The Cast of Christmas : The Peace of an Average Joe

You can watch the video version of this sermon here.

Greetings and welcome back to another week here on Making Waves! Wonderful to have you here, and I pray that you are able to glean something out of this sermon.

Do you have any memories from childhood that just stand out above the rest? Something that you may never forget? I can recall so vividly my weekly routine of getting home from school. I would ride the bus home and listen to my walkman CD player, blaring some Barenaked Ladies or other 90s group through my cheapo headphones. Then I would head over to a friends’ house and we would jump on the trampoline for a while, then I would head home and fire up my Nintendo Gamecube and play maybe a half hour to an hour of some random Sonic the Hedgehog or Super Mario video game. I would hear my mom pull in the garage and hear the shuffle of her downstairs in the house. Next, I’d play with my legos for a bit, maybe build something new, or act out some kind of scene that my legos needed to continue their adventures.

Finally, I would downstairs at exactly 5:25 and have a seat in the living room. Sometimes my mom would be sitting as well, sometimes she’d be cooking dinner, or doing some other chore, but either way the television would be on. It had to be on because at 5:30 on the dot a rerun of The Andy Griffith Show would come on our local news channel. We would only watch if it were the original black-and-white television show, because my mom didn’t consider the colorvision version to be the “real” Andy Griffith Show. We would watch the whole half hour and my mom would quote nearly every word (especially the funny bits) and then we would figure out dinner at 6, after the show ended.

This routine sticks out so prevalent in my mind. But, as I am sitting here thinking about it, I can hardly remember a single line from sheriff Andy Taylor. If I really sat and thought about it, I could probably come up with something, but most of the stories and dialogue that affected me in the series was spoken or illustrated by the other characters. I can clearly recall the physical comedy of bumbling Otis coming into the jail cell of his own accord, or I can remember Barney Fife fumbling to load his gun with the single bullet that Ange would let him carry. I still quote to this day the scene where Gomer (who may or may not be my favorite character) runs down main street after Barney makes an illegal u-turn, “Citizen’s a-rreyest! Citizen’s a-rreyest!”

See, sometimes even though the main character may seem to be the biggest deal in the show, sometimes we can find who we relate to the best in the side characters or the minor characters.

As you may recall from last week’s sermon, we have just started a new series called “The Cast of Christmas.” In this series, we are taking a step back from the usual focus of Christmas time and looking at the minor characters of the Christmas story. We all know the story and meaning of Christ at Christmas, but what can we learn from those other characters mentioned in the story that normally get glossed over?

Last week, we looked at Jesus’ “uncle” Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist. We read about his story of doubt and trouble, but saw through his wife’s miraculous birth a glimmer and shine of hope. Hope not only for Zechariah and his wife (who was barren), but also hope unto the world; a world that was definitely hurting.

This week, we are taking a look at another dad in the Christmas story. This is a guy whose name you’ve definitely heard. You’ve likely included him in your nativity scene and then you pack him away and never really think of him again: Joseph, the father of Jesus. Joseph is such a small deal in the Bible story that, when you search him online, you have to be sure to include which Joseph you are talking about, because Joseph and his coat of many colors comes up first.

Joseph wasn’t really someone special. Do you remember several years ago when presidential nominee John McCain and his running mate Sarah Palin had this rather famous news interview with Joe the Plumber? He was just this average guy, just an average Joe. Nothing too spectacular, no history in politics, but still he became a news sensation overnight. Well, our average Joe today might be similar in this way. Hear now this story of an average Joe who gets in way over his head.

“16 and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.

17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations.

18 Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. 20 But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

• Matthew 1:16-23

Will you pray with me? Dear Heavenly Father, I ask that the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts together be acceptable in Your presence, O God, for You are our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

Now, let’s start by taking a step back and looking at ol’ Joe and seeing what the scripture tells us about Joseph and, spoiler alert, it’s not very much. We know that first and foremost, Joseph is less than spectacularly interesting. There are only two things that the scriptures really tell us about Joseph. 1) He was of the lineage of King David, which is important to the prophecy, and 2) He is a righteous man.

We know that he is of the lineage of David because of the list that I have chosen not to read earlier in this scripture. We also know that this is important because a few weeks ago we read out of the book of the prophet Jeremiah who explained to us that the Savior will be from the branch of Jesse and David.

We also know that Joseph is a righteous and honorable man because he learns of his betrothed wife’s unplanned, unprecedented, unwarranted pregnancy and he desires to maintain her honor and brush the whole thing under the rug with a swift and gentle divorce. Now, the scripture pulls some punches here. It tells that Joseph is doing this to allow Mary to not suffer any public disgrace, but further study of culture will show that he was saving Mary’s life. Had he been a jealous man or an angry man and turned her in for breaking the vow of their future marriage. Mary would likely have been stoned to death after being exiled and punished in a plethora of horrific means.

So, if that’s where we stopped diving into the scripture, we could wrap it up there and head out to lunch with a quick and easy sermon. As far as the face value of Joseph goes, it’s that simple. He was just an average Joe on the surface of these pages, but the Bible isn’t a book to be read at face value. Joseph may only be described in a paragraph or two, but when you really look at his character, maybe we can see a deeper message that Joseph wants to illicit.

I’m not sure if Joseph may have slipped a twenty to Matthew in return for a good presentation in his gospel, but Joseph is made to look like a real tough guy in this scripture. He is honorable, righteous, and generous to his wife-to-be. He almost seems too tough, doesn’t he? If I had to put myself in Joseph’s shoes, I can tell you how I’d feel: angry, betrayed, jealous, terrified. Joseph was clearly a guy who figured things out. He had his life planned out. He was engaged, he had his career planned, he seemed to be successful and headed on the right track. Then God takes Joseph’s plans and throws them out the window, replacing them with His own plans. Then Joseph, being the planner that he is, makes a new plan to respect his wife, divorce quietly and continue on with his old plan - sans wife. Then God sends an angel who comes and tells him that Joseph’s back-up plan still doesn’t line up with God’s intentions.

Have you ever taken a toy from a two year old? I use the term “toy” loosely, I really could say, have you ever taken anything from a two year old? It’s a miserable experience, right? As soon as a toddler picks up something, they immediately begin to plan what they will do with it and they have no intention of letting go of their plan. So, when someone takes the toy away, they snatch it back and go back to their initial plan. Even when the toddler grows up, we don’t like to have our plans changed on us, do we? Last night, Logan and I had planned to go to Outback Steakhouse for dinner, and the line was pretty much out the front door, so we wound up going somewhere else. For that split second after my wife came out the door to tell me that Outback was a no-go, I was genuinely disappointed and frustrated. Now, this is a bit of a silly example, but how about with more serious changes?

How about when you have a plan for your job, but then you get laid off?

How about when you want to retire by a certain age, but then things don’t go your way and you end up having to work longer than you planned?

How about when you have money saved up for something special but then you get sick?

How about when you have your life panned out and then find out your wife is pregnant with someone else’s baby and you have to marry that person anyway and then have to leave the town you know and love because there are people out there who plan to kill your baby, so you take your wife and go to a run down stable to have the child, whom you know will grow up in this world only to be betrayed by the people that he came for? That was hardly Joseph’s plan. And we hate when things don’t go according to plan.

Above all else, all other emotions, I think Joseph was afraid. I’ve been listening to a new audiobook, you may have heard of the series: Game of Thrones. I’ve never watched the television show, and I certainly cannot recommend it in this Christian setting, but the book thus far has been fascinating. In a recent chapter, there is this incredibly interesting exchange between a father and son. The father rules one of the provinces of the kingdom, and he is bound by duty to act out an execution on a guilty man. One of his sons watches the execution takes place and talks with his father afterwards. The son tells his father about what the people around him were saying of the man who was executed. The son says that one of his siblings called the man a coward, saying that he was afraid. Another sibling said that the man was incredibly brave during the execution. The father curiously asks his son what he believes. The son responded with a question, “Why could it not be both?” The father smiles and explains that the only time a man can be brave is when is he afraid.

If you’ve ever been afraid, then look to Joseph to realize the power of trust. His trust in God is the whole reason that we are focusing on him today. You see, this week in advent is the week of Peace. How do we achieve peace? Somehow Joseph is able to find peace in his scenario. Despite his plans being uprooted and his life put on it’s head, Joseph still manages to find peace.

There is this interesting study that took place a few years ago in which researchers dug through the vast history of the world since history began to be recorded, about three thousand to four thousand years, and tried to see how much of that time was spent in peace. They found that, at best, about 8% of the time of recorded history was spent at peace - at best. Less than 300 total years of peace.

We have this problem with peace. We can’t hardly turn our heads without some kind of horrific news. Wildfires, shootings, hatred. Why is this? Why is there this problem with peace? Where is the disconnect happening here?

Have you ever heard of Winchester Mansion? It’s a mansion housed in San Jose, California. It’s this gigantic mansion built by Sarah Winchester, who was the widow of a major gun company owner. The house itself was under constant construction from 1884 until 1922. She was never content with any state of the house and demanded that there be some form of construction happening constantly in the house. Over 10,000 windows, some hallways that lead up to blank walls, doors that open to pointless rooms (1 room out of about 160), stairways that lead to nothing, windows that show brick walls. It is estimated that she likely spent over $70,000,000 in today’s currency. And why? It is speculated that she did this to never be alone because she believed that anyone who was killed by a gun her husband produced would haunt her house and kill her if she were alone. So, she chose to keep constant company and find peace in this shallow pit of money and building.

We often try to find peace in fruitless things, don’t we? In doing research for this sermon, I found this old advice column for raising children. In it, it advised fathers to teach their children to not trust anyone. The father would encourage the child to fall backwards with his or her eyes closed and then let them fall to the ground to teach them the lesson of not trusting in anyone but themselves.

This is what we are taught, isn’t it? We are taught that no one is trustworthy in this cutthroat world and that we should all follow our own plans. I believe that this is the strength we can find in Joseph. This is Joseph’s secret to his peace that he is able to experience through this living nightmare: his trust.

Jesus calls us in his ministry to have this kind of faith, the faith of a child. Take, for example, the story of the man and the train. During the French war, a train carrying dispatches to the headquarters was compelled to go over sixty miles of very rough road, and reach its destination within an hour. The engineer was the bearer of the dispatches, and his wife and child were in the coach. Every moment threatened to pitch the train over the embankment or over a bridge, and, as it rolled from side to side, leaping at times almost in the air, rushing past stations, the few people inside held their breath and often cried out with terror as they sped along. There was one on that train who knew nothing of their fears and that was the child of the engineer. Happy as a bird, she laughed aloud when asked if she were not afraid, and looked up and answered, “Why, my father is at the engine.”

Maybe the type of faith that God is looking for is not the American faith of trusting only in one’s self, being afraid of the homeless man you don’t know, not wanting to talk to a stranger on the bus, immediately writing off someone because of their ethnicity or look, but instead the faith of the child on the train. The faith of one who depends on God, our Father, to guide us through our moments where our plans aren’t quite lining up right. The trust in the protecting, loving hand of God, instead of the jaded mistrust of the world. So, look to Joseph. Understand that it is okay to be afraid, but be brave. Find peace, and find it in the trust of a childlike faith.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen.