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A couple of weeks ago I told you about my nativity set and how it does not have a John the Baptist figurine. It turns out that today’s starring bible character in our gospel reading also has a problem in the little manger set in my living room: In the scene, we’ve got the baby Jesus and the animals. Mary is fabulous with this bright blue flashy dress with gold trim, and then there’s Joseph…wait. Which one is Joseph--?
Hm. There’s the one guy with the sparkling gold trim on his suit, he seems like a good guess—that is, if he’s not one of the three kings. (Everyone is wearing robes in this manger town it’s hard to tell.) There’s another guy in the group that could be Jospeh, but he’s holding a staff...maybe he’s actually a shepherd? I thought Jospeh was a carpenter—did he have a staff?Which one is Joseph!? Of all the characters in the nativity, you’d think the adoptive father of our Lord would be important, but the poor guy has been relegated to the B-list of supporting actors.
In today’s gospel reading, Joseph does get a few minutes in the spotlight. I just read you the version of St. Matthew’s nativity story. I admit, it doesn’t quite have the same sparkle as the “shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by night” version from the gospel of St. Luke. (there’s a reason I’m not reading version I just read to you on Christmas Eve. One theologian mused, "can you imagine a Christmas pageant about a man who has a dream that helps him decide what to do about a woman in his life?" Hallmark might have better luck with that story line.) But Joseph does get his moment here in this scripture reading today.
Maybe there’s a reason they give us Matthew’s version of the Christmas story now. St. Matthew’s gospel bumps us into a different room of the Nativity a room where things are uncertain and all is not yet calm and bright. And that’s exactly where many of us live right now.
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In this part of the story, we get the camera angle that amplifies Joseph’s stress or worry. He and Mary have a big problem on their hands with this whole immaculate conception thing. I do wish Mary had some lines in this version. She doesn’t. Maybe she has already rushed off to her cousin Elizabeth’s house searching for support.
We don't have much from Mary but we do have a very pensive Joseph and what is pretty clear is that he wants to do the right thing. The story says that Joesph is “righteous” which doesn’t mean he’s high and mighty or sanctimonious. It means that he wanted to do the right thing before God. I think most of us here today do—that’s how God built us. We want to take care of the ones we love, we want people to be taken care of, for life to flourish abundantly. we don’t want to do harm. We want to do the right thing.
Joseph seems like a pretty ordinary, probably good person. Yes, he does to have a very religious fiancé—she sure quotes a lot of ancient scripture off the top of her head in that Magnificat she sang when the angel gave her the pregnancy news. And most likely, Joseph is just as seeped in religious teaching as she is. The conundrum for Joseph is: What is the right thing to do in this situation?
This camera angle on the scene takes us through Joseph’s thinking: first he decides to end his engagement to Mary but as “quietly” as possible, scripture says. Today, engagements can be called off with relative ease. But in Joseph and Mary’s situation, it’s complicated. It’s possible that land or animals have been exchanged and that the families have officially opened a metaphorical investment account together. Most likely, it’s going to require legal action to annul this thing. How Joseph can do this while shielding them both from all the small-town eyes that are watching (from “disgrace”)? It’s a lot to think through. What is the right thing to do?
As an aside, too many of us have heard sermons about Joseph trying to save Mary from being stoned to death but, if we are going to take the bible seriously, David and Bathsheba were accused of the same sin that modern people are holding Mary to in this story and they weren’t stoned to death. We don’t need to diminish Mary and Joseph’s Jewish culture in order to make the Christian story look good. I think the good people of Nazareth would have taken care of Mary and Jesus had Joseph split from her. In truth, we don’t need to add drama like that to this story. Joseph already has enough and doesn’t have easy options here. Finally, in a dream, God shows Joseph what is in store and it helps Joseph decide the right thing to do. He stays with Mary and names Jesus. I’m sure it was more complicated than the five bible verses we have about it.
As theologian Matt Skinner put it, “the angel Gabriel doesn’t give him some token (of assurance) or notarized document from God to prove to the people that everything is fine. All he gets (from that angel) is a promise. Which is evidently enough for him.”
Which leads me to our contemporary world, today. Tonight, the night of, Dec. 21st, is the longest night of 2025. Night after night has gotten longer and longer as the sun has set earlier and risen later. I am all for a little Christmas coziness in the evenings but by this point, I’m about done with the long night. In my head, I know that the astronomical balance will tilt back and the days will get longer, but at the moment, it feels like that will never happen. Joseph’s uncertainty echos even now; and these long, cold nights resonate in this cultural moment we’re living in.
Many of us are carrying this underground sense of strain these days. It’s not necessarily fear but uncertainty and maybe some pressure. Chicago is a big, complicated city. We all regularly encounter people who are pretty different from us—who have different experiences, and opinions. We are seeing power exercised on our streets, we are reading a variety of headlines, and we are thinking of actual faces of people connected to these storylines. Some of us are worried about it. Some of us are angry or fed up. There’s strain around what’s happening: Pressure to have the right opinion. A push to respond quickly.
I think, in moments like this, the hardest thing isn’t knowing what we oppose, it’s knowing what faithfulness is. What is the right thing to do right here now and in our own lives? And that question doesn’t just belong to the headlines—it shows up at our kitchen tables, in our friendships and in all those little decisions we’re holding on a given day. Joseph wants to do the right thing, but whatever that is isn’t obvious to him and all of the options are risky. I don’t know about you, but I don’t have clairvoyant dreams like Joseph did that help me make decisions every time things get rough. How do we figure it out?
Have you ever been in an eye exam they ask you, “this lens or this one?” With each answer and adjustment of the dial, you edge closer to the right prescription? The right thing to do is not always the loudest response, knee-jerk response. It’s not always the speedy reaction or the morally safe-looking behavior. The right thing is what participates in God’s life-giving activity around us. What amplifies God’s love in the world? We can’t see the whole picture of what God is doing so faithfulness shows up as a next right step and not necessarily as a full map.
We see characters in the bible beyond Joseph who wrestle with their next steps all over the place in scripture. We watch Queen Esther wrestle with whether or not to defy the evil King Hammond. We watch Jacob wrestle with whether he should reconcile with his brother. We watch the Apostle Philip question with whether or not to baptize the Ethiopian man in the desert. We watch them edge toward the right thing to do—like the eye doctor asking “this lens or this one,” edging them closer to the answer. (1)
Instead of adjustments to the lens, our wrestling deals with questions like: Does this step I could take preserve human dignity? Does this thing I could do (or not do) widen or shrink Love in the world? In this situation I’m in what else might be true here?
These questions aren’t going to illuminate the instant answer, instead they guide us. Faith is not applying rules to a situation. Yes, we do ground our responses into some ancient, wise pilars of our faith-- Like the knowledge that we are called to act with neighborliness and that all people are created in precious God’s image, even the ones we don’t like--ugh.
Joseph faces his conundrum and wants to do the right thing. Then, with a little help from the angel in a dream, he figures out what that right thing is, And then, finally, Joseph has got to follow through and do it. And we have arrived at our final step.
Josph has got to act. It’s a turning point. He doesn’t just sit there watching or thinking about it. He’s got to find the courage to do it. Joseph has a decision to make when he wakes up from that dream.
If he doesn’t act swiftly, he might question himself as the dream fades. But, Joseph chooses to trust the angel’s voice. I admit that if I had a dream like this, I would have a more questions for the angel Gabe: (ie. How exactly does one parent a kid who is descended from God?) Joseph doesn’t seem worried. In fact he seems okay to move ahead even though it’s not totally clear how things will work out.
And, maybe this is what it looks like to follow God, I’m not sure how this is going to shake out. or if the journey will be hard, or what it will cost me, but I’m going to walk it.
On any given day, we’re faced with problems that ask for faithful answers—some of them downright courageous answers. Thankfully, the Holy Spirit moves among us. Building a new world takes thoughtfulness and heart. Taking care of people—especially when things are strained--takes faithfulness and courage. Doing the right thing isn’t always the flashiest option. Joseph isn’t the flashiest character in the nativity scene. But Joseph wakes up from his dream and he walks. And sometimes, that is faith: trusting God enough to take ordinary grace-filled steps of love that give shape to the Holy Light already present around us.
(1) Not all bible characters are moral examples. Joseph from the Hebrew Bible (the one with the amazing technicolor coat) is thrown into a pit and left for dead after his brothers wrestle with their jealousy about him. Their actions do not widen God's love in the world.
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