Two Rivers Pastoral Charge
Sunday November 30, 2025 (Advent 1)
Scripture: Matthew 1:18-25
This is the first week of a 4-week (plus Christmas Eve) story-telling
series. Different people who are part of the nativity scene tell the story of
how they ended up at the manger.
You asked me how I came to be at the manger.
Well, my journey here started a year before I arrived.
My parents named me Joseph, after our ancestor, one of the sons of Jacob. That Joseph became one of the most powerful
people in Egypt after he interpreted some dreams for the Pharoah, and I think
that maybe my parents hoped that my name would lead me into a position of
power. But I think that it was Joseph’s
dreams that I inherited instead, and a sense of the Divine Presence with me.
Like my father, and his father before him, I am a carpenter. We work with our hands, building things for
other families in our village. One day
it might be a new door for a house, another day it might be a set of shelves
for a groom’s family to give to a new bride.
We aren’t wealthy by any means, but we have never gone hungry. Occasionally one of us will get a contract
for a couple of months to labour on one of the Roman building projects. When that happens, we have a little to set
aside for either a party or to save for a rainy day.
Our family is well-respected in the village synagogue. We don’t come from the priestly class – we
are from the tribe of Judah rather than the tribe of Levi – but we are often
called upon to read the scriptures in the synagogue, and our family is
sometimes held up as an example of a God-fearing family.
I trust that the God of my ancestors – the God of Abraham and Sarah, the God of
Rebekkah and Isaac, the God of Jacob and his many wives – this same God isn’t
done with us, even though the prophets have seemed to be silent for many
generations now. God-whose-name-is-holy
was with our ancestors when they were in exile in Babylon, and surely
God-whose-name-is-holy is with our people now.
God (whose name is too holy to speak aloud) is with us, even when we
can’t hear the Divine Voice.
I think that this is maybe what Isaiah and the other prophets meant when they
talked about hope. When we went into
exile, surely it must have seemed as though the world had ended and that
God-whose-name-is-holy had abandoned us.
Yet the prophets always remind us that the end is never really the end,
and God-whose-name-is-holy is always promising return and restoration and
renewal.
I apologize – I’m getting away from my story of how I came to the manger!
A year ago, my parents told me that they had arranged a marriage for me – I was
to marry Mary – it sounds funny when I say it that way! But they had made arrangements with Mary’s
parents, and the two of us were to get married within the next year. I was pleased with this news. I didn’t know Mary well – only to recognize
her when I saw her in the village streets – but I knew that eventually my
parents would choose a bride for me, and they could have chosen much worse for
sure! Mary also had a reputation as a
dreamer – she was always wandering the hillside, and singing little songs to
herself. It would be good to have someone to share my dreams with. And her parents’ home, like my parents’ home,
was known to be a harmonious one. The
neighbours never heard the sound of shouting coming from it, and I had good
hopes for a harmonious marriage that would grow into genuine affection with
time.
We weren’t allowed to spend any time alone together before the marriage
though. We had a couple of meetings, but
our parents did all of the speaking for us.
But then one day, a couple of months into our engagement, her parents came to
our house without Mary. They spoke with
my parents for a while, and then they called me into the room. My parents told me the most unbelievable news
– Mary was now carrying a child within her womb. I had no words. I knew that there was no way that this child
could be mine.
My parents were insisting that our engagement be ended, and that Mary be called
before the leaders in the synagogue. The
punishment, according to the law, for a woman caught in adultery was stoning. And Mary, by her actions, had brought
disgrace not only to her family but to ours too. With our broken engagement, Mary’s disgrace
was going to make it very difficult to find another bride for me. Even though I knew that her child wasn’t
mine, it would be difficult to quell the rumours, and parents would be
reluctant to entrust their daughters to me.
But I didn’t want to bring this punishment on Mary. I thought that it would be
better to end our engagement quietly.
Our village knew that we were engaged, but they didn’t need to know why
the engagement had ended. Surely Mary’s
parents had family in a far-off village where they could send her to stay until
well after the child was born. Even
better if those far-off family members were childless, and might be willing to
raise her child as their own. My parents
said that they would consider my request.
But I told you that I’m a dreamer, didn’t I, just like my ancestor, the other
Joseph. And the night after Mary’s
parents visited us, I had one of my dreams.
These dreams aren’t like the muddled, confusing dreams of ordinary
nights. When I have my special dreams,
they are more real than when I am awake.
And in these dreams, I often hear the voice of God-whose-name-is-holy.
That night, the Holy Voice told me that I was to take Mary as my wife. The Holy Voice told me that her child was the
child of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Voice
told me that she would bear a son. The
Holy Voice told me that I was to raise this child as my own, giving him the
name of Jesus. The Holy Voice told me
that this son would be the saviour of the world.
I wanted to ask God-whose-name-is-holy how I was to share this news with my
parents, but who is able to argue with the Creator of the Universe?
When I woke up, I told my parents what my dream had said, and surprisingly they
agreed to allow the marriage to proceed.
Sometimes I wonder if they are dreamers too; I wonder if they too
received a message that night from the Holy Voice of God-whose-name-is-holy.
It was unusual but not unheard of for a couple to begin their family before
formally marrying – many circumstances can delay a wedding ceremony. But when the village saw that we were getting
married, the assumption seems to have been that this was my child that Mary was
carrying.
And many months later, here I am, standing by the manger of my son. I am here, because I trusted in the voice of
God-whose-name-is-holy. I am here
because hope tells us that the future is always in those Divine Hands.
What about you? Why are you journeying
to the manger this year?
The Holy Family
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