Advent 4A, by Iva Staats

Matthew 1:18-25

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.

Send forth thy Spirit, O Lord: and renew the face of the Earth. Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of thy faithful people: and kindle in us the fire of thy love.  +Amen. 

***

So, I’d like to start this morning with a confession: I love words. No, really. There’s actually a label for folks like me. I am a logophile, a lover of words. Dictionary.com goes so far as to use the terminology: “word nerd” in its definition of logophile; I might actually take offense if it weren’t so painfully true, actually. I love to uncover a word’s origins and meanings. I love to study their comparative anatomy across languages and their evolutions over time. I am wooed by their lyrical qualities and intrigued by the nuances that are gained, lost, or simply lack an equivalent when subjected to translation and time. So, with that disclaimer in place, I’d love to invite you down the rabbit hole I explored this week as I prayed with the gospel lesson and embraced my true identity as a logophile. 

Obey…obedience…tricky words, really. In actuality, the English word “obey” did not appear until the early 1200’s. It came through Old French as a derivative of the Latin, oboedire, meaning literally, “listen to”; it is a combination of the prefix ob-, meaning to or toward, and audiere, to listen or hear, from which we get the word audience. So, rather naturally around the same time came the adjective- counterpart to the verb “obey”: obedient, or obeissance. Well, here’s where problems began to arise and the word’s fundamental meaning began to change. By the late 14th century. The word for obedient, perhaps simply by virtue of phonetic similarity, began to be confused with the word for abase, abaisance, meaning “diminish, make lower in value or status; to humble or belittle oneself; cause to feel shame.” Thus, as the two became intertwined, their meanings became conflated with one another and soon the meaning of obey had taken on the elements of our modern day understanding with tones equivalent to: “yielding to the authority of...”, “following the directions of...”, “executing the commands of...” and most simply “doing what you’re told...”.  So, in reality, the notions of obedience as blind and lacking agency are not the original meaning of the word “obey”. Our modern interpretation of obey is a polluted variant of the original word and meaning of “to listen toward”.

In actuality, the original meaning of the word “obey” is much more congruent to the ancient Hebrew word, Shema. Although imprecise and without a singular English equivalent, “Shema” enfolds elements of “hearing, understanding, internalizing and responding”.  Even more curious, there is not even a word in ancient Hebrew for our modern notions of “obedience”; of the 613 commandments within the Torah, all use the word Shema or alternatively, lishmoa, meaning reflective response. So, from the outset it would appear that the God of Israel did not desire or decree mindless submission; God seems to seek something greater than obedience, namely responsibility and relationship. 

So, I’m sure at this point, you are all beginning to wonder how exactly I ended up down this rabbit hole and exactly what it has to do with today’s lectionary readings, right? Well, it goes like this: many, if not most of the commentaries for this week’s Gospel reading focus on Joseph’s obedience, Joseph’s “yes”. After all, the prophecy of the Messiah coming from the house and lineage of David stops in its tracks without Joseph’s “yes”. Joseph was of the house and lineage of David. As important as Mary’s “yes” is to this equation also, Jesus’ inheritance does not come through the lineage of Mary, the God-bearer.  Joseph was pivotal to God’s plan and God’s plan hinged on Joseph’s obedience, Joseph’s listening.

Simultaneously, Joseph would not, really could not, have understood obedience within our modern framework and vernacular; he would have understood faith within this ancient posture of listening toward, of Shema. His perspective would’ve been within the song creation sings to its Creator and the message history delivers to those who strive to understand it within the Judaic rhythm of life. Joseph’s obedience was predicated on his Judaic understanding of Shema Yisrael, a prayer prayed twice a day by devout and righteous Jews, as we know from the text Joseph indeed was. He would’ve recited this prayer before lying down to sleep that night, undoubtedly with the weight of the world seemingly on his shoulders and shattered. His fiancé was pregnant. He knew he was not the father. Mary’s claims seemed at best ridiculous, at worst blasphemous. There were no good options. Levitical law dictates stoning if he calls attention to her illicit pregnancy and brings charges against her. At best, by dismissing her quietly, he relinquishes her to a life of prostitution or begging to support herself and her child. If he marries her, Joseph’s reputation will be tainted forever by Mary’s illegitimate pregnancy...and her outlandish claims. Joseph strives, seeks, longs, to do the right thing...again, the text reminds us that he is a righteous man. He considers long and hard how to respond. One cannot imagine that as he lies down that night to rest it is not from sheer exhaustion amidst the inner tumult and wrestling. Yet, he lies down within a posture of Shema.  

So as Joseph dreamed that night, and the angel approached, Joseph hears and listens within an internalized and intrinsic disposition described best by Jonathan Sacks, former Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom: “'Listen. Concentrate. Give the word of God your most focused attention. Strive to understand. Engage all your faculties, intellectual and emotional. Make His will your own. For what He commands you to do is not irrational or arbitrary but for your welfare, the welfare of your people, and ultimately for the benefit of all humanity.” So, as Joseph wakes and did what the angel of the Lord commanded him to do, the gravity of such action takes on a whole new meaning within this context of Shema, a context that enfolds faith instead of blind obedience. In Judaism, faith is a form of listening. Joseph did not perceive himself obedient or disobedient, he could not conceptualize himself in those terms. God asked Joseph to be an active participant in the shaping of God’s plan by listening, interpreting and responding. Joseph responded with a “yes”, “yes, God, I hear you”, “yes, God, I understand you”, “yes, God, I trust you”, “yes, God, yes...”

So, this morning I would like to leave you with this quote by Austrian-British philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein: "The limits of my language are the limits of my mind. All I know is what I have words for." Perhaps part of the inbreaking of this Advent is expanding our vocabulary to know a new word: Shema, or at the very least reclaim our understanding of obey...and responding with “yes, God, I hear you...”, “yes, God, I understand you...”, “yes, God, I trust you...”, “yes, God, yes...”

Amen.