When Joseph awoke,
he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him
and took his wife into his home.
Tomorrow evening we will gather in this church to remember the incarnation of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
In preparation we recall, through today’s readings, what it means to ask and to obey.
Here we have Joseph, the righteous. To the best of his knowledge he’d been cheated on. His betrothed was pregnant.
I cannot imagine Joseph just falling into a deep sleep. He was troubled by this news. It is likely that he was tossing and turning, asking over and over, —What should I do? What should I do?—
Joseph was asking. Should he expose Mary? She would be stoned to death. In Deuteronomy 22 we read:
“If there is a betrothed virgin, and a man meets her in the city and lies with her, then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones, the young woman because she did not cry for help though she was in the city, and the man because he violated his neighbor’s wife; so you shall purge the evil from the midst of you.—
He decided that he would divorce her quietly.
It was a practical decision. Stoning was falling out of favor. The Rabbis were concerned with the credibility of witnesses and the extent to which capital punishment had been used.
Joseph was asking, and had reached a decision based on the knowledge that was available to him.
God had other plans.
Brothers and sisters,
We hear the word of God quite often, at least weekly. The readings for the week are posted in the bulletin. The ambitious among you might try reading those. The really ambitious might pray Vespers each day.
We hear and we study. The Sacrament of God’s word is provided for us.
Based on the knowledge available to us, how do we react?
The reading from Isaiah tells of Ahaz:
The LORD spoke to Ahaz, saying:
Ask for a sign from the LORD, your God;
let it be deep as the netherworld, or high as the sky!
Ahaz received the word first hand. What was his response?
But Ahaz answered,
—I will not ask! I will not tempt the LORD!—
Was Ahaz afraid?
He most certainly was. Ahaz was the King of Judah. He saw the balance of the Northern Kingdoms falling. He himself had fallen into idol worship. He reigned for sixteen years, afraid and looking for answers.
But when God told him to ask, when God told him to be unafraid he refused to ask.
Ahaz had it figured, and he wouldn’t ask, because he was afraid, because he thought he had the answers.
Contrast Joseph. Joseph already had his answer, but when the Lord came to him he responded in the way the Lord asked. Joseph received the sign and he listened.
Ahaz sought answers. He asked and did not obey. Joseph sought answers. He asked and obeyed.
St. Paul tells us:
Through [Jesus Christ our Lord] we have received the grace of apostleship,
to bring about the obedience of faith,
for the sake of his name, among all the Gentiles,
among whom are you also, who are called to belong to Jesus Christ
Paul is talking to us. He is telling us to ask and to be obedient to what has been given. Our chosen reaction is to be one of faith.
Regardless of the obstacles, our fear, our preplanning, we are to ask and to obey as true apostles of Jesus Christ.
Ahaz wouldn’t ask, but God gave the sign anyway. Ahaz was long dead, but the sign was given.
Now we have to live with that sign —“ and in conformity with that sign.
Annie Dillard in Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters wrote
—Why do people in church seem like cheerful, brainless tourists on a packaged tour of the Absolute? … Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense, or the waking god may draw us to where we can never return.—
We have been taken to that place. By God’s mercy we can sit here, invoke his name, and in spite of our sinfulness He sees us washed in the blood of His Son. The ceiling will not fall in, only grace will fall down upon us. He sees us as apostles —“ bearing the message of the Kingdom.
We are at a place from which we can never return —“ we are changed. So, we are to ask every day. We are to obey His teachings. Ask, obey, and we will live forever.
Amen.