Homily for the 4th Sunday of Advent, A

Matthew’s telling of Joseph’s story empowers us all to take our place on that crowded pageant stage. The rest of us play only supporting roles in the cast. We are not “Gospel leads.” In God’s holy dream, we are accepted as we are: partners in God’s labor. The Savior is of our own lineage. "Unto us" —all of us— "a child is born."

I have Mass on December 21 at St. Isidore @ 7:30/9:30 am

The 7:30 am Sunday Mass will be live-streamed. https://stisidore.church/worship-online/

I will have Mass on Christmas Day at St. Isidore @ 8:30 am.

frjoedailey@gmail.ccom

Transcript

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew. 

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the Holy Spirit. Joseph, her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly. 

Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary, your wife, into your home, for it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means God is with us. 

When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home. 

The Gospel of the Lord.

 When I was a pastor at Christ the Redeemer, the children of the parish would recreate the nativity scene during the parish Christmas program. Each year a newborn infant was chosen to be the Christ child. When the time came for Mary to give birth to her firstborn, wrap him in swaddling clothes, and lay him in a manger, the baby's mother placed the baby in the manger and then stepped back out of the scene. 

Now, you can imagine, just offstage, There is a somewhat apprehensive mother who has just handed over her child to the watchful eyes of a pair of eight-year-olds playing the parts of Mary and Joseph. Every parent knows the anxiety of handing over their firstborn into the care of another, of handing over their child on the first day of kindergarten, or the first day of college, or sitting in the church at the wedding of a son or daughter and watching as they hand over their life into the care of another. 

One of the marks of love is precariousness, of taking the risk of letting go of control, of allowing the other freedom, the ability to make decisions without coercion. If you teach a child to walk, then one day he or she may walk in a direction that you did not expect or wish. You are giving them the freedom to walk away from you. Deep love does not hold on to us. It lets us go. 

Joseph is righteous, not because he understands what God is doing, but because he chooses love when the cost becomes clear. He takes Mary into his home. He claims a child that is not his own. He carries a future he did not plan. St. Augustine once famously said, If you understand it, it isn't God. 

In the opening verses of his letter to the Romans, St. Paul begins not with credentials, but with identity. He names himself as one who belongs, set apart, not because he is exceptional, but because he has been claimed. Paul places himself within a story that began long before him, a story of God choosing to enter human history. Sacred knowing begins this way, not with answers, but with participation. It begins not when everything makes sense, but when we consent to love unfolding in ways we cannot yet explain. Paul is speaking to all of the beloved of God in Rome, called to be saints. Beloved belonging changes everything. 

Matthew tells the Christmas story from an unexpected angle. Not from Mary's courage, but from Joseph's quiet obedience. Joseph does not speak a single word in this passage, but he listens. He dreams. He decides to stay. Joseph is introduced at a moment when his life is already unraveled, undone by news he cannot explain. Mary is pregnant, and Joseph knows the cost of that knowledge. He knows the law. He knows the risk. He knows how quickly shame spreads. So he chooses mercy, quietly. 

A decision not made from certainty, but from compassion. And then God interrupts in a dream. Do not be afraid. And somehow, that is enough. Joseph steps into a story larger than his understanding. Joseph does not understand the Incarnation. He shelters it. He welcomes Mary into his house. He becomes the quiet space where God's promise can grow. 

Recently, I was in a situation that didn't make any sense to me. I thought someone had lied to me. I couldn't understand it because there was no reason to lie. I decided to wait and see how the story played out. I was really glad I did. It turned out they weren't lying. There was more to the story than I had known. 

Giving someone the benefit of the doubt is a good paraphrase of an idea that St. Ignatius places at the forefront of his spiritual exercises. The tool is known as the presupposition. One should always be more eager to put a positive interpretation on a person's words than a negative one. And, Ignatius counsels, if it is not clear how someone means something, one should ask for clarification. Essentially, it means in the church and in the state, too. It's always good to remember that people are trying their best. And even if they're not trying their best, it's good not to assume that they aren't. Always to approach people, as Jesus did, with an open heart. 

Jesus is the Greek rendering of the Hebrew Joshua, which means God helps or God saves. Jesus is given another name, Emmanuel, which as Matthew tells us means God with us. 

Until his revelatory dream, Joseph had no way to know that he had been cast in the greatest of all human dramas, the gospel of God. Matthew's telling of Joseph's story empowers all of us to take our place on that crowded pageant stage. The rest of us play only supporting roles in the cast. We are not gospel leads. In God's holy dream, we are accepted as we are partners in God's labor. The Savior is of our own lineage. Unto us, all of us, a child is born.