Obedience and Angels

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"Was an old man, no child of his own, his skill was in his hand." So begins a song I wrote last year for Christ's Incarnation, and recorded this year for the Port Aransas Museum's "Sounds of the Season. The song takes a look at all the characters around Jesus' birth like Mary, who was only a girl by our current cultural expectations. Mary who was pregnant when she wasn't expected to be. My song also considers the donkey who smelled hay and led them to the barn where Jesus was born. 

We don't really know a lot about Joseph, except he was established as a carpenter and he was righteous or followed the justice of God. That is an important theme in Matthew's gospel. In my song, I pondered how Joseph's expectations must have been shattered when he discovered his beloved was pregnant and he didn't participate. Knowing the severity of the law's punishment for such a situation, he seemed to have a plan that would honor Mary's dignity and dismiss her quietly. Then God stepped in, as reported in the Gospel of Matthew (See 1:18-25.) 

The angel that came to Joseph and steered him away from following the letter of the law. God's intervention directed Joseph to take courage beyond the expectations and follow what must have felt like a scandalous path. 


The amazing thing about conversations with God, in this case via an angel, is they begin with some form of, "Don't be afraid." On the one hand, encountering the supernatural can be terrifying, so humans probably need some reassurance. On the other hand, when God speaks to us, it often means we are going to need to be courageous. It takes courage to live out God's justice in the world. Following along with what is expected or the easy way that causes the least ripples is probably not the path God would have us follow. Being righteous or in right relationship with God, prioritizes being true to the calling at the core of our being. It means that sometimes we will have to listen to angels, to take courage, and go against the expected course. 

I have officiated at enough marriages to know the weight of expectations, sometimes unconscious, that people hang on a wedding day. Talk about an opportunity for pressure from our collective! Joseph would have had to navigate a lot of hushed conversations with cousins and uncles who sought to shame him out of tying the knot with a pregnant bride in their time. He listened, instead, to the angel; he took courage and by naming the child Yesua or Jesus, adopted him as his own. 

If Joseph had done the culturally expected thing, where would we be? God is relentless in seeking out and finding those who will hear and listen to their calling then and still today. God saw in Joseph the potential for compassion and the empowering love Jesus would teach about when he grew up. 

God still calls to us: Do not be afraid; take courage and love boldly. Joseph sets an example for us that when we are in a place of relative power, as he was with Mary, the Godly and righteous decision may appear to be scandalous. Setting our relationships right with God will likely subvert expectations, and will ultimately reveal the greater justice of God's own kingdom. 

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