Advent 4, Year A (December 18, 2022) The Rev. Karen C. Barfield
4 Advent, Yr A (2022)
Psalm 80:1-7, 16-18
Matthew 1:18-25
In the name of the one, holy, and living God:
who was, and is, and is to come. Amen.
Have you ever noticed in Scripture…
at least in the Gospels,
that when an angel shows up,
the first thing out of the angel’s mouth is: Do Not Be Afraid!?
Maybe it’s because when there is an in-breaking of God into the world,
then things are about to get shaken up a bit,
and that can be frightening!
So…. “do not be afraid” the angel says because…
God is with you…
God is with us!
Today’s gospel reading is no different
although I guess technically Joseph was asleep and dreaming when the angel appears.
Dear Joseph has had a rough time of it lately.
He was engaged to Mary…
a lovely, faith-filled young woman.
He was getting ready to start a new life,
making plans to welcome Mary into his home
as well as any children they might have together.
Then word arrives:
Was it a hushed whisper he heard while walking down the street?
Or did Mary have the nerve to come tell him herself?
Mary was with child!
With child.
How could this be?
What was Joseph supposed to do with this news?
I think perhaps Mary had told him
and no one else knew because
after rumbling and tumbling with this news in the far reaches of his mind and heart,
we are told that he decided to dismiss her quietly.
If the whole town already knew via the grapevine,
then he could not have quietly parted ways with her.
Now, Joseph couldn’t bear to have this woman – Mary – and her child stoned to death.
(That was the punishment for such a thing.)
She was God’s child, after all.
Yes, that was it…
he’d dismiss her quietly…
send her away somewhere so she and the baby would be safe.
Joseph had a whole host of feelings swirling up inside him.
He was shocked,
disappointed,
heart-broken…
but in his love for her – and for God – he would not humiliate her.
After thinking through all the scenarios
and testing his own heart
he came to this decision.
It was settled.
Perhaps for the first night in weeks he was actually going to sleep soundly.
And then the angel shows up!
“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.”
Perhaps in this encounter Joseph’s heart skipped a beat…
providing a hope he hadn’t imagined.
He knew this woman he was to marry was a woman of God.
And, being a faithful man of God himself,
he decided to do as the angel commanded.
He would protect Mary…
she could go away and stay with her cousin, Elizabeth,
so that none were the wiser.
And he would welcome this child as his own.
He would nurture the life of this “Emmanuel”…
this God-in-flesh…
this God-with-us.
I mean, crazier things had happened…
like Sarai becoming pregnant after being barren in her very old age –
like God freeing God’s people through the life of Moses, a murderer–
like God working through great King David himself despite adultery and murder –
like, even in his own day and soon to be family,
Elizabeth and Zechariah conceiving a child.
A lot of crazy things happen when God shows up.
“Joseph,
Son of David,
do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife,” the angel said.
God is with you.
Lay aside your concerns…your worries.
Set down your burden.
Rest.
Trust God.
Today we find ourselves on this 4th Sunday of Advent…
How do we hope for and welcome incarnation in our own lives?
Are we able to hope for and welcome the intrusion of the Holy,
even if we find ourselves in a time of darkness and confusion?
The Psalmist today repeats over and over:
“Restore us, O God of hosts;
show the light of your countenance,
and we shall be [healed].”
Our collect reads:
“Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by your daily visitation…”
In other words:
“Come, Holy One, and save us.”
During the dark days of our lives –
whether the context be global or national or local or individual –
whether in our body, our mind, or our Spirit -
I think we often yearn for God to show up and heal us.
We yearn for God to restore us.
I suggest that God actually does show up all the time…
but we often miss the in-breaking of the Holy in our lives.
“Keep awake” we heard on the first Sunday of Advent…
for we do not know when God is coming.
Today we hear “do not be afraid”
for God is already with us.
In marrying Mary, Joseph was faithful to the heart of God,
not to the conventions of his world.
That can be a difficult thing to do.
But, my friends, we are able to do this:
to not be afraid to be faithful to the heart of God
because God has lived among us…
suffered as one of us…
and ushers us into new life with hope and courage and freedom.
I close with a poem by John O’Donohue that I heard with new ears as I considered Joseph’s faithfulness as he responds to the Holy invitation that shows up in a dream…and our own faithfulness to God’s Holy invitations that show up in our lives.
“A Morning Offering” by John O’Donohue
I bless the night that nourished my heart
To set the ghosts of longing free
Into the flow and figure of dream
That went to harvest from the dark
Bread for the hunger no one sees.
All that is eternal in me
Welcomes the wonder of this day,
The field of brightness it creates
Offering time for each thing
To arise and illuminate.
I place on the altar of dawn:
The quiet loyalty of breath,
The tent of thought where I shelter,
Waves of desire I am shore to
And all beauty drawn to the eye.
May my mind come alive today
To the invisible geography
That invites me to new frontiers,
To break the dead shell of yesterdays,
To risk being disturbed and changed.
May I have the courage today
To live the life that I would love,
To postpone my dream no longer
But do at last what I came here for
And waste my heart on fear no more.
-from To Bless the Space Between Us
Amen.
