Reflection on Matthew 1:18-25

Plan number one was very simple.  Joseph was to get married to Mary, and they would have a simple, but happy life together as a family.  They would likely have some kids, Joseph would support the family through his woodcraft, Mary would care for the little ones, they would laugh together, and it would be normal and wonderful.

Joseph’s first plan may seem a little general in nature, but no one hopes that very real and very specific hardships of life will appear.  The dream of the future is usually pretty simple and pretty happy.  Unfortunately, simple and happy rarely plays out as we had imagined.  Joseph’s plan for a simple and happy life is upset dramatically when he finds out that Mary is pregnant.

So, plan number two is hard and heart wrenching.  Should Joseph strike out in anger and ruin this woman who has ruined his plans in life?  Should Joseph publically disgrace this woman with whom he thought he was going to build a happy future? 

Destroying other people in retaliation is not righteous.  “Vengeance is mine,” says the Lord.  So, though Mary’s pregnancy and the unfaithfulness that it implies is a knife to Joseph’s heart, Joseph takes the high road. 

Plan number two consists of dismissing Mary quietly.  Their relationship together will just disappear and dissolve into the background of life.  Joseph is not the type of guy who would post his relationship problems all over social media.  Rather, he is the guy who would post recent vacation pictures of him in front of the Dead Sea, smiling with thumbs up, as people briefly wonder, “What happened to Mary?” and then go on about the task of fixing their morning coffee.

This plan is not going to go any better than the first. 

You see, we have a habit of making plans and God has a habit of doing whatever it is that God wants to get accomplished.  If you ever want to make God laugh, make a plan for your life.  Right? 

God has something much bigger in mind for Joseph than either simple married life or vacationing as a single man near the Dead Sea.  I am making up the vacationing stuff by the way.  I do not know if Dead Sea vacations were even a thing back then. 

In any case, whatever Joseph’s new plans for single life entailed, God has another idea.  God has plans to enter into the world.  God has plans to save the world from its sin.  God has another idea of what the future holds for Joseph, and the plans that Joseph tries to establish make no difference what-so-ever.

At the very moment when Joseph decides to end the relationship with Mary, God sends an angel of the Lord to him in a dream.  And, it was at that moment when plan number three is revealed.  But, plan number three is not Joseph’s plan; it is God’s plan.

"Joseph, son of David,” Joseph hears in a dream, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."  We are told by the gospel writer that “All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: ‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,’ which means, ‘God is with us.’"

Now, I desperately wish that when plans one and two do not work out in my life, that a dream might clearly reveal what God’s plan might be.  Would that not be nice?  Not that God never reveals to us plan number three, but the reality is that most of time when plans one or two do not work out, we have no idea what to do from there. 

This dream with specifics is nice.  Joseph is told to take Mary as his wife, name the baby Jesus (which means “savior”), and watch his future as he saves the people of God from their sins.”  That is nice.  The road laid out for Joseph is clear.  It is actionable.  And, rarely do we get such a clear plan handed to us through a dream from God.

Maybe, that is why Matthew’s birth story is placed on the fourth Sunday of Advent rather than Christmas Eve, because this is still about waiting. 

Advent is the season of waiting.  It is the season of the church year where we learn to slow down and listen and wait for the Lord to do what the Lord desires to do.  Advent is the space that occurs between plans one and two and God’s own plan.  So, if we have not gotten the dream from God yet, if God’s desires have not yet been revealed, maybe the lesson here is to not rush too fast into yet another plan of our own devising.  Maybe the lesson here is to simple wait. 

Wait and listen to see what God desires to do.

So, what has been eating at you?  What has been on your mind?  What issue in life have you tried to solve multiple times through multiple mental scenarios, all of which do not turn out well?  Maybe, the answer right now is to decide to not make a plan.  Maybe, the answer right now is to simply wait and see what God desires to do.

After-all, there once was a man who thought his life was coming apart because he was convinced that the love of his life was cheating on him.  He tried to fix what he could, but in the end, the man found out that God’s plan was so much better than he could have ever conceived.  Just when life seemed to be falling apart and it seemed that God had abandoned him, Joseph discovered that God was with him the whole time with a future that Joseph could not have even made up if he tried. 

In other words, God was with Joseph the whole time.  Is it any wonder that Jesus is “Emmanuel” which means, “God is with us.”

And, God is with you.  Especially, when plans one and two and seventy two do not play out life we had hoped, God is still with us.  Take the time to listen for the dream.  Take the time to wait and see what God will do because God is with us.  Jesus is born.  And, he is named Jesus, which means “savior.”  Our savior is with us.