Joseph's courage

[Video link: https://www.youtube.com/live/pFjuZo-oWG4?si=IsFLtzzHfgkGe_Qd&t=1310]

I once heard someone say that the gospel of Luke is like a musical; certainly in the birth narrative of Jesus at the beginning of Luke, we do get that sense that everyone is breaking out into song. We have these inspiring canticles in the first chapters, and they remain central to the way that we tell the story of Jesus’ birth, of the glory, the joy, the promise that his birth embodies. The gospel of Matthew, on the other hand, is nothing like that. In Matthew we have political intrigue. It can be a little jarring, after celebrating the birth of Jesus as we did last week, to come to church today and hear of the Holy Family’s flight out of Bethlehem into Egypt. Maybe it’s a reminder to us of how quickly things can change. Or maybe it’s a reminder of what has been the point of the story all along. Jesus’ life is threatened from the very beginning, his birth is a blessed event, but we all know the path that he is on and we know where it will lead. This tension highlights the reality of the incarnation. Fully divine, yes, but as a child in need of protection, fully, terrifyingly, human.

And there is a lot of terror in this part of the story. Instead of the story of the manger and the shepherds, Matthew gives us the story of the visit of the magi and through them, the story of Herod’s response to Jesus’ birth. By all historical accounts, Herod was a tyrant, paranoid, insecure, and Matthew tells us “frightened” of the news of Jesus’ birth when he hears of it from the magi. Herod had been named “King of the Jews” by the Roman senate, after which riots broke out throughout Palestine, especially in Galilee. His methods of putting down dissent were brutal, he regularly tortured and put to death those he perceived as a threat, and is known to have killed his brothers, his mother, one of his wives and some of his sons. This is the man the magi, who scholars believe are from an empire known to be enemies of the Roman empire, of which Herod was an agent and an avowed admirer, this is the man they approached and asked where they could find “the child who has been born king of the Jews?” Not named by the senate in Rome, but born, king of the Jews. This seems provocative on their part, and it’s a wonder they got out of the palace alive, but I guess we know that Herod was hoping to use them to gather information.

I think this background is important for considering the passage that we hear from Matthew today. We pick up right after the magi have left, defying Herod by not returning with information for him, when Joseph is warned by an angel in a dream that he should take Mary and the child and flee for their lives. Which he does, immediately. Of course he does. He has already shown his faithfulness in following the message he received from the angel who told him not to dismiss Mary, and he is now responsible for the care of this child, so it makes sense that he picks up in the middle of the night and spirits them away from the threat of Herod, the tyrant. What makes less sense to me is his return.

We are told that he is visited again by an angel who tells him that it is safe to leave Egypt because Herod has died, but as he is returning to Judea, he becomes afraid again after learning that Herod’s son is ruling there, so instead he goes to Nazareth in Galilee. On the one hand, Joseph is being faithful to the messages he receives from God, he’s been consistent in this. But his choices up until this point have been about escaping danger, protecting his family. While he avoids the most prominent threat of Archelaus in Judea, he doesn’t actually settle that far away from him. He doesn’t go back to Egypt. He settles in an area with a history of political unrest. This still seems risky to me, and it is this decision that captures my attention. I understand fleeing from danger. I have less experience of settling in an area where harm is likely.

I think most of us make decisions to go toward safety, that’s clearly how we survive. But in a current world of expanding inequality, growing tensions and military aggression, state actions that are hard to understand, and safety that cannot be taken for granted, I find myself wondering what we can learn from Joseph’s choice to remain in Galilee, not far from the danger. What led him, what helped him, to obey his instructions?

We can’t answer that with Joseph’s own words. The gospels, for whatever reason, never record the words spoken by Joseph. We have only his actions, but they are actions that speak loudly of courage and faith. Joseph has the courage to see the world as it is and the faith to believe that God still in charge, guiding him, and that God will make things right. Joseph doesn’t argue with the angel, doesn’t stick his head in the sand, or pretend not to see or hear anything, he jumps in and responds to what is before him. A young family should not have to uproot themselves because a political leader has decided that they are a threat. A man should be able to settle with his family in the area that offers them the best opportunity, not the area that seems a little less unsafe. But that is not the reality of Joseph’s world. He doesn’t wait for things to be sorted out, doesn’t expect to escape the tyranny forever, and maybe he understands that Jesus is never going to be able to live his life with any assumption of safety. Fully divine, yes, but as a human, still fully vulnerable to the power structures and the political forces around him. As we all are. Joseph’s flight into Egypt and subsequent move back to an area just off center from a political hotspot reminds me to face the world as it is, in order that I, like him, can step into it where I am called.

Joseph’s courage reminds me not to look away, and it reminds me that every one of us is called to protect the vulnerable, and to defy the expectations that stand between us and following that call. From the moment he defied expectations by refusing to cast Mary out, Joseph’s courage allows him to join Mary in being among the first to recognize what Jesus is truly bringing into the world. They recognize a truth so sacred and so threatening that wise men come to kneel before him and a small, fearful man seeks to destroy him. This is the truth of God’s work in the world, and it is as threatening now as it was then. Threatening because this work of salvation and reconciliation includes all, is freely given, and makes each and every one of us equal before God. Threatening because it does not rely on might or force or violence, but only on the grace of God. And threatening because no matter what we do, we cannot stop the will of God. This is what Joseph’s faith told him. That God’s kingdom will come, that it has come. This is what we can learn from Joseph’s decision to remain in Galilee. That in a world that doesn’t make sense, a world that sometimes terrifies us, we can and we must have the courage and the faith, not to look away from what is, to take up our role in the protection of the vulnerable, in the unfolding of God’s kingdom, even as we believe that it is already here. Amen.

About the cover image: The scene of the flight into Egypt was carved in rock salt in the chapel of Saint Kinga, in the salt mine of Wieliczka in Poland, 101 meters under the surface, by Antoni Wyrodek (1901-1992). Photograph by Klearchos Kapoutsis, August 1, 2009. (CC-BY)