Text: Luke 2:1-20 The Message

Were any of you here on Sunday night for the Christmas musical? As it always does, it concluded with the re-enactment of the nativity scene by the children. Or, maybe you’ve been to the Christmas pageant at some other church this year ... or another year? In any case, you know how it goes. A very young Mary and Joseph ... each only 8 or 9 years old ... come in carrying something wrapped in a blue blanket that is supposed to be the baby Jesus. Together they stand by a manger and look entirely awkward while the scriptures are read and the other Sunday School children come in dressed as shepherds and kings and angels to gather around them.

I think it must be the same everywhere. The girl playing Mary is quiet ... with a pretty blue scarf wrapped around her head ... and though she is a little shy, she looks quite pleased with the whole scene. She’s got one of the leading roles in this story and is happy. The boy playing Joseph looks just like any dad would look .... awkward, uncomfortable, embarrassed by the whole thing. This character doesn’t say anything either in the pageant ... but the child’s body language speaks volumes. "Oh, no!!! How did I get in this situation? Now what am I supposed to do?" He tries to suppress a grin ... when his buddies come in dressed up in king costumes. And he shyly sneaks an occasional glance at his classmate playing Mary ... to see how she is playing her part.

I watched this unfold the other night with Joseph on my mind. It occurred to me that perhaps this annual ritual tells the story of Joseph in ways that even the words of scripture don’t quite capture. Children do have a way of showing us the truth more clearly than our own grownup minds can imagine. Being a new Dad is never easy. Besides the baby, Mom seems to have a more central role. And though with a first child, both parents have having to learn how to be mom or dad, there is a whole lot more support and information available for the mom. I haven’t looked lately, but how many baby books have the dad and the baby on the cover? I’m thinking it isn’t so many. Dads have to learn this as they go ... figuring out how to relate to this child and the new mother and providing for their care and safety.

We can see that Joseph in our Biblical story was on that journey. He’d had to make a decision early in the pregnancy about what his role would be because things had happened out of sequence. Mary had become pregnant before they’d "known" each other in a sexual way, and he’d had to trust that God’s timing was for a good purpose.

Then there was the census. For those who don’t think religion and politics should mix, we discover that from the Biblical perspective, even the very birth of the baby Jesus is set in a political context. Caesar Augustus, the ruler of the whole Roman Empire, called for a census ... and everyone had to make the journey to be accounted for. Governments ... especially the rulers of empires ... don’t generally schedule their activities with the convenience of the people in mind. So just as Mary was reaching full term, Joseph had to find a way to travel to his ancestral hometown and take his hugely pregnant wife with him. You can imagine his anxiety. "What if the traveling causes the baby to come early? What if there is a problem with the delivery on the road? Where will we stay?"

It turns out that the "where will we stay" question was the big one. You’d think that if this was the place of Joseph’s ancestors, there might be some distant relatives still living there who could take them in. But by the time he and Mary got there, there was no room anywhere. As we imagine this scene on the big screen, we see that Joseph is the one in charge at this point. Turned away by the cousins he’d counted on, and seeing the crowds at the hostel where travelers stayed, he finally knocked on the door of an out of the way inn. There were crowds there, too. But the inn keeper took pity on Joseph. He could see the resolve and the concern in his face ... and looking behind him, saw that Mary was large with child. He suddenly had the idea that maybe they could stay in the cave where the animals slept. It wasn’t much .. but it was warm and protected from the chill of the night. They’d have a bit of privacy if it came time for the baby to be born. By that point Joseph was grateful for any help they could get and so they moved into the cave behind the inn to spend the night.

He tried to make it as comfortable as he could ... but Mary was finding it difficult to be comfortable anywhere. And soon her labor started. We don’t know who else was there to help, but we do know that Joseph was present at the birth of their child and must have been amazed and humbled. The moment of birth is always sacred as God’s miracle of life beginning is experienced and witnessed in all its messiness, pain and glory. Everyone is changed as God uses the human body to deliver God’s self in human form. Now I believe that is true of every birth ... because God is present in every living creature. But on this holy night, in that cave-like manger in David’s town of Bethlehem, Joseph witnessed God’s presence in the birth of God’s son ... the One who had been conceived out of time by the Holy Spirit ... and who would call all people to an awareness of God’s presence in everything.

The camera now focuses on the baby ... and the mother ... and the star overhead. Soon enough there is a scene on the hillside as the angels announce the birth to sheepherders camping nearby, and then on a road in a far away place where some wise spiritual leaders have set out to follow the star they’ve seen in the sky. And the focus shifts from the character of Joseph to the broader story.

There is a tradition in the Eastern Church that is of interest here. When I say Eastern, I’m not talking about the modern Greek or Russian or Eastern Orthodox Churches ... though they are the ones who have preserved this tradition for us. It seems that before the church was split between East and West ... before the split between Constantinople and Rome in the ______ century ... Joseph was pictured in much of the artwork quite differently than we in the west now see him. In our pictures he is part of the "holy family," taking his place next to Mary by the manger. But in these ancient icons, he is frequently found in one of the lower corners of the paintings ... or perhaps in the lower center ... bent over in sadness and anguish, as he is left out of the scene above where the angels surround Mary and the Child ... with shepherds and kings arriving, and even the animals focused on the baby. Scholars call this image the "sulking Joseph" ... and find in it a confirmation that he was "left out" of this all, because he realizes that this is not really his child but God’s child. Maybe this is what every dad and mom knows at some level, that the gift of children are just that ... gifts .... not property, not extensions of ourselves but new revelations of God who bear God’s truth in their very being. As Kahil Gibran puts it, "your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, and though they are with you they belong not to you."

So Joseph moves to the side as the leading character takes his place on stage. But Joseph remains an important character for us to know. In the competition for best supporting actor, you might even consider the star, the stable, even the little town of Bethlehem, as candidates for the award. But I think Joseph wins the prize because he is such a key figure in this family and in God’s purpose.

Fathers or Dads don’t get as much attention as the kids and moms do. We don’t even tell as many jokes about our dads as about our moms. But on this holy night, I invite you to notice the best supporting actors in your life (whether they are your dads or moms or siblings or spouse). And remember that they’ve been blessed and chosen for this role by God for God’s purpose, that you and others may know God’s love and grace on this night and all the days of your lives.