Yesterday I revealed my first image of Joseph. Here's another version of that study, now a view of a slightly younger man, a hard-working guy with a tough muscular build, --someone who had a hard life working in construction.

The model for Joseph was our general contractor and member of the church, Joe Robinson, who graciously posed for me. I'll admit this doesn't really look much like him. I'm not trying to make a portrait of Joe, although I'll present a better likeness (but with a beard) for the painting I'll unveil on Sunday, December 8th. One of the points I'd like to make is to present someone who was a builder. The word used for that is TEKTON, the word used to describe Joseph when Jesus is spoken of as the son of the carpenter in Mark 6:3 or Matthew 13:55. I'd like to elaborate on the craftsman idea for a different image from what we generally think of as Joseph as a woodworker or a carpenter. Maybe you've seen the paintings of him in his little shop working away on chair legs on a lathe and making furniture, curly wood shavings littering the floor, young Jesus watching and helping him? But the image that I prefer for Joseph is of a builder of homes, of buildings and walls and of one who uses rock and stone. That different image comes more into play when we hear of all the stone or rock images related to Jesus as a stumbling block, the chief cornerstone, the stone the builders rejected, and even when we hear Jesus speaking about the church, "...upon this rock, I will build my church!" --all those stone/rock images work more in line with the builder motif than with the furniture maker or wood carver image.

It's very interesting how we get pulled into different ideas about these characters, how easily they crystallize images in our minds and lock us up. From the very little information we get from scripture and tradition we build elaborate facades about these people, and we are so interested in our constructs we can miss the point --which is that this fellow had a right, according to the law and customs, to put Mary away, to reject her as wife, but did not! He could have had a heart of stone, maybe started that way, but ended up a different person.

I'm sure there are many men today who get their authority from mishandling scriptural passages like this. The point is Joseph doesn't act that heart-of-stone way --he is different and does the unexpected! Joseph is changed to the heart because of the dream, or maybe because of his true disposition that came out due to the dream (it is his dream), or because of his love for Mary --we really can't know. We only know something about Jesus through the story. It truly is all about Jesus, --he is why we should have any interest in Joseph whatsoever. This one that we know through his wonderful life recalled through the Good News Gospels is the child of God! He is the one they (and we) have been waiting for and looking, --longing for!  So that is why the story in Matthew about his miraculous birth and his parental arrangements gets told. It is to connect Jesus to Moses, to Isaac, to all of the law and prophets --to the miraculous birth, nurture, and upbringing of Israel. But please understand and remember that this child/savior Jesus doesn't come to us except through the will of God and by the grace of two human agents named Mary and Joseph!

For a moment let us try not to think about that big part of the story concerning The Holy Spirit overshadowing Mary and conceiving God's son. If we can do that then the other thing we certainly can understand about this miracle is that without Joseph being open to the dream suggestion, and then saying YES, and without Mary saying her enthusiastic YES the story wouldn't happen --where would we be?

I hope we can take away from the first dream story the power that everyone of us has to say YES to God, too. Or NO!  You, in your brief lifetime are privileged to get to decide a part of the unfolding story and dream of God for the world! Especially in light of the life and work of Jesus, you can divine this potential even here in the birth narrative from Matthew. The gospel really is about God believing in you! --in us! There is a divine will for each of us to discover. Perhaps we should listen to our dreams? At least pay attention? Zzzzzzzzz.
 --Pastor Jack