Are you talking to me too?
Week 2 – Joseph’s perspective -
Last week we started off the advent season talking about perspective. I encouraged you to break away from the perspective that comes from the world. The views we pickup from the culture, like when we hear elevator music where we tend to just mindlessly humm along not realizing how much we have been influenced.
So, last Sunday, we looked at Mary and the statements the angel made about her. Her perspective was a complete change of every plan and expectation that she has ever had or even dreamed about.
The perspective of a culture would be that Mary was an adulteress. Or that Joseph was unrighteous and influenced this poor girl. Or that together they stepped outside the limits of the law and were impure and unrighteous as a couple.
Those are hard views. Last week we acknowledged that Mary was already strongly influenced by the Holy spirit and clearly stated her obedience to the angel Gabriel’ s message.
But while we look at Mary’s story and think wow what a strong and far sighted young lady we also noticed that she was able to contain the excitement.
She packed her things and headed off to see old aunt Liz and uncle Zack. Maybe to confirm part of the message and perhaps to figure out what or how to tell the family about this “good news.”
Since there is no description of reactions from family as he is leaving then we believe that she left only stating a desire to see her relatives.
Joseph had to be wondering why she would take off like that.
What kind of a person just takes off on a wild hare to head off to the hill country. It seems like she would have told the husband.
I think, He had to be wondering why? Why take off like that now?
Ok, ladies I think I need to explain something I think most of you already know. Especially those of you that have been married for a long time.
I have been blessed to me married for over 27 years. But, there are times when I don’t have a clue as to what Renee is really thinking. She may say or do something and I don’t have any concept of why or what it means.
Now don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that it is something strange or silly.
Definitely not a situation or action to laugh at.
But, I wonder what it means.
Did I do something wrong?
Did I forget something I was supposed to do or remember?
I end up with an uncomfortable feeling because I have doubts about me.
If I feel this kind of uncertainty after 27 years, how does a young man feel as a newly wed or as a fiancée?
The shorter the term of the relationship the more uncertain most men feel when they try to understand women.
Can you imagine Joseph’s point of view. His betrothed, married and living in the required separation period. He is looking forward to the day he can bring his bride home.
Her folks just say that she wanted to visit her aunt. For several months she had been gone.
I don’t think I can fully imagine what his concerns could be. But as the days went by and no cell phone or email or even regular mail, he had to have tons of questions with no answers.
All he could do is what a man does to get his mind off of problems.
He probably works: We have more choices today, TV, computers, other distractions including work.
Joseph’s nights are long and he had way too much time to think. I imagine that his mind is full of his on questions and doubts.
- What if she changed her mind?
- Or maybe she had doubts as to what kind of provider he would be. After all he is only a carpenter working on projects and sometimes only day to day.
Maybe he is more positive
- Perhaps he thought that Mary was making a special preparation for the wedding, you know a surprise…
Let’s look at another Video clip from The Nativity Story to set the stage for Joseph’s perspective.
CLIP CLIP CLIP - Mary is back
--- Well he was probably surprised alright.
After worrying that He was not good enough or other things, he sees or hears “the truth.”
Mary came home after 3 months wearing some of Old Aunt Elisabeth’s maternity clothes.
Is there a good way for the betrothed to find out that there is a baby coming and it is not HIS.
I guess surprised would not have been the word.
Perhaps shocked and hurt, or disappointed and betrayed.
I doubt that he could actually listen to the rest of the good news.
That whole having God’s son thing would not have been received very well.
Don’t you think Mom and Dad are surprised and disappointed too?
I doubt that they listened well either.
And it would not be long before everyone in town knew and what would happen then?
In that culture, your name was the only really valuable thing most people had.
CLIP CLIP HONOR
We don’t know too much about Joseph. We can tell he is religious because of his attention to being righteous in the eyes of God. But, We only have a few snapshots of him in scripture. Matthew shares a snapshot in our scripture this morning.
“Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
Here we see the point of Joseph’s perspective. He knows that the child can not be his. They have never been alone together because that would have been improper.
Mary was living proof of a person committing adultery,y of a person that was impure.
So what can he do?
Being righteous, he needs to do the right thing; he can not marry a woman who defiled herself.
But, if he married her, this situation would all smooth over in time. So no one would know that it was not his child, except him. But, that would be a lie that would make him unrighteous in the eyes of God. How could he live with that?
According to the Law, He is the one that is damaged. The marriage covenant is broken.
He had a choice - public destruction of Mary – public divorce and potentially her death by stoning or a private divorce leaving everyone to talk.
He decides the private divorce is better than taking his revenge on Mary.
His initial choice tells me a lot about Joseph. He is faced with a tough situation and he chooses the least amount of damage possible for his wife and himself.
Joseph was not vindictive against Mary even though it is clear that Mary has been unfaithful. His honor and judgment would be questioned.
But, He seems to have carefully and wisely evaluated the situation before acting.
He may have even held a real love for this girl the he may not have known very well.
Then he had his own visitor. His angel comes in a dream and explains that what Mary has said is true. The angel changes his “victim perspective.” It is ok for him to bring Mary home as his wife. That this child was created by the Holy Spirit and that it is God’s Son.
CLIP CLIP CLIP I Believe You
Have you ever had a dream that just seemed so real? I am guessing that Joseph did not have an ordinary dream where his wishes caused him to change his mind.
He had a dream that assured him that God was in control. That the immediate damages, and pain would work out for a greater good. Not just for him and Mary, but for God’s people, for the world.
-- Joseph has a special perspective that seems to already be at the core of who he is. He is able to deal with the surprise and the shock and emotional pain that came with it.
The visitor helped him to have a wonderful view of what God was doing.
--- Remember that as Christians we don’t just have a Christmas perspective for a week or a month, we should live our lives with Christmas perspective.
Which means that we live a life offering forgiveness and acceptance to this world for God.
We offer forgiveness to people in our world who do horrible things.
Like:
- People that go into shopping malls and senselessly cause death.
- People that won’t work for a living.
- People that are mean and rotten.
- People that don’t seem to care about anything including their children.
Even
- People that might have injured our pride
- made us angry
- maybe even embarrassed us in public
- or really hurt us in some real way
According to Joseph’s time and culture he had every right to seek damages for his pain and loss.
He could take revenge. He could walk away.
The Christmas perspective that he demonstrates is one of a love that overcomes all sin, all damages and sees people as the children of God.
A Christmas perspective is not an easy thing to obtain and it especially hard to hold on too. Because, it requires you to really deal with how we feel about people and situations on the inside.
Folks the Christmas perspective I hope you will move toward is one where you actively allow God to help you to forgive really forgive the people that have hurt you. To actively seek forgiveness from those you may have hurt.
-- I have heard it said that Christians can join in on gossip if we add a little prayer for the person we are talking about.
Did you hear about so and so? Bless them Lord! Or bless their little heart.
I guess everyone puts on a Christian face from time to time. We look pleasant on the outside but, on the inside we might be thinking, get a job, do something about your appearance, get married.
How we feel all too often it shows on our face and in our actions even when we think we are able to hide it so well. And we loose the ability to help people to feel welcome and forgiven.
Bless their little heart….should be bless our little hearts. It should be a prayer to change our hearts.
A Christmas based perspective is one that actively works to allow God to change the inside of us. So that what shows on our face is what we actually feel on the inside.
Do you want a life the see the good in the world all year around?
Are you willing to be used by God no matter what the cost?
Do you have the right perspective inside this morning?
Joseph could have let his pride destroy his family.
Transition to s serviced of healing requested by a member.
HEALING
