In the fourth century BC, Hippocrates, who is often called the “father of medicine,” said, “For extreme diseases, extreme methods of cure are most suitable.” The more modern twist is this: “Desperate times call for desperate measures.”
Do you remember the series Desperate Housewives? I’m not a housewife, but I was glued to it for a few seasons. It ran for eight seasons, and it ran that long because it struck a nerve, reminding us that we’re all desperate in some way or another. Susan was the frustrated divorcee trying to raise her teenage daughter who always falls for the wrong boyfriend. Lynette is married to Tom, and she’s trying to deal with four very high-maintenance young children while simultaneously trying to run Tom’s life, too. Everyone thinks Bree is just wonderful, because she has this all-put-together Ina Garten entertaining vibe, but that’s just cover for her alcoholism and family dysfunction.
What about St. Joseph in the Gospel according to St. Matthew today? Do you think there’s something going below the surface that maybe Sunday School, nativity sets, and coloring books failed to mention?
Most of us have this one-way understanding of St. Joseph as the perfect, doting husband; the hard-working, honest carpenter; and the warm, adoptive father of the boy Jesus. I think he was all those things – and more, but, the setting today is before all of that, and he looks a little a worn-out and desperate to me.
Think about it. His wife-to-be has returned pregnant from a three-month trip to her cousin’s place out of town – for all he knows they went wild in Vegas. He certainly knows he’s not the father, which instantly means he thinks it was some other man, and he’s not real sure about Mary’s whole retelling of the events.
Now, St. Matthew tells us Joseph was righteous man. Before you go thinking “righteous” means “perfect,” in this case it meant he wasn’t out for revenge, so he decided to quietly separate and move on from Mary to save her from public shame – or worse. In those days, he could have asked for Mary to be stoned to death. He was anxious, heartbroken and fearful – yeah, desperate. So, he decided to throw in the towel – to quietly walk away.
But sometimes the stakes are so high that even angels get involved!
The Angel appeared to St. Joseph in a dream, saying, “Don’t be afraid…[Mary] will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
Do you remember the scene in the original Home Alone movie when little Kevin is drawn into the church by the sounds of the choir rehearsing on Christmas Eve? It was an Episcopal church in Chicago, if you’re curious about such things. He sits down in the pew to listen, and his heretofore scary neighbor – the creepy old man from down the street – appears and asks to sit with him. As it turns out, they really bond, and the old man asks Kevin, “Have you been a good boy this year?” And almost instinctively Kevin replies, “Yes.” The older begins to play this God-type character and asks further, “You swear to it?” Kevin’s shoulders relax, he shakes his head and says, “No.” But the old man’s countenance softens, his eyes glow softly with compassion while the choir sings, and he gently tells Kevin: “This is a good place to be if you’re feeling bad about yourself.” Kevin is clearly moved by the encounter, because he breaks into his own sort of confession:
I’ve been kind of a pain lately. I said some things I shouldn’t have. I haven’t been too good this year. I’m upset about, ‘cause I really like my family even though I say I don’t – sometimes I even think I don’t.
Kevin McAllister was indeed in the right place. You’re in the right place today. I’m in the right place. Even if we’ve been on the naughty list all year – or all our lives – this is the place to be, because this is the place where we come to experience week after week the reality of what the Angel promised to St. Joseph – that “Jesus saves His people from their sins.”
And I think it’s high time we start living like forgiven people – as pilgrim folk who rejoice that Jesus came “not weighing our merits but pardoning our offenses” (paraphrase on the BCP). It is this knowledge and awareness – not our self-righteous efforts to measure-up – that gives us the grace to fully love God above all else and our neighbors as ourselves.
Archbishop Thomas Cranmer – five hundred years ago –taught: “What the heart loves, the will chooses, and the mind justifies.” The only way the heart can love God, the only way the will chooses God freely and continually, and the only way the mind can do it over and over again is directly correlated to the degree of my awareness of the knowledge that “God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ” by the forgiveness of our sins (1 Thess. 5:9).
But change is hard (just ask Malacy). The Essex – the best group of 1963, sang it like this:
Deep in my heart I know it,
But it’s so hard to show it
Cause it’s easier, easier said than done.
On September 10, 2001, Windows on the World had 60,000 wines in the cellar—many rare and stunning. They were all destroyed.
What wine have you failed to open? What bottle of reconciliation have you been wanted to crack but haven’t?
There are 2 approaches: The old way being afraid and the new way of grace
It’s like Elon Musk vs Detroit. This is disruptive.
The Queen, yes, Her Majesty, in her annual Christmas Message 2011, broadcast to many countries in the world:
“Although we are capable of great acts of kindness, history teaches us that we sometimes need saving from ourselves – from our recklessness or our greed. God sent into the world a unique person – neither a philosopher nor a general (important though they are) – but a Saviour, with the power to forgive.
“Forgiveness lies at the heart of the Christian faith. It can heal broken families, it can restore friendships and it can reconcile divided communities. It is in forgiveness that we feel the power of God’s love.”
The angel told this to Saint Joseph to pull away the blindfold that keeps our eyes and hearts from sensing God’s presence and grace.
Sermon preached by the Rev. Charleston David Wilson
Church of the Redeemer
Sarasota Florida
4th Sunday of Advent
22 December 2019