CAMINANDO WITH JESUS: The Righteous
Advent 4 | December 22, 2019
By the Rev. Canon David Sellery
CAMINANDO WITH JESUS is a series of reflections on the Sunday Gospel by clergy and laity from across the Diocese.
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Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, 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.” 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.” When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.
– Matthew 1:18-25
For someone who never says a word recorded in scripture, Joseph makes a powerful statement in this morning’s gospel. Joseph, the betrothed of Mary…Joseph, the protector of Jesus…Joseph, the faithful provider comes to us in scripture as Joseph, the silent. But while he never says a single word, there is a single word said of him that speaks volumes. Matthew’s gospel tells us Joseph is righteous.
It’s a word that has gotten a bad rap lately. Mistakenly it has become synonymous with “self-righteous.” And, consequently, it has been identified with all the petty, often vicious, behaviors that mindset implies. A self-righteous person is judgmental, boiling over with “righteous indignation” for every real or imagined slight. Clearly that isn’t Joseph.
If Joseph had been judgmental and self-righteous, his reaction to the news of Mary’s pregnancy would have been very different. To the self-righteous, their proud opinions are the measure of rectitude. In that light Joseph would have been furious. He would have lined up to cast the first stone to punish his seemingly errant bride-to-be. But Joseph was righteous, not self-righteous. The source of his righteousness was not pride. It was his faith in God – in his love and in his mercy – the same love and mercy he extended to Mary well before he learned her child was conceived of the Holy Spirit.
The Hebrew word used to describe Joseph is Sedeq. It’s a not a word that denotes virtue in the abstract so much as it describes a pattern of behavior. We don’t have an equivalent English word. But we do have an expression that captures its essence: Joseph was right with the Lord, and that’s what guided every aspect of his life.
But by prevailing community standards, Joseph was shirking his responsibility. Let this girl get away unpunished and where will it all end? But Joseph’s measure of rectitude was not his standing in the community or even the letter of the law. He was not driven by revenge or fear of what the neighbors might say. He lived to love, honor and obey God. He was right with the Lord. And that was his essential qualification for the awesome responsibility of nurturing and protecting the fetus, the infant, the child, the adolescent Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Redeemer.
Yet to the 21st-century ear, there is still something quaint and antique about the concept of righteousness. Perhaps it smacks of the “muscular Christianity” that was the hallmark of less tolerant times. Thankfully the pendulum has long since piqued on that arc. But has it swung too far in the opposite direction? Arguably we live in a world now governed by situational ethics where good and evil are relative terms and righteousness is an absolute and therefore obsolete concept.
So what does it mean, if anything, to be righteous today? It means what it has always meant: to be right with God, to live to serve his purposes. And that means, like Joseph, we are called to be merciful, not to be avenging angels. We are called to be obedient, to righteously shoulder whatever responsibilities God gives us. We are called to be channels of his love…not miserly hoarders of his blessings.
But how do we know when we are right with God? Is there a digital righteousness meter? Or perhaps, like Olympic divers or figure skaters, a heavenly panel of judges scores our every move? No, but there is something infinitely more accurate: the word of God alive in us every day. It tells us that righteousness is not a destination. It is the path we choose when we follow Christ. It is when we regularly seek and follow his will, when we don’t need a burning bush to sense his presence because our life is an ongoing conversation with God, when we know “What Would Jesus Do?” is not a bumper sticker, but a reflexive template for our lives. And finally, we will know we are right with God when Jesus welcomes us home with a loving: Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Lord.
The Rev. Canon David Sellery is the canon for congregational mission in the Diocese of North Carolina.
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