Birth of a Warrior King? or a Savior from Sin?
(An original story by Gary Ritner, based on scripture, delivered at Hillcrest United Methodist Church December 8, 1996)
(Texts: Luke 1:28-55; Matthew 1:20-23; Isaiah 9:6 RSV)
I am Joseph, father of Jesus -- well, sort of, but I will explain that soon. I was a carpenter in Nazareth. I moved there because business was better than in my home town.
My home town was Bethlehem, the City of David, and I am a descendant of the great King David, hero of the people.
A thousand years ago, David defeated Goliath and the Philistines; setting us free from fear of them and their threats. Now Rome had given us cause to fear and we prayed for a Descendant of David, a Messiah to set us free again.
How little we understood about the Messiah. How little I understood my own son. However, I was so proud of him from the very start. In the carpenter shop we talked of many things. He asked so many questions about people and feelings and love.
I was thinking that he would grow up to lead us in chasing out the Romans, and all along he was thinking that he would teach us a way of peace that would help us to forget about rejecting the Romans and to take care of our own souls.
For centuries we had expected a Messiah. By now we had each developed our own visions about what that Messiah would be. Instead of a suffering servant that the scriptures promised, many of us had been looking for a warrior king. Instead of the compassionate Jesus who healed the wounds of the brokenhearted, we had been looking for one who would break the bow of those who oppressed us.
We may never learn how to be like him, but Jesus did show us the way of peace and now we know that loving our neighbors is the only way to establish real peace in the neighborhood.
Now we know that loving God with all our heart is the only way to find the kind of peace that can really satisfy us completely.
Now we know that the salvation which the Messiah brought was the salvation from our sins through forgiveness, not through getting even with our enemies.
Now we know, but we did NOT know it so profoundly until the Messiah came.
Let me take you back to those days when it all began for me.
A Roman declaration was handed down, requiring us all to travel to the city of our original family for a census so that Rome could keep track of the people that it would collect taxes from soon. I was not too excited about missing work and then traveling 90 miles to Bethlehem on foot over rough roads where bandits were known for hurting and robbing travelers.
I thought this was a bother, but then things got really complicated for me. I had wedding plans soon. You know how complicated wedding plans can be, right? Well, you have no idea how complicated mine suddenly became.
One day, when I was thinking about the wedding and missing Mary, she unexpectedly appeared in the doorway of my carpenter shop. "Joseph, I am afraid that you are not going to believe this."
I reassured her that I would believe anything that she told me, because I loved her so. Then she told me that an angel had appeared to her. She recounted the whole story:
28 ... (The angel said to her) "Hail, O favored one, the Lord is with you!" 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there will be no end." 34 And Mary said to the angel, "How shall this be, since I have no husband?" 35 And the angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. 36 And behold, your kinswoman Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For with God nothing will be impossible." 38 And Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her. 39 ... Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a city of Judah, 40 and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit 42 and she exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For behold, when the voice of your greeting came to my ears, the babe in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord." 46 And Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden. For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed; 49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. 50 And his mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation. 51 He has shown strength with his arm, he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts, 52 he has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted those of low degree; 53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent empty away. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, 55 as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his posterity for ever." (Luke 1:28-55, RSV).
Mary paused for a long time. I said nothing at first. Then I saw the tears welling up in her eyes as she realized that I was not sharing her joy: "Joseph? Joseph? Did you understand what I said? You do believe me, don't you?"
"Mary, that is the most fantastic tale I have ever heard. How could I believe that?" I explained my disappointment that she was going to have a child that was not mine. I told her that the wedding was off as far as I was concerned. She went away deeply saddened.
I tossed and turned and could not fall asleep that night. I was so disappointed and hurt. Finally, I dozed off. Then an angel appeared to me in my dreams:
20 saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit; 21 she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel" (which means, God with us). (Matthew 1:20-23, RSV). After waking, I ran to find Mary that morning. I told her that I was so sorry for not believing in the promises of God, for not believing her witness, for not trusting her word. She was just so happy that I was now able to share the good news with her, and she never held it against me that I had not believed as quickly as she did.
As Mary approached the time of her delivery, we set out for Bethlehem. I was so worried for her and for the baby. Rome did not adjust its rules even for the coming of the Messiah! If they knew this was the Messiah, they would have prevented the whole thing right then and there. So, we kept this our secret and followed the Roman law by going to Bethlehem so as not to draw any attention to the event. I was on a secret mission, a military mission to protect the baby, the future warrior king from harm.
On the long and exhausting trip from Nazareth through the hills over rough roads, we passed through the Holy City of Jerusalem. Mary road on a donkey, carrying the Messiah who was soon to be born. I thought of Zechariah 9:9, "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey." Well, maybe he was not triumphant yet, but he would be some day.
The Messiah was not yet born, but it would not be long now. That was pretty humble, a babe in the womb. I wanted to shout from the hilltops of Jerusalem. "Your Messiah has come, riding on a donkey." Years later, the people WOULD shout and spread palms as the Messiah came again riding on a donkey.
At dusk, the next evening, we stood looking down on Bethlehem. It was good to be home again. It seemed like such a safe place to me. Where should we go for the delivery of the baby? My parents had died some time ago. I had no immediate relatives who could take us in. It had been so long since I lived here. I barely knew folks. Would they know me?
There was the Inn where camel drivers and merchants stayed, but they were a loud and rowdy crowd. There would be no quiet and privacy there for such a personal thing as the birth of a child. Besides, it would cost more than I had for us to stay there. Taxes and missed work and wedding expenses left me with no money for a room in the Inn.
Then I remembered a place from my childhood. Many of my young friends were shepherds. We used to play in the caves in the hills on the edge of Bethlehem. Shepherds would sleep there at night, sheltering themselves and their animals. I remembered my favorite spot to play and we went there. It was just as I remembered it -- a trough for feeding and beds of soft dried grass all around.
Shepherds from families that I knew as a child were there. They greeted me and we talked of old times -- about people we knew in common, about how things had changed, about people who had moved away and where they now lived.
After talking for a while, they DID recognize me as the little kid who grew up here. They made sure that we had whatever we needed for the birth and for our comfort. When I realized that I could trust them and that they trusted me, I witnessed to them what had been told to Mary and me by angels.
They were astonished at these things, but I don't think they really believed me as they nervously moved away and left us with some excuse about tending to their flocks. They didn't seem to buy the angel story any more than I accepted Mary's story at first, but they too would have their chance to visit with the angel.
It was good to be home and under the stars, home in a familiar place on a silent night, home in my little town of Bethlehem!
As labor began, I kept thinking about the warrior king being born. I was thinking, "This child will set us free from the Roman soldiers." Mary knew better and she was thinking "This child will set us free from our sins."
Later, I will tell you more of what happened and how we felt, but I
must go now. In that moment before the birth, the words from Isaiah
rang in my heart: "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and
the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name will be
called 'Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince
of Peace.'" (Isaiah 9:6. RSV)