Isaiah 7:10-16; Psalm
80:1–7, 16-18; Romans
1:1-7; Matthew
1:18-25
A homily by Fr. Gene
Tucker, that was given at St. Thomas’ Church, Salem,
Illinois on Saturday, December 21,
2013.
“BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE”
(Homily text: Matthew 1:18–25)
“Between a
rock and a hard place!”
As we look at our Gospel reading for today, St. Matthew’s account of the events that overtook Joseph and Mary as Jesus’ birth comes to be, we see that Joseph is “between a rock and a hard place.”
To
understand why this is, we might need to unpack the situation that both of them
faced just a little.
Joseph
discovers that his fiancée is pregnant.
In the time and the place that Joseph lived, in first century Palestine, this was a
grave sin, to be pregnant without being married.[1] The normal punishment which was prescribed by
the Law of Moses was death by stoning for a woman who was in that
condition. This the “rock” for Joseph.
And yet, it
is clear from what Matthew tells us about Joseph, that he cares for, and loves,
Mary. Matthew says that while Joseph is
a “righteous man”, he resolves to spare Mary the harsh punishment that the Law
required, and instead, resolves to divorce her quietly, and to send her into a
status of what one Bible scholar has called “permanent house arrest”. Joseph’s care and love for Mary is the “hard
place” for him.
So Joseph
is in a conflicted situation, his concern for the Law and his love and concern
for Mary, presenting him with the need to hold both concerns in tension with
one another….Joseph resolves to honor the Law, and to honor Mary, also, by
deciding to divorce her quietly.
But Matthew
tells us that, just as Joseph has resolved to take action, he is guided by the
Lord’s angel, who appears to him in a dream, and who explains to Joseph what
has happened with Mary. The angel tells
Joseph that he should not hesitate to take Mary as his wife, for the child she
is carrying isn’t the product of an illicit affair, but is the result of God’s
direct intervention in human affairs.
(It’s worth
noting that this isn’t the last bit of divine guidance that Joseph will receive
via a dream from God…later on, after Jesus has been born, another dream, and a
visitation by an angel, will warn him to take Mary and Jesus away from
Bethlehem to Egypt to escape the wrath of King Herod.)
I submit to
you that we, as people of faith, are often confronted with situations that are
similar to the one that Joseph faced: We
often find ourselves “between a rock and a hard place” as we attempt to hold
God’s standard of righteousness in tension with the requirement to love others.
As I
reflect on this, the thought occurs to me that Jesus articulated this
requirement in what we call the “Summary of the Law’, which is read at the
beginning of each celebration of the Holy Eucharist in our traditional language
rite, Rite I.[2] There, we hear these words of our Lord: “Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ saith: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the Law
and the Prophets.”
Put more
simply, Jesus says we are to love the Lord, and love others.
The
necessity to hold both of these requirements in tension with one another can be
more clearly seen if we separate the one from the other, and look at the
results of adhering to one requirement, to the exclusion of the other.
Let’s begin
by looking at a strict adherence to the requirements of the Law.
This, of
course, was the default position of the Pharisees of Jesus’ day. They were proud of their accomplishments as
they attempted to keep absolutely every small detail of the Law, applying it to
every deed they committed during the day.
But the
result was that the Pharisees reserved harsh condemnation for anyone who didn’t
meet their standard of self-made righteousness.
Their
strict legalism condemned all who weren’t on their level of spiritual maturity,
a maturity that they, themselves, had created.
Strict
legalism condemns us all, for all of us are adept at knowing how to fall short
of the mark of God’s righteousness….all of us are fully-trained sinners.
Now, let’s
turn the tables to the other side of the equation, and see what happens if we
adhere to the law of love alone….pretty soon, permissiveness will reign supreme
as we allow any and all sorts of attitudes and behaviors to become acceptable.
The Church
has had to deal with such free-spirited attitudes before, in the Gnostic heresy
of the early centuries…Some Gnostics came to believe that, since they thought
that the physical body was simply a mirage, and wasn’t really real, they could
engage in all sorts of sinful behavior (even to the point of having sexual
orgies!), because there would be no consequence to their actions.
The Church
might not be confronted with such blatantly free-wheeling behaviors in our own
day and time, but we can still fall prey to a condition in which any and all
types of behaviors are accepted, and even celebrated.
The mature
Christian is called to honor God’s ways, and to treat all persons with love,
care, concern, and respect, all at the same time.
If we think
of our own personal walk with God, more often than not, we can see that God
approaches us, first of all, with love, concern, care and respect. He does not hammer us with His standard of
righteousness, condemning us – as did the Pharisees in ancient times – with
scorn for our lack of holiness.
Of course,
this is the pattern we see in Jesus, for it is He who hangs around with
prostitutes, with tax collectors, and with the other sinners of His day, making
sure that the Pharisees who condemned such people knew that He had come to
redeem them with love, first of all, and not to condemn them with hate.
Jesus’
methods are masterful, for He establishes a relationship based on love, based
on the reality that all persons are creations of God, and who are, therefore,
deserving of love, care, concern and respect.
Treating people this way allows them to open up to God’s care for them,
and in due course, to God’s standard of righteousness and holiness.
So we see
that Jesus fully upholds God’s standards, but loves all those with whom He had
contact, holding both requirements in tension, at the same time.
If we look
at our own path of life, we can see that God has treated each of us with love,
concern, care and respect. He has not
condemned us for our shortcomings, as we all deserve, but begins with a deep
and abiding love for us. Once we have
come into such a loving embrace with the Lord, then we can learn His ways fully
and completely.
So, as we
have first known God’s grace, so then we have come to know God’s holiness, as
well.
It is into
this journey of love and holiness that each of us is called to invite others
who do not know the Lord.
Holding the
requirement to be holy, and the requirement to be loving at the same time, is a
difficult road to walk. It puts us
between a “rock and a hard place”. Only
with God’s help can we hold these two requirements in tension, something that
God calls us to do, day in and day out.
[1] The marriage customs of the day made the engagement process a legally binding contract, one that could be broken only by a divorce. However, though it legally bound the two parties to one another, it did not permit the procreation of children. That was reserved for marriage itself.[2] Page 324 in the Book of Common Prayer, 1979
