You probably already know that we have two Christmas stories in the Gospel: One by Luke and the other one by Matthew (John and Mark don’t talk about Jesus’s infancy at all). What’s interesting is that we have two different perspectives in Matthew’s and Luke’s and they don’t overlap: Luke tells the birth of Jesus from Mary’s point of view, whereas Matthew focuses on Joseph. And we may think it’s a detail but in the story we have just heard this morning, one of the things that is very striking about Joseph is his gentleness, his great righteousness but absence of self-righteousness.
Let me explain: When he finds out about Mary’s pregnancy, Matthew tells us that Joseph refuses to expose her to public humiliation, although by Jewish Law he was entitled to do it (Deut 22 mentions that the adulterous woman will be dismissed, exposed and put to death so as to remove all evil from among the people). So we see that Joseph respects the Law (he must dismiss the adulterous woman, and he is ready to do so) but he refuses to condemn her – and this is why I say that he is righteous without being self righteous. What may seem like a detail is not a detail because it’s actually a very important theme in Matthew’s Gospel: How Jewish people are supposed to obey the Law. In Matthew’s, Jesus will remind people countless times about the commandments of the Torah, always mentioning that he didn’t come to “abolish the Law”, but to “accomplish it” (Matt 5:17), meaning that people need to find what’s most important about the Law, not just the rules but the spirit of the Law, where the Law is trying to take them and it’s always towards the love of God and the love of neighbor. And I love to see that Joseph, Jesus’s earthly father, already does that! When I read this passage we have heard today, I started to wonder if Jesus didn’t preach about the heart of the Law in this way because he saw his father doing just that all his life! Not using the Law to judge, to condemn, or to take revenge, but to apply God’s justice and righteousness and show mercy to others. It is actually hard to understate the compassion Joseph was planning to show to Mary. Even today in our world, we know how unforgiving we can be when we have been betrayed, cheated on, when people bring shame on us – and it’s especially the case with a romantic partner or a close family member. It can be very tempting, if the Law authorizes us to do so, to use it to try to get even or to get our revenge. And even more, we know how, in many cultures, men can show themselves unforgiving towards women in case of suspected or actual sexual sin. But we find none of that in Joseph. Although he must have felt very humiliated and disappointed, although, and rightly so, he did not want to get involved with an unfaithful woman, we see that only thing he could think about was how to protect Mary so she wouldn’t punished by her people.
Wow. I think this is amazing. You may know there is a philosopher who invented an expression “The banality of evil”, and she used that expression to explain how ordinary people, because of their indifference, blindness or passive cruelty could enable or participate in great evils like the 3rd Reich. And she was probably right. But when we read the Gospel, we may also discover what “ordinary goodness/ everyday kindness” can look like and can accomplish to bring about the Kingdom of God. The gentleness, righteousness and purity of heart Joseph demonstrates is the opening line to the coming of Jesus into the world. It does not make it happen, but because of his heart, Joseph is able to hear the word of God, to hear the angel of the Lord and to believe him and act accordingly. Would he have been full of bitterness, resentment and anger, Mary would have been stoned, and the baby would have died with her.
So we see how Joseph is important. I read a commentary this week saying that God didn’t choose just Mary, but God chose Joseph and Mary and I think this is very true. Matthew’s story is as important as Luke’s story (where Luke tells how Gabriel appears to Mary). And I think God still does so:God chooses very ordinary people to bring about the kingdom, to show Jesus to the world. People who may not look like they do anything extraordinary, but because of their great love and of their purity of heart reveal God to all who come close to them. This could be each one of us. We often talk about Christmas as being Jesus coming into our hearts, but maybe, more deeply, it’s about bringing Jesus into the world for all to see and for all to worship. Again, in Matthew’s Gospel Jesus says: “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they will see God” (Matt 5:8). Indeed Joseph and Mary were able to see the angel, to hear God and to show Jesus to the world because of their purity.
And so I would like to say also a few words about purity, because this is often what we talk about when we think about the virgin birth. But it’s sometimes hard to understand today, as we think that’s it’s a condemnation of anything that has to do with sexuality. God would choose a virgin because everything associated with sex is “dirty”. Yet if we look at Joseph’s purity, I think we can understand better Mary’s. Mary’s virginity is en embodiment of this purity of heart, the ability to give your heart away and not take it back. In the Old testament, Israel is compared in many passages to an unfaithful woman, Israel has “cheated on God” with other gods, in idolatry, in breaking God’s commandments. But Mary, suspected of adultery, is in fact a virgin. She expresses this spiritual reality that Israel is going to be made new, to find again her innocence, to start again from scratch with God. You may know that there are actually virgin births in nature. Except for Mary, it is unheard of among human beings, but in some species, some female can exceptionally give birth without a male partner. I mention that because this phenomena is called by scientists “parthenogenesis” which translate “The Virgin creation”, the new creation. And it is exactly what God is doing in bringing Jesus into the world, Paul tells us in Colossians (1:15) that “Christ is the first born of all creation” and in Corinthians Paul tells us that “we are made new creatures” in him (2Co 5:17). It seems impossible that the adulterous spouse become a virgin again, it seems impossible that Israel regain her innocence, and yet this is what happens because God’s love and power of forgiveness is limitless. Indeed, as in Isaiah’s prophecy we have heard today, this is a “sign”, a sign of deliverance and restoration for all the people and indeed, as Matthew’s put it in today’s Gospel Jesus comes into the world to “save his people from their sins”. King David’s lineage was cursed because of the sins of his son King Solomon’s descendants, but Mary, although a daughter of David, comes from another lineage: King David’s son Nathan. And so she can bring in the world the Messiah, the new King, the son of David who will reverse the curse sin has brought on Israel and on humankind. The world is saved through a lineage of ordinary people, doing their ordinary (and yet extraordinary) good because they are able to hear God’s voice. As Christmas comes closer, this is the question the Gospel asks to all of us: Do we want to be part of the family?