“Joseph’s Dilemma”
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the Season of Advent and with it a fresh start. For those who are new to the game: Advent simply means “coming” or “arrival.” During this season we put the arrival of Jesus in full view. Today, and for the next few days, the arrival of Jesus sits right in front of our faces. And we wait.
Last week we read and heard my wife speak on Mary’s perspective of the arrival of the baby Jesus found in Luke’s gospel. Today we hear Joseph’s perspective on that same arrival.
I confess I have a certain fondness for Joseph in this predicament. Tradition tells us Joseph was probably close to 40-years-old when he was engaged to Mary.
A man of a certain age with certain experiences goes about making decisions in a certain kind of way. Making decisions at 40 is more akin to making decisions at 60 than it is to making decisions at 20. Faithfulness to God and attentiveness to one’s circumstances produces a certain kind of maturity that may be absent at 20, but not quite in its fullness at 60 or 80.
What’s more, untimely pregnancy for mothers in their teen years are circumstances close to my heart. I’ve not experienced the same thing at Joseph, but his age and the nature of his dilemma intrigue me on a personal level.
So I present to you today Joseph’s Dilemma. What is Joseph to do with the situation on his hands? His young, engaged spouse has become pregnant sometime after they became engaged and before they lived together. What is Joseph to do? What is the faithful response?
Mike Goodwin - Comedian
I imagine Joseph’s prayerful attention to these circumstances considered all of the available options he knew of.
On a much lighter note, my mind was taken to the humorous considerations from comedian Mike Goodwin. You might have seen this reel on the socials. It’s kind-of an old-school church humor so we’ll see how it plays out with us this morning. He opens a segment of his standup routine this way…
My grandma said there's only two things in life you got to worry about: whether you're healthy or whether you're sick.
If you're healthy, you have nothin’ to worry about.
If you're sick, you only have two things to worry about.
If you're going to get better or if you're going to get worse.
If you’re going to get better, you got nothin’ to worry about.
If you're going to get worse, you got two things to worry about.
If you're going to live or you're going to die.
If you're going to live, you got nothing to worry about.
It's going to die, you got two things to worry about.
If you're going to heaven or if you're going to hell.
If you're going to heaven, you got nothing to worry about.
If you're going to hell, you got two things to worry about.
Original or extra crispy.
JOSEPH’S DILEMMA IN DETAIL
Joseph’s thought process…
Women don’t get pregnant unless they have intercorse.
If she has Intercourse it either happened consensually or non-consensually
If it happened consensually then she has behaved dishonorably and I have two choices
I could marry her
and keep it quiet, but then I'd be raising another man's baby knowing she was unfaithful
and make it public, but that would bring her disgrace and questions about me.
I could not marry her…
and make a public spectacle of it (that’s allowed by Torah)
do it quietly
perhaps this would lead to a way to help her move forward with the least amount of trouble for her and her child in the future.
Joseph’s Faithfulness
In the end, of course, God knows all things. God knows the truth and that's all that matters. So what is the faithful action I need to take in this situation?
You see, Joseph was stuck. This was a difficult situation and there didn't seem to be a good way out. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place - or, maybe, between original and extra crispy.
All things considered, Joseph chose not to maintain the relationship with her, but also not to make it a public matter, though he could lawfully do so.
In the end he chose mercy.
