KB-GD 06-01-08
Joseph – a righteous man who obeyed God
Story: It was the night before Christmas – and the local primary school were putting on the Nativity Play.
Everyone was excited and happy - except one little boy who had wanted to play the part of Joseph - but had, instead, been given the role of playing the Inn Keeper
Wanting to get his own back, he decided to re-write the nativity story – without telling anyone
So when Joseph and Mary knocked at the door of the Inn, he threw the door open wide and said ” Come on in – we have plenty of room”
Joseph however looked behind the open door and then, looking the Inn Keeper in the eye said:
” No wife of mine is going to stay in a dump like that. We’d rather take the stable”
And the story returned to its traditional pattern
Joseph, Mary’s husband is one of the forgotten heroes of the Nativity story
He is described in Mt 1 as a “righteous man” (Mt 1:19)
1. Background
We don’t know a lot about him from Scripture.
Of his background all we know was that Joseph came form the town of Bethlehem – and was from the lineage of David –significant because in Jewish law this would make Jesus too legally from the lineage of David.
Joseph was a carpenter. We know this because Jesus was referred to as the carpenter’s son (Mt 13:55) .
And he probably taught Jesus his trade - as fathers in those days used to teach their sons their trade – and of course we know Jesus was a carpenter too
Story: When Maddy and I were in Israel, our guide told us that archeologists had uncovered the ruins of Saphoris (modern Tzippori in Israel), a thriving city near Nazareth.
It is believed that Joseph spent much time there working as a carpenter probably with his son, Jesus.
2. Dreams
The one thing we know about Joseph that was special was that he had four dreams in which God spoke to him.
1.When the angel came to Joseph in a dream and told him that it was OK to marry Mary –as she had not been sleeping around (Mt 1.20-21)
2.When God warned him to take Mary and the child Jesus and flee to Egypt (Mt 2:13) and
3.When an angel of the Lord came to Joseph in a dream telling him to return to Israel, following the death of Herod(Mt 2:19-20)
4.When on his way back from Egypt, Joseph was concerned about going to Israel (because Archelaus had taken over power on the death of Herod), God spoke to Joseph in a dream guiding Joseph to move with the family to Galilee. (Mt 2:22-23)
Besides Joseph and Daniel in the Old Testament, I know of no one else having so many dreams recorded in Scripture.
So what can new deduce from the recorded life of Joseph
1. God uses ordinary people like you and me
Joseph wasn’t one of the “Good and Great” of this world.
He was a humble man.
He was not some great intellectual thinker or theologian
Yet God decided to use this humble man to shape the life of the incarnate Son of God.
What an honour and what a responsibility
2. God honours those to listen and obey
Joseph must have had a deep faith – and been a keen disciple of God. Perhaps that is why he is described as a “righteous man” one who was keen to keep God’s law.
I think that is the reason Joseph was a man who listened and obeyed what God and the Angel told him to do.
No arguing with the Angel – no discussion – he simply got on with it.
3. God will guide his disciples
Joseph didn’t land up in Egypt by “chance”
He went there because of the clear leading of God.
God spoke to him in a dream
He knew where he was going because he listened to what God told him to do.
And it saved his, Mary and Jesus’ lives.
What can we learn from Joseph?
That true discipleship is about
1. Listening to what God has to say
That means making time to stop and listen
2. Obeying what He tells you to do – when He says it
Had Joseph hung around Bethlehem wondering if he had heard right, Herod’s men would have come and killed the whole family.
Sometime obedience to God is the difference between life and death
Why you might ask did God choose Joseph – out of all the potential fathers in Israel to mentor Jesu as he was growing up
Perhaps – because He knew Joseph to be an godly and obedient man
