, is COURAGE. Joseph was in this place between engagement and the marriage feast. He was making plans for lots of things, figuring out a life with Mary, anticipating making a home and carrying on as a carpenter. Then, all that is shattered. Mary is pregnant? What? But Joseph has a whole new role – because of divine disruption - participating with God in the in-breaking of God’s realm, nurturing the mother of God and figuring out how Jesus would save his people from their sins. Joseph gets to be part of naming Jesus: “Emmanuel – which means God is with us.”
Even in this crisis, Joseph actually goes along with this divine disruption!
You have probably heard that the Chinese character for “crisis” consists of two characters. The first means “danger” – real threat and concern. But alongside that one is another character that means “incipient moment, or crucial point when something begins to change.” “Crisis” means both “danger” and “opportunity.”
This is absolutely Joseph’s setting: a pregnant woman with whom he is betrothed, and an angel saying, “she will bear a son, Jesus – Emmanuel.” Joseph has a crisis – will he be a righteous man in the old sense and do what he might be planning? Or will he be open to God’s possibility – an opportunity to participate with God in the redeeming work of the world?
We know what happens - divine disruption indeed shatters Joseph’s earlier plans and sets him on a new course – part of God’s plan for the redeeming of the world.
Joseph – this mysterious figure that we know not much about – becomes, right at the start of Matthew’s gospel, a model of what God is always looking for – COURAGE to be open, to be part of God’s emerging plans. This is what Jesus keep urging from us – “follow me,” with courage and compassion toward the coming reign of God. Joseph is a model of faith and courage. Joseph models how we are to give life over to God and God’s promises, based on God’s steadfast love. Courage to live into a life that is held by God – the Creator and Completer of all!
Indeed, God keeps asking each of us to step out, step forward – leave our previous assumptions about what might be right, even righteous, and be about the courageous loving and serving of God.
Joseph – a faithful man – thought he knew how to live, what to do – then divine disruption; be a part of that – with courage.
Can we be open to God, with courage? We are invited to respond, and keep responding, to God’s gracious acts with grace and generosity ourselves, and trust God - and align our lives with God’s important work in the world – with courage.
God does not want us to have peripheral roles in the story, like we sometimes assume Joseph had. We are to look for and work for Emmanuel – God is with us – and work for God’s justice and purposes emerging in the world – with courage. We can ask hard questions and struggle with big issues. We can bring our doubts and worries. We can discern and listen. But our focus and faithfulness – and our courage - are on God’s redeeming of the world.
Some of you attended the film last week – “At the River” – about Presbyterian ministers and the challenges and uncertainties of serving God in a segregated south in the 19050’s and 1960’s. These people in the film who shared their stories talked about what they did when white leaders in the Presbyterian church stood arm and arm at the church doors to keep African Americans from worshipping. These ministers shared what happened to them when they had African American brothers and sisters in their homes at the manse, or served them the Lord’s Supper. Many were threatened. Many lost their churches and were run out of town.
One of these ministers said – “people keep talking about our courage. But we were just doing what we thought was right, what Jesus would want us to do.”
Can we do that? What are you dealing with? How far have you stepped out in faithfulness? What else could you do to align your life more with Jesus – with trusting God, with loving as Jesus loved, with peace, with God’s light? This is always the question.
May God give each of us an outpouring of God’s Spirit, and enough courage and grace to keep looking for – and working for - ways to promote the healing and hope of the world, following Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Prayer of Commitment: Holy God, to turn from you is to fall; to turn to you is to rise, to open our hearts, to receive your Spirit, to live with courage and faithfulness, well, that is to abide forever. We seek that way following Jesus. Amen.
Alex W. Evans, Pastor, Second Presbyterian Church, Richmond, VA preached this sermon during Sunday morning worship on December 18, 2022. This is a rough manuscript.