(These are the notes I loosely worked from last night in our Christmas Eve Service. Here is the link for the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oDKBnQN-1E )
I was asked to share a Christmas memory of something I really longed to have and received on Christmas day. My memories of Christmas as a child are very vague. But I do remember that I longed for a Daisy BB gun rifle, and that perhaps around late elementary age I finally got one for Christmas. I spent hours and hours out in the wild with that gun – shooting birds, rabbits, squirrels mostly.
I want to talk with you for a bit tonight about Joseph – Mary’s husband and Jesus’s earthly father of sorts.
Joseph interestingly enough is not mentioned in the New Testament outside of the gospels, and he is not mentioned in the gospel of Mark at all and barely in the gospel of John. Even in the two gospels in which he is mentioned the most (Matthew and Luke), there is no mention of him being around once Jesus began His earthly ministry. Most scholars believe he died before this, though we don’t know for sure.
So what should we think of this man? Well let me share with you seven truths or so about this guy named Joseph – all from Matthew 1:18-25.
First (not explicitly from Matthew 1), the living God of the universe, when choosing a man to love and care for Jesus’s mother Mary, and when choosing a man to care for and raise His Son Jesus the Messiah – God chose a young man named Joseph. Joseph was God’s sovereign choice out of all of the young men in Israel in that day for the earthly care and protection and provision of His Son, which of course included the care and protection and nurture and provision for Mary – Jesus’s mother.
The first thing the Bible tells us about Joseph is that he was betrothed to a young lady named Mary. Matthew 1:18 What does it mean to be betrothed? Marriages in Hebrew culture were typically arranged for individuals by their parents, and the marriage contracts were negotiated. After this was accomplished, the individuals were considered married and were called husband and wife. They did not, however, begin to live together at that point. Instead, the woman continued to live with her parents and the man with his for up to one year. Sometimes they would hardly see each other during this time period. It was in many ways a testing time to make sure they were seriously committed to one another and would be faithful to one another.
The next thing we learn about Joseph is he found out (presumably from Mary) that she was pregnant with a child. I’m sure she told Joseph that the Holy Spirit was the One who made her pregnant. But that had never happened in human history up to that point. And while God or an angel may have told her this, He had not yet told Joseph this. So Joseph might have presumed that she had secretly gotten involved with some other man. Even if he believed her, most of the people in their region – when they found out about it – would not believe such a crazy story. Joseph had every right according to the law in the book of Deuteronomy to publicly shame her – even to have her stoned if she had indeed gotten involved with another man. And had he gone that route, all of the religious leaders of that day would probably have supported him. But instead Matthew 1:19 tells us he did not want to “disgrace her” and that “…he planned to send her away secretly”.
The question is why? What led him to go this course? Well that leads to the fourth thing we learn about Joseph from vs. 19 and that is he was a “righteous man”. Matthew makes it very clear in this verse that it was Joseph’s righteousness that caused him to not disgrace her but to try to preserve her dignity and reputation. So what does the Bible mean when it says Joseph was righteous? It means that he was walking in right relationship with God and with all the people God had put him in relationship with. It means that he was a principled man, who observed the law of God as a way of life. It doesn’t mean he was perfect. I’m sure Joseph sinned like we all do. And when he did, he turned to God for forgiveness, observing all the required sacrifices for sin in that day.
One of the things righteousness requires is that we rightly respond to everything God says to us. And that leads us to the fifth thing we learn about Joseph from this passage and that is
His righteousness enabled him to be adjustable, moldable and correctable. You see Joseph was very sincere and forgiving and merciful in his choosing to send Mary away secretly – presumably so she could have her baby in a city where she would not be judged and possibly severely punished. But that was not God’s plan. And that plan was based on a wrong premise. So vs. 20 tells us how God made this known to Joseph. “But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” Now Joseph could have ignored or rationalized away that dream and gone on with his plan. But being a righteous man, he feared God and wanted to please Him, so vs. 24 tells us how he responded to this message from God, “And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife.” Joseph knew the Scriptures and that God often spoke to people through dreams and through angels. Joseph knowing the Scriptures also knew a Messiah would some day come to the people of Israel. But my guess is that latter part about who their Son Jesus would become and what He would do did not register at least for a while. It didn’t with most of the people of Israel at least partially because the religious leaders of that day were more focused on the Messiah delivering them politically from their enemies and oppressors rather than delivering them spiritually from their sins.
And that begs the question of who Jesus the Savior is to you tonight? Has He invaded your life at your invitation and delivered you from slavery to sin and from Satan? Please know that it is very possible to attend church and even read the Bible and still be lost in your sins. I’ve long read biographies of famous Christians whom God used in significant ways in earth history. And it has been interesting that a number of them were religious for quite a few years before they were born again by the Spirit of God and saved from their sins and truly brought into a relationship with the living God. Because of that reality I want to pray for each of you right now. (Prayer for people in room to be saved and our lost friends and relatives).
Back to Joseph - Because Joseph was righteous and feared God he knew it would be wrong and immoral to come together with Mary sexually until after this child in her womb was born. Vs. 25, “but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son;…”So God commanded him to take her as his wife and begin to live with her evidently, but somehow made it clear to him that he was to keep her a virgin until her baby was born. Lesser men would have rationalized away that restriction, especially since her already being pregnant would provide convenient cover for such.
So is there any evidence that Joseph anticipated the gift of Jesus and recognized Him when He arrived? No not really. But there is evidence that Joseph made adjustments in his thinking when God made things clear to him.
So why does the Bible allow Joseph to just disappear, not even mentioning his death? Was he somehow resisting Jesus or being a stumbling block to His mission? Well the Bible often does not mention the death of notable people or it barely mentions it. Do you realize that there are no records in Scripture of the deaths, burials or memorials for Ezra, Nehemiah, Joseph, Mary, Elizabeth, Zacharias, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Peter, James, Jude, Barnabus, Timothy, Titus, Apollos, Prisca & Aquilla, Silas, Epaphras, …
Moses was the most humble man on earth, but no one but God knows exactly when he died or where he died.
Back to Joseph, it seems to me God wanted the focus in that day and in ours to be on Jesus and His heavenly father, not on his earthly caretaker. People tend to venerate people who are connected to important people. God wanted the focus to be on His Son and Him alone. Once Joseph’s purpose was fulfilled, God decided to have him join the throngs in heaven. He wasn’t needed on earth anymore.
Because God’s ways and thoughts are higher than the heavens above the earth than our ways and thoughts, and because we see through a glass dimly, we need to be correctable and moldable and humble as we are going to mis read things from time to time. You and I can read the Bible from beginning to end and even know the Hebrew and Greek, but there are times where unless God opens our eyes and speaks to us – we just cannot see things the way He does. I give Joseph kudos for leaving us a good example for what that looks like. May the Lord give each of us this kind of humility and moldable spirit. (prayer for that).
Merry Christmas everyone!!
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