Isaiah 7:10-16
Matthew 1:18-25
“What Was He Afraid Of?”
As I read through a bunch of commentaries on this morning’s Scripture readings, the thing that struck me is that we have two passages about men who are afraid and wondering what to do about a difficult situation in their lives.
The story that we’re more familiar with surrounds Mary’s husband, Joseph, who has to decide what to do when his wife is found to be pregnant by the Holy Spirit, before the two of them have even lived together in the same house. Probably the less familiar story is about King Ahaz who has to decide who to align himself with when his territory is under threat from powerful neighbours.
And you probably noticed that the two stories are linked by the fact that as the Gospel writer tells Joseph’s story, he quotes from the words of the Prophet Isaiah to King Ahaz: “Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son and shall name him Immanuel.”
So, let’s start with Ahaz’s story. Ahaz became the King of Judah around the year 732 BCE when he was 20 years old. He reigned for 16 years, died at the age of 36, and was succeeded by his son, Hezekiah.
One of the first things Ahaz had to grapple with when he became the King of Judah was the Assyrian Empire that was trying to take over the world, including his territory of Judah. A couple of the other kingdoms, Northern Israel and Damascus (which was also known as Syria) were forming an alliance to oppose the Assyrians together.
King Pekah and King Rezin were urging Ahaz to join their alliance, and it seems that King Ahaz was now feeling threatened both by them and by the Assyrian Empire as well.
He was fortunate to have the Prophet Isaiah of Jerusalem serving in his court, and Isaiah provided advice and encouragement in this very difficult situation. Isaiah announced the coming of a king who would rule on the Davidic throne, attempting to assure Ahaz that everything would be okay. Isaiah tried to convince the king that he should trust God, but Ahaz refused and chose a political maneuver instead.
At one point, the prophet invites Ahaz to ask God for a sign, but Ahaz refuses saying that he doesn’t want to test God. Frustrated, Isaiah tells the king that he’s going to get a sign anyway.
He says, “Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.” Likely, the prophet is pointing at the king’s pregnant wife. He’s insisting that Ahaz should trust God because God intends for him to have a successor who will rule Judah after him. The child is the sign, and his name “Immanuel” means “God is with us.”
The prophet goes on: “He shall eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted.”
King Ahaz receives the sign, but he doesn’t trust it. He doesn’t trust that God is with him or that God will help him. In fear of the kings of Israel and Damascas, he chooses instead to bow down to the Assyrian Empire and he asks for their help. Assyria protects Judah from the other kings, but takes Judah as a vassal state. Ahaz remains as the king (sort of) under the oversight and rule of King Tiglath-Pileser of Assyria.
Ahaz yielded readily to the glamour and prestige of the Assyrians in religion as well as in politics. He went to Damascus to swear homage to Tiglath-Pileser and his gods; and, taking a fancy to an altar which he saw there, he had one like it made in Jerusalem, which, with a corresponding change in ritual, he made a permanent feature of the Temple worship.
If you’re wondering about that prophecy from Isaiah, it did eventually come true. When Ahaz died and his son, Hezekiah, ascended to the throne, he became a very different kind of king from his father. Hezekiah believed that God was with him, and worked to reform religious practices, turning the Kingdom of Judah back to faith and trust in God.
What was King Ahaz afraid of? I think he was afraid of losing his kingdom, of losing his position, his power, and maybe his life. And in this situation, Ahaz’s fear was more persuasive than his faith. He received a sign from God, delivered through a prophet, but he didn’t believe it.
In contrast to King Ahaz, Joseph was a simple carpenter who had recently become engaged to a young woman called Mary. He didn’t hold any of the power or responsibility of a king, but he was probably similarly expectant about the future and the life he imagined living together with his new wife and the family that he hoped for.
Like a new king whose kingdom is suddenly under threat with a strong probability of being attacked and obliterated by one foreign power or another, Joseph likely felt like his whole life plan was suddenly falling apart.
The angel who appeared to Joseph in a dream suggests that he had become afraid to take Mary as his wife. And just like King Ahaz, Joseph was trying to come up with a plan to survive this disastrous turn of events. He’s thinking that he’s going to have to divorce her quietly.
But the text is not completely clear about why Joseph is afraid of the marriage. The popular interpretation is that Joseph, as a righteous man, is aware of laws like those in Deuteronomy 22 that would have Mary stoned to death for sleeping with another man before marriage.
As upset as he must have been about the pregnancy, he was a kind enough person that he didn’t want her killed. He compassionately plans to keep things quiet, so as to help Mary avoid public disgrace for what everyone will assume to be her infidelity.
All of this seems very reasonable. But then, just as God spoke to Ahaz through a prophet, God speaks to Joseph through an angel in a dream. Joseph is assured that Mary has in fact been faithful, that the pregnancy is from the Holy Spirit, and that he, Joseph, has a role to play. He is to name the child “Jesus” (meaning “God saves”), to serve as the child’s human father, and so to participate in the story of salvation.
But many other interpreters have questioned whether Joseph was really just afraid to marry her because he thought she had been unfaithful. They note that the first mention of her pregnancy is “she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit” so that Matthew seems to be saying that Joseph was aware of the Spirit’s involvement from the beginning.
Also, if Joseph thought that Mary had betrayed him, we might expect the angel in his dream to say, “do not be angry” or “do not be heartbroken,” but the angel says “do not be AFRAID to marry her.”
The SALT Lectionary commentary wonders, “What might Joseph be afraid of?” Perhaps he’s afraid of getting in the way of God’s work. After all, doesn’t Isaiah’s vision of God’s sign feature a “young woman with child,” not an engaged couple?
Or perhaps Joseph is afraid of overstepping his calling, unable to see a role for an ordinary man like him in God’s glorious play of redemption. Perhaps he considers himself unworthy of being the stepfather of God’s child! Or perhaps he’s simply unnerved and bewildered that God – the author of creation, has come so unimaginably, intimately near. It’s easy to imagine him thinking, “Surely a child conceived from the Holy Spirit needs no human father!”
Just like the prophet appealed to King Ahaz to trust God, the angel invites Joseph to trust God, to believe that God will be with him, and that God has a part for him to play in the strange and wonderful thing that is about to happen. When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took Mary as his wife – doing the one thing that would actually protect Mary from public disgrace and support her as she brought this special child into the world.
We don’t learn very much about Joseph in the Gospels. We don’t know how old he was, or what he looked like, or how long he lived. He is identified as a carpenter, or craftsman, or builder. But other than that, all we have is today’s story about his dream and his decision.
But I think it’s enough to inspire us. After all, we’re also people who are faced with difficult decisions. We’ve all had times when it seems like there’s no good way to proceed, when it doesn’t seem like there’s anything we can do to solve a problem in front of us.
We rarely get prophets, angels, or even dreams to nudge us in the right direction – to urge us to trust God, to appeal to us to be courageous, to assure us that everything is going to be alright because God is with us.
No, our messages from God come to us through faithful friends, wise counsellors, the promptings of our consciences, and very often through the ancient stories and wisdom of our faith. They tell us that we are not alone – that God is with us and will help us through. They tell us that we have a part to play in God’s work in the world, and that we are called to step up and follow Jesus’ leading. They tell us not to be afraid, but to be courageous, because God intends to do great things through us.