Communion Meditation by Dr. George Bryant Wirth
The First Sunday in Advent
December 2, 2007
THE SEARCH FOR JESUS – JOSEPH’S DREAM
Scripture:
Matthew 1:18-25
INTRODUCTION
As we begin another Advent
Season and make our way toward Christmas, I’ve chosen a theme for our sermon
series entitled “The Search for Jesus.”
For almost twenty years, I have been saving cover story articles from
magazines on this theme, going back to an August issue of Time which asked the
question in 1988: “Who Was Jesus?”
(August 15, 1988), and this one with the same title, “Who Was Jesus?” Newsweek,
(December 20, 1993), followed by the Christian Century magazine in 1994: “In
Search of Jesus” (August 24-31, 1994), and again in 1996: “The Search for
Jesus: What Are Christians to Believe?” (April 8, 1996), and a similar title
that same year on the cover of U.S. News and World Report: “In Search of Jesus:
New Appraisals of His Life and Its Meaning” (April 8, 1996), and finally this
edition of Newsweek in March of 2000: “Visions of Jesus: How Jews, Muslims and
Buddhists View Him” (March 27, 2000).
I have many more cover
stories in my file, but suffice it to say with the ones I have shown you today
that this theme has been front and center in the theological conversations
across
I
Now as you well know, this
search stretches across the centuries, going all the way back to the Old
Testament era as the Hebrew people were waiting, pray, hoping and looking for
the Messiah to come. The prophet Isaiah
envisioned it this way:
Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign. Behold, a young woman – a virgin – shall
conceive and bear a son whose name shall be called Immanuel (God with us) (Isaiah 7:14).
And
the prophet went on to say:
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great
light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined…for
to us a child is born, to us a son is given…and His name shall be called
“Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:2, 6).
The people of
This would have been good
news to any father, except that Joseph and Mary were not yet married. So painfully and quietly, he planned to
dis-engage but not to disgrace her. And
then an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, and assured him that
the child had been conceived by the Holy Spirit of God. “So don’t give up Joseph,” said the angel in
so many words – “Go through with the wedding, hold on until the child is born,
and then you will name Him Jesus, which in Hebrew – ‘Yehoshuah’ – literally
means He will save His people from their sins.”
And that is exactly what Joseph of Nazareth did.
Now 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. Her husband
Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace,
planned to dismiss her quietly. But 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 conceiver in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him
Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what had been
spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
“Look,
the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
And
they shall name him Emmanuel,”
Which means, “God is with us.” When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the
angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife. (Matthew
1:18-24)
II
The truth is, we don’t know
all that much about him – this faithful man named Joseph. He has a major role to play in Matthew’s
Christmas story, but is more in the background of Luke’s nativity account, who
then goes on to tell us about Joseph and Mary and Jesus in the Temple when He
was twelve years old – and that’s it.
Except for being mentioned briefly in John Chapter 1 and Luke Chapter 4,
Joseph leaves the New Testament scene and is heard from no more.
Biblical scholars believe
that he was considerably older than Mary, a grown man who married a teenaged
girl. We can assume that they raised
Jesus together in
You see, like all of his
people, Joseph was waiting, praying, hoping, searching for the Messiah to
come. And then one night, an angel
appeared and told Joseph that the Messiah would be Mary’s Son. What a surprise!
So Joseph did what he was
told, raised his God-born Son as if He were his very own son, and sometime before
Jesus turned thirty years old and began His active ministry, more than likely
Joseph had died. Joseph was not the
major player in the story, but it was Joseph’s dream that kept his hope and
God’s holy plan alive.
III
Erma Bombeck, rest her soul,
told this story many years ago about her father:
“When I was a little kid, a father was like the light
in the refrigerator. Every house had
one, but no one really knew what either of them did once the door was shut.
My dad left the house every morning
and always seemed glad to see everyone at night.
He opened the jar of pickles when no
one else could.
He was the only one in the house who
wasn’t afraid to go in the basement by himself.
He cut himself shaving, but no one
kissed it or got excited about it.
It was understood whenever it rained,
he got the car a brought it around to the door.
When anyone was sick, he went out to get the prescription filled.
He kept busy enough. He set mousetraps. He cut back the roses to the thorns wouldn’t
clip you when you came to the front door.
He oiled my skates and they went faster.
When I got my bike, he ran alongside me for at least a thousand miles
until I got the hang of it.
He signed all my report cards. He put me to bed early. He took a lot of pictures, but was never in
them. He tightened up mother’s sagging
clothesline every week or so.
I was afraid of everyone else’s
father, but not my own. Once I made him
tea. It was only sugar water, but he sat
on a small chair and said it was delicious.
He looked very uncomfortable.
Once I went fishing with him in a
rowboat. I threw huge rocks in the water
and he threatened to throw me overboard.
I wasn’t sure he wouldn’t, so I looked
him in the eye. I finally decided he was
bluffing and threw in one more. He was a
bad poker player.
Whenever I played house, the mother
doll had a lot to do. I never knew what
to do with the daddy doll, so I had him say, ‘I’m going off to work now,’ and
threw him under the bed.
When I was 9 years old, my father
didn’t get up on morning and go to work.
He went to the hospital and died the next day.
There were a lot of people in the
house who brought all kinds of good food and cakes. We never had so much company before.
I went to my room and felt under the
bed for the father doll. When I found
him, I dusted him off and put him on my bed.
I didn’t know his leaving would hurt
so much.
I still didn’t know why.”
-
“Something’s
Missing In Definition Of Dad”
By
Erma Bombeck
If
truth be told, I think that story comes ever so close to what happened when old
Joseph finally died. Mary and Jesus and
those other sisters and brothers surely were sad to lose him, and more than
likely some of them wondered why it had to be that way.
But
when his time had come, Joseph knew that what the angel proclaimed to him in
the dream was true: Be not afraid,
Joseph, for Mary will bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus.
CONCLUSION
Fathers,
mothers, sons, daughters, sisters, brothers, family members and friends: as we
make our way toward Christmas, searching for a closer relationship with God’s
only begotten Son, let us also make the time and take the time to share His
love with each other. And as we do, the
promise of His dream will come true. So
open your heart, your home, your ears and your eyes to recognize Him and to
receive Jesus who has come searching for us.
In
the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.