The Greek
philosopher, Diogenes, searched fruitlessly for an honest man. His behavior was
clearly eccentric but guided by the principle that any act one does in private
without shame can be done in public. This idea is quite contradictory to the
Christian ideal unless we also understand that righteousness should guide our inner
activity, and hence, our external activity.
If we read
the laments of Psalm 80 we find much in common with a lament for righteousness we may raise
today, “Lord come and save us.” The words of the psalmist clearly show
that the Hebrews have incurred the ire of God and are oppressed by neighbors
and enemies, “You make us the scorn of our neighbors; our enemies laugh among
themselves.” The psalmist says the Lord is not happy with their inner self,
“How long will you be angry with your people's prayers? You have fed them with
the bread of tears."Using honoroific descriptions such as "Give ear, O Shepherd of
Israel,” “O Lord God of hosts,” and “You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, he repeats the only pleas available to him, "Restore us, O God, Restore us, O
Lord God of hosts,” and “Stir up your might and come to save us!"
The
psalmist captures the depths of lament held in common by all of God’s children
who feel abandoned or oppressed, yet ends on a note of hope for reconciliation,
"Let your face shine, that we may be saved." These words parallel the
great benediction of Numbers 6:24-26, (“The Lord bless you and keep you; the
Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face
toward you and give you peace.”)
Isaiah
speaks to King Ahaz of Judah in a similar situation of hopelessness and
despair. Although the history of King Ahaz is complicated by the differing
accounts in 2 Kings 16 and 1 Chronicles 28, we do know Ahaz reigned in the time
of threat by Assyria, Syria, Israel and Egypt. Although he may have only been
trying to create alliances to save Judah, he does not present himself as an
exemplary righteous king. His congress with the Syrians swayed him to worship
and erect idols of Syrian gods in the Temple in Jerusalem indicating he had
little confidence in the Lord's ability to save Judah but much
confidence in the Syrian king.
Isaiah
knows the Lord promised he would defend Judah, so he tells Ahaz not to be
fainthearted and calls Judah’s two enemies Syria and Assyria pathetic “smoldering
torches.”
Isaiah
taunts Ahaz with disgust and sarcasm, “Why don't you ask the Lord for a
sign?” only to have Ahaz say, “I do not want to put the Lord to the test.” Can
we conclude anything else than Ahaz doesn't have confidence the Lord will come through?
Exasperated,
Isaiah’s sarcasm cuts deeper, “Why do you weary my God?” - a clear slap in the
face of King Ahaz who has been worshipping Syrian gods. And then the truth,
salvation of Judah will come by a Savior, a child born be born of a young woman
who will be named Emmanuel... (Emmanuel means God is with us)... before the
child is old enough to know good from evil the kings who threaten Judah will be
gone. The lament of Psalm 80 is answered with the assurance that the Lord will
be with them in this time of their lament.
Now, about
500 years later, Matthew in the time of the Romans describes the birth ofJesus. Sadly, as far back as in the first 150 years of the
Church arguments about whether Mary was a “young woman” or a “virgin” have
caused great debate and conflict in the church and cost a few people their
life. People argue over the proper translation of the Hebrew and the Greek
words for young woman and a virgin expending great energy arguing over the
legitimacy or validity of the virgin birth, a relatively inconsequential issue
in the face of the core message of the good news in all the gospels
embodied in the two names given her child, the absolute measure of our faith,
that finally “God is with us to save us.”
It is a
divine tragedy when we miss this one common thread in all the Scriptures that
Jesus is the answer to the lament of the Psalm, “God come and save us.”
There is more to Matthew than meets the eye on a first reading of this
account of the birth story. Yes, we know that Mary found herself pregnant with
this young child while she was engaged to Joseph before they began to live
together.
This was a
very serious, deadly matter, whether intended to preserve family structure or
assuage the cuckolded male’s pride. According to the Law, both
the unmarried woman and man who were discovered to have a relationship
outside of marriage were to be stoned to death. (If discovered in a field,
only the man was stoned with the presumption no one could hear the woman’s
cry for help.)
Joseph goes
against the letter of the Law and opts to divorce Mary quietly rather than
humiliate and expose her, yet Matthew calls Joseph a righteous man. (The
traditional reference to “Jesus son of Mary” acknowledges the indeterminate
parentage.)
Joseph
bears some similarity to Abraham (father of many nations). Do you remember the
story of what made Abraham righteous? The Lord told Abram (before he was
renamed) to pack his bags, take his belongings and leave Aram for the life
of a sojourner, a traveler. Abram packed his bags and left, not
questioning the Lord. For that he was reckoned righteous because of his willing
obedience.
The angel
tells Joseph not fear taking Mary as his wife because this child will save
his people from their sins, instructing him to name the child Jesus. The
angel repeats the verse from Isaiah that he will be Emmanuel or God is with us.
Joseph names the child Jesus, as instructed.
Have we
found the righteous man (besides Abraham)? Joseph finds himself in quite a
predicament. As I said under the law a woman and a man having been discovered
in a relationship outside of marriage especially if the woman was betrothed to
another, are to be punished by stoning. The Law prescribed a rigid solution for
the circumstance. It seems to me by conventional wisdom that if Joseph was a
righteous man, he would have led Mary out to the gate and perhaps picked up the
first stone himself. Or perhaps fear that people might decide even to stone him
as the other guilty party. This alone might fuel the desire to divorce Mary
quietly and not call attention to the matter.
What more
is buried in this birth story by Matthew? Certainly, Joseph shows
compassion for Mary, and willingly follow the word of the Lord. But the
birth story reveals another part of his righteousness. In the time of
Jesus, a man naming a son, regardless of parentage, was a public sign and
covenant with the child that the son was recognized as kindred son. The child
is thereby accepted fully into the family. We discover another facet of his
righteousness.
But there
is more to the outcome of the righteous acts by Joseph. Joseph named the
boy Jesus as told. What is in the name Jesus? The name “Jesus” has an
interesting history. The Hebrew word, Yahoshua evolved into the word Yoshua, or
Joshua, that the Greek translates loosely into Jesus. The Hebrew meaning of
Joshua is, “O Lord, Save us!” or, “the Lord, saves us.”
Even if the
angel had not told us that this young child is Emmanuel, “God is with us,” the
angel made sure by the child's name that we would get the message that this
child will be “the Lord who saves us,” and therefore he will be also “the Lord
who is with us.”
So, we see
several perspectives of righteousness in Joseph. He exhibits a fatherly
righteousness that Jesus will speak about later during the confrontation with
the scribes and Pharisees, when he takes them to task for trying to live the
literal word of the law rather than the law that is written in their hearts. If
that rigidity happened with Mary, Jesus would not be here.
Throughout
his ministry Jesus will drive home over and over a simple point about
righteousness. Righteousness, the manifestation of a life lived under the
law, is not found by what is written on paper or stone but by what grace is
written in one’s heart.”
Sin and the
written Law binds and condemns us. Matthew gives us Joseph, another example of
a righteous man who did as the Lord instructed. He embraced his son as
Jesus who came to hold out the hand of righteous grace to save us, not to judge
us.
After
sorting through Isaiah and Matthew, it is hard to miss what the hope in the
lament by author of Psalm 80, “God come and save us.” The psalmist
expected divine grace. Isaiah prophesied divine grace to a generation that did
nothing to justify the steadfast lovingkindness of the Lord bound in the
covenant that he made with the Hebrews, “You will be my people, always.”
That
covenant rings in the air as Isaiah tells Ahaz that he had too little faith in
that covenant to ask for grace. “Is it (grace) too little for you to weary my
God so?”
I wonder if
that is not so different from our own world where the rush to judgment is often
cloaked in a mantle of self-defined righteousness? That is our nature. We go
about the world inclined almost reflexively to judge people, or our own self.
Some time we say it alound, at other times we say it under our breath,
"they don't deserve it, I can’t believe they did that," “I don’t
deserve grace,” and so on.
But, even
when we are self-righteously, pridefully, floundering in our own trials,
tribulations and judgment, who among us does not hope, “Lord please save us,”
from the person a righteous man named “The Lord Saves Us.”
The part of
our liturgy called the prayer of confession is tied fundamentally to the
whole principle of our Christian belief. Paul says we've all as sinned and
fallen short of the glory of God. Yet confession only requires us to
proclaim that Jesus is Lord, and act that way.
Righteousness
sounds so simple, doesn't it? Micah (6:8) tells us how simple it is.
Micah asks, “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD
require of you? Only to do justice to love kindness and walk humbly with your
God.
I think
finding righteousness is so hard because like Ahaz, we find it hard to
acknowledge that we can accept and trust grace rather than judge our own
selves. That message is the heart of this person called God save us and God
is with us, this Jesus, this Emmanuel. This is the One to whom the psalmist
laments, “Restore my soul, Lord God of hosts let your face shine that we may be
saved.”
Next
Saturday evening and Sunday Christians celebrate the response found in the
heart of God, that this child born on Christmas day is the answer to that
lament to the Lord, "Stir up your might, and come to save us!" The response
relied on the compassionate righteousness in the heart of Joseph, for Mary
and for this fatherless child that he named him Jesus and took for his own.
For me, the
antidote for this world of anger and hostility and judgment and finger-pointing
is to live with the grace and model of righteousness found in two people,
Joseph and Jesus.
When you
celebrate these remaining days before Christmas remember that you're
celebrating the season of the righteous man, you're celebrating the
proclamation of Micah (6:8) who said "…He has told you Oh mortal, what is
good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love
kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?"
Is there
anything else we can say than, "Merry Christmas and God be with you."
Amen.
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