The Scandal of Christmas

With the fourth Sunday of Advent upon us, we turn the corner from preparation and waiting towards the celebration of the birth of Christ. Even though we know how the story unfolds, we will listen again to the tale of Mary and Joseph, King Herod, angels, shepherds and the throngs of descendents of David crowding into Bethlehem for the census. These stories told by Luke and Matthew form the canvas for many of our memories of this special season: Christmas pageants, the wonder of the holiday as children, the heartbreak and loss of the day when spent away from home and remembering loved ones no longer with us to be part of the traditions.

In the gospel account from Matthew, we hear about the very unconventional and rocky way the account of the birth of Jesus began. It began with a scandal.

Scandal has no bounds of history or culture. It sells newspapers, and fills the airwaves of television and talk radio – industries that thrive on scandal: real, contrived, or denied. No one person or institution is immune from its power to generate gossip, change opinions, cause friends to shun friends and ruin lives. Scandals impact the family, the church, the government, the military, corporate America and Hollywood. Most families have skeletons in the closet that eventually get known: bankruptcy, affairs, abuse, and addiction. Churches of all kinds experience their share of scandal: sexual misconduct, theft of money from the offering plate, priests suing bishops in civil court, parishes trying to leave the diocese with their buildings, and dioceses trying to leave the denomination to join up with another more desirable variety overseas. The military has been hit recently by news of the mistreatment of detainees and the definition and carrying out of torture to solicit information.

A true scandal and what is most alarming to me are the recent news reports about the poor treatment and care for returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, who return wounded or traumatized by the experience of war. Many have been discharged and lost all benefits that might help them deal with their illnesses. Those who oppose and support the war should be united in outrage at how our soldiers have to fend for themselves in mountains of red tape to just get the benefits they deserve. Politics and scandal go hand-in hand around the world: kickbacks, cash from bribes stored in office freezers, cozy relationships with lobbyists, illicit rendezvous. Hollywood could not live without the attention that scandal brings. Even the vaulted New York Times, the paper of record, could not help itself by putting the news of the pregnancy of the 16 year old younger sister of Britney Spears on the front page. Yes, news of an unwed 16 year-old girl may sound like a perfect backdrop for a Christmas pageant, but the news caused many this week to shake their heads.

So what do people today do when scandal surfaces? Some go underground for a while until the news passes. Others get more assertive and hire a public relations firm. There is a cottage industry of professionals that advise politicians, CEOs, and celebrities through the first hours and days of the crisis.

In his day, there were of course no public relations or media consultants to advise Joseph the carpenter from the little town of Nazareth in Galilee. The story that Matthew tells is one where so much rides on the reaction and response of Joseph. What was he going to do about Mary and the news of this child. We can only imagine the shame that he felt, the embarrassment at what others were saying. A baby was not in the cards. Not yet. Perhaps, one day in the future, but after a wedding. The text says that he did not want to expose Mary to public disgrace, so he would dismiss her quietly. He would break off the engagement and go on his way. Mary, well, she would still have a child to carry and give birth to. She would have to rely on the goodness of her parents not to shun her for such a public embarrassment. The future that looked so bright was now uncertain.

Enter -- God. Well, one of God’s angels. In his sleep an angel got to Joseph and filled him in on things he did not know. The angel said: “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.”

Belief in the virgin birth has for centuries been a mark of Christian belief that is embedded in the creed we say each week. But from the earliest days the rather unusual conception of Jesus did not seem to be the most important part of the Christian story. Why? Because the writer of John’s gospel says nothing about it. Nor does Mark. Nor the Apostle Paul in all of his epistles. In fact, for Paul, who preached Christ crucified, it was the crucifixion that proved to be a stumbling block for Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. (1 Corinthians 1:23) The nativity, the birth, was not unimportant per se, but not as important as what happened at the end of Jesus’ life: his suffering, his death on the cross, and his rising on the third day. Yet from the fourth century on, there have been four basic explanations for the birth of Jesus. Elizabeth A. Johnson outlines the four. (Truly Our Sister: A Theology of Mary in the Communion of Saints) Option 1: Joseph was the biological father of Jesus. Option 2: an unknown man seduced Mary. Option 3: A Roman soldier, usually given the name Panthera, took Mary by force, not an unusual crime for the Roman army. Option 4: that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born to Mary. I had not known how prevalent the Roman soldier theory was in Jewish circles throughout the centuries that by referring to Ben Panthera, or son of Panthera, was sufficient to refer to Jesus without mentioning his name. It was code for Jesus. But even though the church knew of the first three theories from its beginning, the fourth option is what we believe: God had a role to play. It was no accident.

If our Advent preparation has paid off in any way, we are a bit more open to hear the message of the birth of Christ in a new way – even though we have heard it so many times many of us could re-tell it by memory. God got to Joseph before the pressures of small town life and the shame of extended families changed the unfolding of history. God said: “do not be afraid.” It is the same thing we whisper to children, advise graduates leaving home, and console those facing down chemotherapy or major surgery. Jesus himself would say the same things through his ministry. It’s all we have, really. But it’s enough. It’s enough to turn scandal into a new beginning. A chance to trust God to be the last one with us if and when all others run away.
In his Christmas message, the Archbishop of Canterbury comments on one verse in the Letter to the Hebrews (11:16) that reads: God “is not ashamed to be called their God.” Rowan Williams writes that when “God’s people have been faithful to God, faithful in keeping on moving onwards in faith rather than settling down in self-satisfaction, when they are true pilgrims, then God is content to be known as their God. The verse from Hebrews is God’s way of reassuring us that, in spite of everything, God doesn't mind being seen in our company. God is not embarrassed by human company. God shows that he is not ashamed to be with us.”
When and if we are ever faced with news or events that we think can ruin our lives, embarrass family and hurt friends, Joseph, like the woman with whom he would share his life Mary, are models of openness and belief. He is the ultimate “good guy” of the Bible who does the right thing. But he’s more than that. He shows us that with God’s help, we can survive anything. We can preserve without shunning those we love. We can keep our word. And each of us, average human beings – carpenters, teachers, office managers, students, retirees, can become participants in the greatest story ever told.