Sermon for Christmas Eve - "More Faithful Than Righteous"

Preaching Texts

Christmas hasn't come easy for me this year. To be completely honest, I don't feel like I deserve to be here before you this evening, telling you the good news about Jesus' birth, because I've done so little to deserve a position of such honor. In the past, I've spent the season of Advent in anticipation of the celebration to come. Like many Christians, I usually make devotion time a priority during Advent. Some years I've taken up a fast of some sort to mark the season. At the very least, Kristin and I have lit an advent wreath at suppertime and enjoyed its quiet light as we look out on the darkness that surrounds our house more and more each night. But not this year – and I'm feeling the difference. I'm not feeling particularly righteous or worthy when it comes to Christmas this year. It feels like Christmas is happening whether I’m ready, prepared, looking forward to it, or not.

It doesn't feel right for Christmas to happen like this. How can it be Christmas without the holiday spirit? How can it be Christmas without the sounding joy? How can it be Christmas I am more Scrooge than Cratchit, more grave than gravy? This isn't how it's supposed to happen!

As this feeling has enveloped me the past week or so, I have thought more and more about Joseph and his own struggle with what happened in his life. We know precious little about Joseph from the scriptures: we know he was a carpenter, a righteous man, engaged to Mary but struggling to make sense of what he was supposed to do once her pregnancy was revealed. As one pastor reminded me this week, "Here's the rule about what happens if you think the woman to whom you're engaged is bearing someone else's child: both the woman and the man whose child it is get death by stoning -- assuming you know the identity of the father, and that the woman is seized in an area in which someone could have heard her screams if she cried out. Joseph [wa]s a righteous man, but he refuse[d] to expose Mary to public disgrace to carry this out."[1] I can't help but think that Joseph also wondered how his life had gotten so complicated so quickly, and why it had to be that way. You all know the feeling you get when you're forced into a disastrous situation through no fault of your own: you can't sleep, you can't eat, your mind keeps returning to the disaster over and over again until you begin to wonder if you're ever going to be able to fix it and start to live again. Don't you imagine that's how Joseph felt? He was a righteous man, according to Matthew, a man who followed the commandments scrupulously and had every right to expect that his wife-to-be would do the same. Every life has its seasons, and for Joseph, the season in which he would be married and look forward to starting a family had come. He must have expected there would be some difficulty along the way, but surely nothing like this.

In the midst of Joseph's torment over how to handle this disastrous situation, God intervened. "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. She will bear a son, and you will name him "Jesus," for He will save His people from their sins." The answer Joseph was given did not make anything easier: in fact, it complicated the matter even more. The righteous man who had a painful choice between accusation or quiet rejection was given a glimpse into the purposes of heaven and told that his choice was more important than he had ever imagined. If Joseph took the righteous path, he would save himself and his reputation but deny the voice of God telling him to have faith: if Joseph took the faithful path, the price would be even harsher: a new wife and child of dubious origin and the risk of losing his reputation and the goodwill of a society that valued righteousness above almost everything else. It couldn't have been an easy choice for Joseph. It certainly wouldn't have seemed "right" to be forced to make that choice in the first place. But Joseph was more faithful than he was righteous, and the child of God in Mary's womb came into the world protected by two loving parents, as God intended.

Christmas is the season that always seems to be promoted as the time when everything is "right." People show kindness to friends and strangers alike. Goodwill and harmony reign. The busy world ceases for one night of quiet worship of the beautiful child lying peacefully in a manger, lit by a heavenly glow and heralded by an army of angels singing praises to God. But at the time it wasn't righteous at all. It wasn't a moment of goodwill and harmony, nor did the busy world stop to notice, much less join the angel choir. It would have been no more right if it were to happen tonight, and there's a very good chance that you and I would have missed it as easily as most of the world missed it two thousand years ago.

God did not choose the righteous path when God chose to come into flesh and blood. We often miss the scandal of the Incarnation for the blessings that come to us through it. God redeemed the world through the birth, life and death of Jesus, but God chose to redeem the world from the bottom up, bringing light and salvation to all by the humblest means possible. Joseph and the world around him could have seen nothing but sin in the child Mary bore in her womb. But God used that seemingly unrighteous conception to claim all that is unrighteous for the kingdom of heaven. A child born out of wedlock and laid in a donkey's feed trough was named "God saves" and heralded as the Messiah, God's chosen One, Emmanuel: there is no irony or sarcasm strong enough to hold such a story if it weren't true. It seems right to us today because we've heard the story so often it bears its own authenticity and righteousness. But the wonder of the Incarnation isn't its righteousness: it is the faith of Joseph and Mary that this child was indeed the Messiah whom God had promised.

My friend and former seminary professor Mary Hinkle Shore says that this is only the first of many instances of faith in Matthew's gospel. "Alongside the gift of a baby who bears the very presence of God to humanity is another gift, a gift that the one who is God with us will keep offering throughout his ministry: freedom from fear. The people who will whisper behind your back cannot hurt you, Joseph. Do not be afraid. The storm tossing your boat, O disciples, will be stilled by the One who walks toward you. Do not be afraid. To those sent out in Jesus' name: the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is greater than your visions of being tongue-tied when you attempt to give an account of the hope that is within you. It is greater, too, than the experience of being ridiculed when you manage to offer such an account. Do not be afraid."[2] The faith of Joseph and Mary, the faith of the shepherds and the Magi, the faith of the angels who sing His praise, the faith of Peter, James, John and all the apostles, the faith of Paul and Stephen and all the martyrs, the faith of the whole church marching in line from that night in Bethlehem comes not from the righteousness of the birth of the Messiah but from its unrighteousness. The redemption of all creation rises from the birth of One who was born in such seemingly irredeemable circumstances: what, then, in your life, can not be redeemed by Him? The righteous man who wanted to quietly dismiss his seemingly wayward fiancée adopted her child as his own: how could such a child ever refuse to adopt you, no matter what your sins might be? The world wasn't ready or right for the Incarnation of the Lamb of God, yet He came: He will come for you, too, even though you may not be ready or right for His coming.

Maybe you're not ready for Christmas this year, either. Maybe you, like me, have found yourself struggling to feel righteous enough to be worthy of the Christ-child. Maybe death has touched you with its cold fingers, or sin has surrounded you with its constant temptings, or you are afflicted with the despair of simply knowing that whatever the right way to feel about life may be, you're not there and it's just not going to happen this year. If so, then the angels have a message for you tonight, too: do not be afraid. Your righteousness is not the issue. Neither is death, sin, or despair. The Christ-child came once into a world that was not prepared for Him, and He comes again this night to you, prepared or not, willing or not, righteous or not. God doesn't ask us to be righteous when the Christ comes: God asks us to be faithful, to believe that He is what and who He claims to be: Jesus, the one named "God saves," the Messiah, Emmanuel, "God with us." Do not be afraid, friends, for unto us, unrighteous, unprepared, a child was born, Christ, the Lord, and let all you who are faithful join in the song to welcome Him. Amen.

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[1] http://www.sarahlaughed.net/lectionary/2004/12/fourth_sunday_o.html

[2] Mary Hinkle Shore. http://maryhinkle.typepad.com/pilgrim_preaching/2004/12/do_not_be_afrai.html