What About Joseph?- December 21, 2008
Matthew 1:18-25 (NRSV)
18 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. 19 Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. 20 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. 21 She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: 23 ”Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.” 24 When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, 25 but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.
Humble, hard working, and kind to others. A quiet man; a carpenter by trade. No doubt more comfortable working with his hands than with his mouth. A Godly man. A family man. A thoroughly decent man.
Like the other people we meet in the Bible, we don’t know much about what Joseph looked like. Although he appears to be Caucasian in most of our Nativity sets, clearly he was not from Europe, but rather, from the Middle East. No doubt he looked a lot like modern day people in that region of the world. However, we do know something important about this man who made and supported a family for the Christ child.
Gentlemen, can you imagine how it would feel to discover your fiancé was already with child, even though you knew it was not possible for the child to be yours biologically? How would you react to that news? I can’t imagine I would be able to handle that very well, especially if I was a mere teenager and my fiancé was not yet 15 years old. (Most ladies were married by the age of 15 in their society.) The way that Joseph reacts tells us a lot about him and the God he serves.
According to the Law of Moses, Joseph had the right to call for Mary to be put to death by stoning. Chapter 22 of Deuteronomy tells us that: “If there is a young woman, a virgin already engaged to be married, and a man meets her in the town and lies with her, you shall bring both of them to the gate of that town and stone them to death, the young woman because she did not cry for help in the town and the man because he violated his neighbor’s wife.” Among the Jews, engagement was just as legally binding as marriage.
Remember that this news came to him before he knew of God’s plan for Mary to be the mother of the Messiah. A typical young, man full of the insecurities young people experience, would no doubt be crushed by such news. Coming from a middle class family, his parents had likely taken great care in choosing Mary to be his wife. All of their hopes would also appear to be destroyed by this news.
Yet Joseph does something unexpected. On his own, he decides to simply call off the engagement, and allow Mary to go her own way. The gospel writer, Luke, makes it clear to us that Joseph “planned to dismiss her quietly,” because he was a “righteous man and was unwilling to submit her to public disgrace.” That is remarkable, but it gets even better.
An angel appears to Joseph in a dream and explains God’s plan to rescue all of us from our sins. Mary will remain a virgin for now, yet deliver a son miraculously, through the work of the Holy Spirit. The angel tells Joseph to “have no fear” in marrying this woman because her delivery of the child is all part of God’s plan; a plan prophesized by Isaiah hundreds of years earlier.
There is a program on cable TV that is called “Cheaters.” I find it to be truly depressing, and I do not recommend it for your viewing pleasure. Based on a premise of helping people to determine if their significant other is being unfaithful to them, the show follows people around with a camera to find out what they are doing when they are not with their loved one. The climax of the show happens at the end when the cheater is confronted on camera in front of God and everyone.
Emotions run high and most of the conversation is thankfully beeped out. It seems rare that the couple is reconciled. (Actually, I have never seen that happen in the few times I have watched the show.) Comparing the reactions of the people on this show to the reaction of Joseph is revealing. At the end of this show, viewers are left angry, discouraged, and feeling pity for the person who loved and lost.
What a difference we find with Joseph. There he is on Christmas morning, an important part of the holy family that brought salvation to humankind. He is there in every Nativity set. (At our house, that means we have 10 versions of this fellow because we have 10 nativity sets for the grandkids to enjoy.)
Can you picture it? The stars are aglow in a clear sky, with one special one pointing the way to the stable. Whether seen or not, the angels are gathered all around, praising God . Shepherds come to worship the tiny child who is their hope for life beyond anything they have known before. In the middle of it all, there is Joseph, ever faithful in caring for Mary and the baby. He has a look of heavenly peace on his face, even though he has been forced by circumstances to place his family in humble surroundings rather than in a house more appropriate for the Son of God.
How can this be? Looking back at our Scripture passage, we find that when he awoke from his dream, Joseph “did as the angel of the Lord commanded him.” Reacting in obedience and love, Joseph provides a wonderful model of a Godly man; a real man. A man big enough to handle even the difficult times with humble reliance on God.
We can only imagine the pain Joseph suffered throughout his life for this obedience. Since everyone in town knew when they were engaged and when the baby was delivered, that means everyone also thought they knew what Joseph and Mary had been doing in their spare time. (I suspect there is a lesson here about assuming people have done something wrong.) Considering Joseph’s love for the Lord, the pain of living with the permanent damage to his reputation must have been quite a burden to bear.
We don’t find much more about Joseph in our Bibles, except that he and Mary somehow lose track of Jesus when he is a prepubescent teenager. They find him in the temple teaching the rabbis about the Scriptures. Can you imagine that? The elders of the faith listening to the teaching of a mere child. Clearly, this is no ordinary child.
I suspect there is a good reason that our knowledge of Joseph ends there. It is likely because we already know what we need to know. Joseph is a loving, merciful, and obedient man. God chooses him to be the adoptive human father to the child Jesus. Clearly, God values Joseph because of how he behaves.
That seems like something we should also value at this Christmas time of the year. Joseph shows us that knowing and following God’s law is very important, but that showing mercy for others may just be even more important. After all, isn’t that how Jesus responded to sinners like the woman taken in adultery? The woman at the well? Zacchaeus, and the apostles Matthew, and Peter? All of them received mercy that they did not deserve.
As we close our brief look at Joseph this morning, allow me to share some thoughts about how I think Joseph might respond to the people we encounter in our lives today. Instead of looking down on all the people who slept in rather than attending church today, let us lift them up in prayer that they might receive God’s mercy in their lives. Instead of fighting for that parking spot during your last minute shopping at the mall, consider parking further away so that others can park closer to the stores. (That can also buy you a bit of exercise if you find yourself horizontally challenged as I am myself.) Instead of losing patience with the kids making noise at the family gathering, think about spending some time with them on their level so they can enjoy the holiday family time also.
Small demonstrations of the big love that God has shown to us in sending His Son to free us from our sin. Isn’t that what Christmas is all about?
And all God’s children said: “Amen.”
