Joseph
Sermon
Don't Forget The Child
Sermons For Advent And Christmas
Object:
We continue this morning with a second sermon in the "Witnesses To Christmas" series. One by one we will consider the figures associated with a crèche set. Last week I talked about Mary, the mother of Jesus, and about what Mary might symbolize for us. I suggested that Mary is something of a universal symbol: the symbol of a kind of perfect faith, the kind of spirit that immediately welcomes Jesus and enters into the closest possible lifelong relationship with him. To me, Mary is meant to be the model of obedient faith, the "Mother of Faith."
As you can see, there is another figure in the crèche this morning. Joseph has joined Mary. Joseph is a largely forgotten figure in our celebration of the Birth of Jesus. For example, he is almost never mentioned in any of the popular Christmas carols. I checked it out. Our Pilgrim Hymnal has 46 hymns for Advent and Christmas. Mary, the mother of Jesus, is mentioned in eleven. Nine carols make reference to the shepherds and eight to the Wise Men. But poor old Joseph is spoken of in only one, "Christians Awake, Salute the Happy Morn!" Not a tune that most of us find ourselves humming!
Now the point here is not who's number one on the hit parade of Christmas. Obviously, Jesus is the most important and everyone, including Mary and Joseph, is secondary to him. It's just that Joseph's poor representation in Christmas carols is an indication that Joseph is a bit in the background. We may not know very much about his motivations or what he may have thought.
Still, Joseph the carpenter was a witness to the first Christmas. Like every other figure at the manger, Joseph has something important to say. This morning I'd like us to hear a little bit more from Joseph. I'm going to be making use of a first person narrative sermon about Joseph I once heard on tape. The sermon was written by Dr. Haddon Robinson, who teaches preaching at Gorden-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts.1 Please imagine, as you hear these words, that Joseph is speaking for himself.
"I think I had better introduce myself. My name is Joseph Davidson. Many of you already know me. I've been hanging around Christmas for a long time. But I suspect you don't know me very well. Sometimes I feel a bit like the father of the bride at a wedding. Nobody notices him, but he has to pay for the whole affair ... I want you to know that Christmas cost me a great deal. Let me tell you a bit about myself.
"My small claim to fame is that I happen to be a descendent of David, Israel's greatest king. That really isn't much to boast about. David lived a thousand years before I was born. By the time I came along there were hundreds, even thousands, of people who had been descended from David. Yet, it was something I was proud of, the same way that some of you are proud of being Daughters of the American Revolution. You boast a bit about tracing your family lineage back to people who came over on the Mayflower. That is sort of what it is with me.
"I grew up in the town of Bethlehem. It's a little town about seven miles south of the capital city of Jerusalem. It was difficult to make a living there. When I was a young man, I went up to the hill country near the Lake of Galilee and I settled in the town of Nazareth. I'm surprised some of you know Nazareth. It was so small it was the butt of jokes. Some of my countrymen would say, 'Can anything good come out of Nazareth?' But, I didn't go to Nazareth because it was a great city. I went there to work my trade.
"I'm a carpenter ... Carpenters are practical people. We're not poets or philosophers. I like to work with things you can handle and measure, cut and saw. I enjoy working with wood ...
"... Wood is an honest thing. I understand that some of you have doors that are hollow in the middle. I don't want to insult you, but you ought to be ashamed. I like wood that's wood clear through ...
"Times in Nazareth were good to me ... In Nazareth I first met Mary. She was about fifteen-and-a-half when I met her. Wonderful girl, wonderful woman. Before long, we were betrothed. Betrothal was sort of like engagement ... It lasted a year ... During that period, families got to know each other. They worked out a dowry. They searched the records at the temple in Jerusalem, because it would have been possible in a country as compact as ours for near relatives to marry and not even know it.
"It was a period in which I came to love Mary. She was a wonderful combination of girl and woman. There were times when she laughed and her eyes danced with joy. It was ecstasy to be with her. And as a woman she was as solid as the pillars of the temple ... She pondered life. And not only that, she could give expression to her thoughts in songs. Some of her songs were absolutely magnificent.
"That period of betrothal was a period in which I dreamed. I thought of building a house for Mary and for the children we would have. It's strange, isn't it, how quickly ... dreams can turn to nightmares? I noticed Mary had become quiet and withdrawn. When I asked her what was wrong, she told me she just couldn't talk about it. I had to go up to Capernaum to do some work, and while I was away, I wondered about her silence. I wondered if I had done something to offend her or her family.
"By the time I came back to Nazareth, I was beside myself. I asked Mary not to shut me out of her life, but I was completely unprepared for her answer.
"She ... said, 'I'm pregnant.' She began to weep. Of all the things that had been in my mind that one had never occurred to me. Pregnant! I had not been with her. If not me, who? How could this have happened without my knowing or without her parents knowing? We had love. We had trust. We had plans and dreams. Why?
"I needed to ask questions, but I was afraid to hear the answers. When she did answer me, it was like a slap in the face.
"She told me an angel had appeared to her and told her, a sixteen-year-old girl living in a fifth-rate little village, that she was going to be the mother of Israel's Messiah. Then she told me something else. She told me she was still a virgin, that the Spirit of God had come upon her and planted a baby in her womb. I was furious.
"It was one thing for her to betray our love. It was another thing to treat me like a fool by telling me a story that bordered on blasphemy. I could not believe it ... I wanted to lash out. I wanted to hurt her as she was hurting me.
"Back in the old Law, it said that if a woman were taken in adultery she should be stoned, and I could understand that law. Although we did not practice it then, I wanted somehow to get back at her for what she had done to our love, to my faith, and my reputation.
"I want you to understand that I'm a righteous man. I try to live according to the scriptures. I had a reputation in the community. As soon as they knew that Mary was pregnant, they would assume I was the father, and my reputation would be destroyed. I was furious. I was going to make it public. I was going to go before the elders at the gate and sever this relationship ...
"I couldn't do that; I loved Mary. Even though my trust was shattered, and I felt I could not marry her, I would not expose her to public shame. I decided that I would sever the thing quietly and make up some kind of a story.
"Mary knew she had to leave Nazareth. She knew that the caustic gossip in that community would be impossible to stand. She decide to go ... to live with her cousin, Elizabeth.
"After Mary left, however, I couldn't get her out of my mind. I'd ... work at my bench, but I could not pay attention to what I was doing. I could not eat; I could not sleep. One night I had a dream. I dreamed I was walking through a dark place, and suddenly, there up ahead of me was a blinding light. In the center of that light, I saw an angel. I was terrified, and the angel told me not to be afraid. The angel said, 'Joseph Davidson, don't be afraid to take Mary as your wife because this child she bears is of the Holy Spirit. And you shall call his name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.'
"When I awoke from that dream, I was elated. I had a message from heaven. I realized that Mary had told me the truth ... I apologized to Mary for doubting her word, and as soon as we could, we were married. I swear to you in all that time, I never touched her ...
"When I was young, I thought that if once in my life I were to see an angel, just one angel ... I would never doubt. I would always believe. I saw an angel. It was in a dream ... it was real and vivid to me.
"To be honest with you, Jesus didn't seem like much of a savior of the world. Oh, he was good. He was obedient. But when he was an infant, Mary fed him from her breast. You sing that hymn, 'The poor little Jesus, no crying he makes.' He cried ... When he fell in the streets of Nazareth and skinned his knee, it bled. I held him on my lap to tell him stories, and he fell asleep. He wasn't that different.
"... I wondered. Oh, I wondered ... Some of you here have a faith like Mary's. It's obedient. It's strong. It's rich. It's devout. Some of you, I think, are more like me -- practical people ... You like things you can touch, feel, measure ...
"Faith has its moods. After I was confronted by the angel, I thought I would never doubt again. But there were times when the whole thing didn't make sense to me. Some of you are like that. You believe your doubts. You doubt your beliefs. Sometimes you wonder if you believe at all. I understand.
"All I can say is ... when I faced ... questions, I came down on the side of faith. I faithed it through, in spite of my questions and my hurt ...
"And that's what God used. I, Joseph Davidson, put my thumb print on Jesus Christ. I taught him to be a carpenter. He was creative. He could make oxen yoke that were easy ... I taught him that.
"Of course, he was the Savior of the world. He put his thumb print upon my soul, but it wasn't easy. It's just that when I thought I knew what God wanted me to do, I did it. I had faith enough for that.
"That's my story ... You want to celebrate Christmas and worship again the birth of Jesus. And you ought to. But I just wanted you to know that I, Joseph Davidson, had something to do with that. When God sent his boy to earth, he put him into the care of this carpenter, who sometimes believed his doubts and doubted his beliefs, but faithed it through ...
"I'm not the main character of the story. But you might remember ... that God ... chose Joe Davidson, a carpenter who believed the best he could."
You might think about that.
____________
This sermon was presented as a first-person narrative. After the introduction, I left the pulpit and changed my clergy robe for a simple burlap robe. From that point on, I "became" Joseph Davidson, loosely following Dr. Robinson's sermon. Obviously, this approach may not work for every preacher. But a lay speaker might also personify Joseph.
1. Quotations from "Joseph Davidson: The Neglected" by Dr. Haddon Robinson. Available from Leadership Journal's Preaching Today audio/print series, tape no. 126. Used by permission.)
As you can see, there is another figure in the crèche this morning. Joseph has joined Mary. Joseph is a largely forgotten figure in our celebration of the Birth of Jesus. For example, he is almost never mentioned in any of the popular Christmas carols. I checked it out. Our Pilgrim Hymnal has 46 hymns for Advent and Christmas. Mary, the mother of Jesus, is mentioned in eleven. Nine carols make reference to the shepherds and eight to the Wise Men. But poor old Joseph is spoken of in only one, "Christians Awake, Salute the Happy Morn!" Not a tune that most of us find ourselves humming!
Now the point here is not who's number one on the hit parade of Christmas. Obviously, Jesus is the most important and everyone, including Mary and Joseph, is secondary to him. It's just that Joseph's poor representation in Christmas carols is an indication that Joseph is a bit in the background. We may not know very much about his motivations or what he may have thought.
Still, Joseph the carpenter was a witness to the first Christmas. Like every other figure at the manger, Joseph has something important to say. This morning I'd like us to hear a little bit more from Joseph. I'm going to be making use of a first person narrative sermon about Joseph I once heard on tape. The sermon was written by Dr. Haddon Robinson, who teaches preaching at Gorden-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts.1 Please imagine, as you hear these words, that Joseph is speaking for himself.
"I think I had better introduce myself. My name is Joseph Davidson. Many of you already know me. I've been hanging around Christmas for a long time. But I suspect you don't know me very well. Sometimes I feel a bit like the father of the bride at a wedding. Nobody notices him, but he has to pay for the whole affair ... I want you to know that Christmas cost me a great deal. Let me tell you a bit about myself.
"My small claim to fame is that I happen to be a descendent of David, Israel's greatest king. That really isn't much to boast about. David lived a thousand years before I was born. By the time I came along there were hundreds, even thousands, of people who had been descended from David. Yet, it was something I was proud of, the same way that some of you are proud of being Daughters of the American Revolution. You boast a bit about tracing your family lineage back to people who came over on the Mayflower. That is sort of what it is with me.
"I grew up in the town of Bethlehem. It's a little town about seven miles south of the capital city of Jerusalem. It was difficult to make a living there. When I was a young man, I went up to the hill country near the Lake of Galilee and I settled in the town of Nazareth. I'm surprised some of you know Nazareth. It was so small it was the butt of jokes. Some of my countrymen would say, 'Can anything good come out of Nazareth?' But, I didn't go to Nazareth because it was a great city. I went there to work my trade.
"I'm a carpenter ... Carpenters are practical people. We're not poets or philosophers. I like to work with things you can handle and measure, cut and saw. I enjoy working with wood ...
"... Wood is an honest thing. I understand that some of you have doors that are hollow in the middle. I don't want to insult you, but you ought to be ashamed. I like wood that's wood clear through ...
"Times in Nazareth were good to me ... In Nazareth I first met Mary. She was about fifteen-and-a-half when I met her. Wonderful girl, wonderful woman. Before long, we were betrothed. Betrothal was sort of like engagement ... It lasted a year ... During that period, families got to know each other. They worked out a dowry. They searched the records at the temple in Jerusalem, because it would have been possible in a country as compact as ours for near relatives to marry and not even know it.
"It was a period in which I came to love Mary. She was a wonderful combination of girl and woman. There were times when she laughed and her eyes danced with joy. It was ecstasy to be with her. And as a woman she was as solid as the pillars of the temple ... She pondered life. And not only that, she could give expression to her thoughts in songs. Some of her songs were absolutely magnificent.
"That period of betrothal was a period in which I dreamed. I thought of building a house for Mary and for the children we would have. It's strange, isn't it, how quickly ... dreams can turn to nightmares? I noticed Mary had become quiet and withdrawn. When I asked her what was wrong, she told me she just couldn't talk about it. I had to go up to Capernaum to do some work, and while I was away, I wondered about her silence. I wondered if I had done something to offend her or her family.
"By the time I came back to Nazareth, I was beside myself. I asked Mary not to shut me out of her life, but I was completely unprepared for her answer.
"She ... said, 'I'm pregnant.' She began to weep. Of all the things that had been in my mind that one had never occurred to me. Pregnant! I had not been with her. If not me, who? How could this have happened without my knowing or without her parents knowing? We had love. We had trust. We had plans and dreams. Why?
"I needed to ask questions, but I was afraid to hear the answers. When she did answer me, it was like a slap in the face.
"She told me an angel had appeared to her and told her, a sixteen-year-old girl living in a fifth-rate little village, that she was going to be the mother of Israel's Messiah. Then she told me something else. She told me she was still a virgin, that the Spirit of God had come upon her and planted a baby in her womb. I was furious.
"It was one thing for her to betray our love. It was another thing to treat me like a fool by telling me a story that bordered on blasphemy. I could not believe it ... I wanted to lash out. I wanted to hurt her as she was hurting me.
"Back in the old Law, it said that if a woman were taken in adultery she should be stoned, and I could understand that law. Although we did not practice it then, I wanted somehow to get back at her for what she had done to our love, to my faith, and my reputation.
"I want you to understand that I'm a righteous man. I try to live according to the scriptures. I had a reputation in the community. As soon as they knew that Mary was pregnant, they would assume I was the father, and my reputation would be destroyed. I was furious. I was going to make it public. I was going to go before the elders at the gate and sever this relationship ...
"I couldn't do that; I loved Mary. Even though my trust was shattered, and I felt I could not marry her, I would not expose her to public shame. I decided that I would sever the thing quietly and make up some kind of a story.
"Mary knew she had to leave Nazareth. She knew that the caustic gossip in that community would be impossible to stand. She decide to go ... to live with her cousin, Elizabeth.
"After Mary left, however, I couldn't get her out of my mind. I'd ... work at my bench, but I could not pay attention to what I was doing. I could not eat; I could not sleep. One night I had a dream. I dreamed I was walking through a dark place, and suddenly, there up ahead of me was a blinding light. In the center of that light, I saw an angel. I was terrified, and the angel told me not to be afraid. The angel said, 'Joseph Davidson, don't be afraid to take Mary as your wife because this child she bears is of the Holy Spirit. And you shall call his name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.'
"When I awoke from that dream, I was elated. I had a message from heaven. I realized that Mary had told me the truth ... I apologized to Mary for doubting her word, and as soon as we could, we were married. I swear to you in all that time, I never touched her ...
"When I was young, I thought that if once in my life I were to see an angel, just one angel ... I would never doubt. I would always believe. I saw an angel. It was in a dream ... it was real and vivid to me.
"To be honest with you, Jesus didn't seem like much of a savior of the world. Oh, he was good. He was obedient. But when he was an infant, Mary fed him from her breast. You sing that hymn, 'The poor little Jesus, no crying he makes.' He cried ... When he fell in the streets of Nazareth and skinned his knee, it bled. I held him on my lap to tell him stories, and he fell asleep. He wasn't that different.
"... I wondered. Oh, I wondered ... Some of you here have a faith like Mary's. It's obedient. It's strong. It's rich. It's devout. Some of you, I think, are more like me -- practical people ... You like things you can touch, feel, measure ...
"Faith has its moods. After I was confronted by the angel, I thought I would never doubt again. But there were times when the whole thing didn't make sense to me. Some of you are like that. You believe your doubts. You doubt your beliefs. Sometimes you wonder if you believe at all. I understand.
"All I can say is ... when I faced ... questions, I came down on the side of faith. I faithed it through, in spite of my questions and my hurt ...
"And that's what God used. I, Joseph Davidson, put my thumb print on Jesus Christ. I taught him to be a carpenter. He was creative. He could make oxen yoke that were easy ... I taught him that.
"Of course, he was the Savior of the world. He put his thumb print upon my soul, but it wasn't easy. It's just that when I thought I knew what God wanted me to do, I did it. I had faith enough for that.
"That's my story ... You want to celebrate Christmas and worship again the birth of Jesus. And you ought to. But I just wanted you to know that I, Joseph Davidson, had something to do with that. When God sent his boy to earth, he put him into the care of this carpenter, who sometimes believed his doubts and doubted his beliefs, but faithed it through ...
"I'm not the main character of the story. But you might remember ... that God ... chose Joe Davidson, a carpenter who believed the best he could."
You might think about that.
____________
This sermon was presented as a first-person narrative. After the introduction, I left the pulpit and changed my clergy robe for a simple burlap robe. From that point on, I "became" Joseph Davidson, loosely following Dr. Robinson's sermon. Obviously, this approach may not work for every preacher. But a lay speaker might also personify Joseph.
1. Quotations from "Joseph Davidson: The Neglected" by Dr. Haddon Robinson. Available from Leadership Journal's Preaching Today audio/print series, tape no. 126. Used by permission.)
