A couple of hours before a church’s annual Children’s Christmas Pageant was to begin, a worried mother called the church office. She reported that her little son, who was to play the part of Joseph that night, was sick with the flu and could not be there for the performance.

This put the pageant director in a pickle. All of the kids had their own special costumes and had learned their parts. It would be hard at this late hour to turn one of the wise men into Joseph, and it was far too late to find another Joseph. But the show had to go on.

The solution? The director decided simply to write Joseph out of the script altogether. But that’s not the worst part. The worst part was – no one even noticed.

Today on this Fourth Sunday of Advent, we hear the story of Joseph. It shows up only once in the three-year lectionary cycle, furthering the impression that Joseph doesn’t seem all that important to the Christmas event. John the Baptizer, the angel Gabriel, the shepherds, and of course Mary and the baby Jesus are all essential to the story. But Joseph’s part appears so minor that it seems the show could go on without him.

Even the scriptures don’t say alot about Joseph; he is mentioned only a few times in the gospels of Matthew and Luke, just once in John, and not at all in Mark. And nowhere in Scripture is Joseph quoted. Perhaps that is the most striking thing about him: he says nothing. And yet, his deeds speak volumes about his faith.

The nativity story is so familiar to us that we forget just how scandalous it is. As the familiar words from this morning’s Gospel lesson tell us, Mary was engaged to Joseph. It was likely that, according to the social custom of the time, this engagement had been arranged by their families back when Mary and Joseph were youngsters. The engagement itself would have taken place when Mary was in her early teens, and it was a serious step. Also known as betrothal, engagement was made official before two witnesses and was marked by the man giving the woman a present, and her father paying a dowry. If the engagement was subsequently broken, it would be called a divorce. During a couple’s engagement, they would be called husband and wife, but they were not to have marital relations. And then, at the end of one year’s engagement, they would be married.

However, as we know, in Mary and Joseph’s case, a not-so-minor complication arises: while they are engaged, but before they are married, Mary becomes pregnant. And it isn’t Joseph’s baby.

We can only imagine how Mary breaks this news to Joseph, and how he reacts; the feelings of hurt and anger he must feel, how his heart must ache at her seeming betrayal and his broken dreams. And we could understand if he does not believe her news that she is pregnant, not by another man, but by the Holy Spirit.

Joseph faces a decision. The Gospel of Matthew tells us that he is a “righteous” man, meaning he keeps the commands of God. Those commands, as written in the Torah, are clear. It is instructed in the book of Deuteronomy [22:20-21] that if a young woman is not a virgin at the time of her marriage, then the men of the town are to bring her out to the entrance of her father’s house and stone her to death.

Joseph is a righteous man, and he wants to follow the law of Moses. But his righteousness is clothed in compassion, and his sense of what is right according to the religious laws is tempered by his love for Mary and his unwillingness to “expose her to public disgrace.”

Stuck between the rock of loving Mary and the hard place of wanting to follow the Torah, Joseph likely tosses and turns that night, weighing his options and going back and forth between what the religious laws decree and what his heart is telling him. Finally, Joseph makes a decision. Even though he has every reason to believe that he has been betrayed by the woman he loves, he is not out for revenge or punishment. Instead, he responds with loving forgiveness and grace-filled compassion, and feels in his heart that divorcing Mary quietly is the right thing to do.

And so, having decided on his course of action, Joseph falls asleep. But an angel of the Lord appears to him in a dream guiding him in a different and unexpected direction. The angel tells him that the child, a boy, has indeed been conceived by the Holy Spirit, just as Mary has said. That child not the result of a human encounter, but a Divine one.

In his dream, Joseph is called by God to courage over convention, to love over fear, and to faith over righteousness. Following in faith, Joseph dares to believe, even though he does not understand, even though the path will be difficult. Risking ruin to his reputation, his business, perhaps even his life, Joseph breaks both religious laws and social conventions to follow God’s call and take the pregnant Mary as his wife.

“And one more thing,” says the angel. “Name him Jesus for he will save his people from their sins.” The act of naming a baby in Joseph’s culture was the way in which paternity was acknowledged; it was not only the father’s right but also his responsibility to name the child. And so, when Joseph names Jesus, he not only claims him as his son, but also adopts him into the royal lineage of King David, from whom Joseph is descended.

“All this has been done,” writes Matthew, “to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet. ‘A virgin has conceived, will bear a son and name him God with us.’” In this morning’s Old Testament lesson, Isaiah’s prophecy to King Ahaz had been about the immediate political situation in Jerusalem 800 years before Christ’s birth. But now, Isaiah’s prophetic word has taken on a richer meaning: God has kept the promise; God has come to us in Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us.

St. Matthew wrote for a Jewish audience, who would have been familiar with the laws of the Torah and the foretellings of the prophets, and throughout his gospel, Matthew presents Jesus as the fulfillment of the Old Testament’s prophecies of a Messiah. Matthew reminds us that this child of Mary’s is the One promised to the house of David long ago, not just for that forgotten conflict in Jerusalem generations before, but for the entire world for all time.

I wonder how many of us would have heeded the words of God and followed in faith as Joseph did? How many of us would be willing to break with social conventions and worldly expectations to let God's creative hand move in our lives? How many of us would be willing participants in a mystery of God that we didn't understand, surrendering ourselves divine grace and holy possibility?

After the birth of Jesus, God speaks to Joseph twice more in dreams. Following in faith and fulfilling the prophecies of scripture, Joseph takes Mary and the baby Jesus to Egypt to avoid the murderous actions of Herod, and later, he returns the family to Nazareth.

The Gospel of Luke provides a glimpse of Joseph when Jesus is 12, and then he disappears from scripture. But we can imagine that Joseph lived out his life in faithfulness as Jesus’ protector, provider, and adoptive father. And we can believe that, as he went about his daily routine in his carpenter’s shop, Joseph shaped the life of the One who would transform the world. Perhaps he told his young son how he had followed the call of God over the law of the Torah to marry his mother, and that lesson influenced Jesus’ life and ministry. Indeed, when Jesus grows up, he too embodies the love and compassion of God over the letter of the law, healing the ill on the Sabbath and welcoming sinners and the unrighteous into the Kingdom of Heaven. And perhaps the loving and grace-filled example of his earthly father helped Jesus to image God as his loving and gracious Heavenly Father.

In the Scriptures, Joseph says not a word, but his actions speak volumes, and his example is an inspiration for us all. This Christmas and always, may we, too, dare to follow in bold and devoted faithfulness the One who calls us in new and unexpected directions. May we follow in faith, even though we might not understand, even if the way will be difficult, even if the path will be risky. May we follow in faith the One who come to us as Emmanuel, God with us. Amen.

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