Homily For The Second Sunday After Christmas

In the latter part of Advent, in the early part of Christmas, we have a healthy dose of Christ’s coming through the lens of the blessed Virgin Mary.  In the Christmas season now, we pivot, as it were, to consider the miracle of the Incarnation through the lens of Joseph.  Mary gets the press, the blessed Virgin’s role has been exaggerated; for many of the world’s Christians, she is the co-redemptrix; the queen of heaven. She is blessed, indeed, for bearing the Saviour of the world, but she is not, nor would should profess to be, equal to the Incarnate Son.  Today, we have a corrective as we consider the work of God in the life of St. Joseph, the adoptive father of the Son of God.   

Over the course of four dreams, God communicates with Joseph about very basic matters of trust and reliance.  In the first dream, Joseph is instructed to take Mary as wife because the “thing conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.” Joseph believes the word of God through this dream and takes Mary to wife, despite the appearances. St. Matthew speaks of this challenge in our Gospel from last Sunday from Matthew.  In the second dream, Joseph is instructed to take the Christ child and Mary down to Egypt to avoid the wrath of Herod, who destroyed all the boys of Bethlehem from 2 years of age and younger.  The third directive from the angels came years later in Egypt in a vision to Joseph.  The angel told Joseph that Herod had died and that it was safe to return to Judah.  In the final vision, the fourth visitation of the angel, Joseph is instructed to settle in Galilee instead of going to Judea.

Joseph receives the word of God through dreams; the virgin mary and others through direct appearance; surer revelation.  Joseph has a pattern of obedience to the truth that he has received. He isn’t like Gideon who asks for a surer sign; asking God to make the fleece dry while everything else is wet.  Joseph isn’t looking for reasons not to believe, instead he wants to believe, he wants to be obedient.  While he is most assuredly a sinner like the rest of us, his desire for obedience is part and parcel of why the scriptures record that he was a just man.  Just men do the next right thing and this is what characterizes Joseph in the Scriptures.  The next right thing may be to believe that his betrothed is chaste, despite her being pregnant.  The next right thing may be a decision to live in Galilee instead of Judea.  The heart, the motive, the character is the same - whether a hard decision or one more mundane.   

We should marvel at the consistency of Joseph.  Throughout the Gospel record, we read that he heard the word of God and then did what he was commanded.  It reminds me of the challenge to Abraham in Genesis 22 - where Abraham has waited, and waited, and waited for the son of promise.  He receives Isaac through the miracle of his barren wife giving birth at age 90.  

This son, who is clearly the result of divine favor, is then required to be a sacrifice.  God tells Abraham to take his son, his only son, the son whom he loves, and offer him in sacrifice.  What do we read? Instead of being curled up in a fetal position in his tent, we read that immediately Abraham obeyed.  He got up early the next morning to give God the obedience that he commanded.   Of course, God had his plan; he had prepared a sacrifice in lieu of Isaac.  All of this was premised by a simple obedience, hard but simple obedience.  He got up and did what the Lord said.  You may remember the story of David who longed for the splendid water from the well in Bethlehem.  Some of his men, as a mark of devotion and love, went through enemy lines and brought back water for David.  David, realizing their sacrifice, poured the water out as an offering to the Lord.   Joseph, the son of David, the descendant of Abraham, gives himself to simple, yet hard obedience.  He is remarkable in the direct manner in which he obeys the word of the Lord.  He took Mary as wife despite her pregnancy because of the word of the angel.  

Joseph sacrificed family and friends when he left for Egypt, obeying the word of God to protect Jesus from the rage of Herod.  All Joseph could know was the most direct threat; yet God used all the challenges, the dangers in life to direct people to Jesus.  We should never miss that point.  For the entirety of the human story, the story of the Jews, was to direct ALL, I mean ALL, to Jesus the saviour of the world. 

Finally, he received the word to return home.  The temporal enemies of the Christ child are dead and the holy family is directed toward Nazareth.  Joseph is wary of Herod's successor - he as a just man wants to protect his family - but God is working something greater.  Through this obedience, another prophecy is fulfilled.  He will be a Nazarene.  The extraordinary prophecies marking the path of the Lord were paved by simple obedience under the direction of Joseph.  

The context, the sign posts for our Saviour’s coming were set in place by the common obedience of the Lord’s earthly father and true mother.  Mary was submissive to the Lord’s will; Joseph, the adoptive father, did all in his power to be faithful.  I don’t know if I can say this enough or more clearly.  The great things in God’s work are paved, supported by doing the next right, obedient, often simple thing. That doesn’t mean these things are easy.  Joseph’s comprehension may have been simple.  Take Mary as wife; take Mary and Jesus to Egypt for safety; take Mary and Jesus back home for now the threat has passed.  There is no story of Jesus, our redemption, unless God moves people to do the next right thing.   So, this morning, at the tail end of Christmas, I can think of no better application than to follow in the footsteps of Joseph, the forgotten one among those who venerate Mary.  He offered to God simple obedience which is pleasing to Him.  Joseph directed the obedient family life of Our Lord during the first few decades of our Lord’s life among us.   

Beloved, let us do the next right thing.  You may ask - what is the next right thing?  We are just beyond the new civil year.  Let us mark our time in this world by reading God’s word day by day; praying moment by moment;  prioritizing corporate worship week by week. Giving of our time, talent and treasure for the expansion of Christ’s kingdom. Encouraging one another. Opening our lives to those who need the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  In doing so, let our hearts be knit to the spirit of Joseph who was willing to obey the word of God readily, presenting the hard obediences of his life to God as a true sacrifice.  So, this morning, this second Sunday after Christmas, let us offer our obedience, our lives to God, in the same spirit that moved Joseph to love and serve the Holy Family.  Amen.