WHAT ABOUT JOSEPH?
INTRODUCTION: When we talk about the Christmas story we typically focus on Jesus, Mary, the Magi or the shepherds, but what about Joseph? It’s like he’s just part of the supporting cast; one of the lesser roles in the events of Christ’s birth. In fact, there is not one recorded word of Joseph in the scriptures. His words may not have been recorded but his deeds were; and they speak volumes. So, although it may be easy to not pay any attention to Joseph we should because we can learn a lot from the man who was chosen by God to help raise his Son. Let’s see what we can learn from Joseph-Jesus’ stepfather.
1) Joseph was a loving man (Matthew 1:18-19). Joseph was hurt. He had just found out the woman he was going to marry was pregnant. By law he was within his rights to have her publicly disgraced and stoned to death. To the Jews an engagement was legally binding. You couldn’t just break off an engagement; you needed to get a divorce. So, although the wedding ceremony hadn’t happened yet they were, for all intents and purposes, married, and therefore infidelity was adultery. In fact, Mary could’ve incurred two charges. With Mary claiming her pregnancy was due to the Holy Spirit, she would’ve also been charged with blasphemy-speaking of God in such a disgraceful manner. So, Joseph could’ve had his wife handed over to the authorities. And who could blame him if he had? This was the most disgraceful betrayal and it deserved to be punished. “How could she do this to me? I’ll never forgive her for this.” This could have been his attitude but instead we see a loving reaction to the news. Perhaps some thought Joseph should have handed her over but he chose to act not on what was allowable but rather on what was noble. For us, there might be something we have the right to do but does that mean we should? If someone wrongs us it may be well within our rights to bring the authorities into it but does that mean we should? What would it say about us if we handled the matter in a more loving way? Not tolerating their behavior but not maximizing the consequences either. Joseph wasn’t going to dismiss the offense; he was still going to divorce her but he chose not to bring any further pain and suffering for Mary. Joseph’s reaction to the situation showed his love for Mary. Where most other men would not care to be very loving toward the woman who betrayed them, Joseph showed himself to be different. His love for Mary didn’t vanish even after he thought she had cheated on him. Even though it appeared that she had disgraced him, he wasn’t willing that she would be disgraced. He didn’t demand justice; he didn’t have a desire to get even. One of the attributes of love in 1st Cor. 13 is “love is not self-seeking”. We see that truth displayed in the actions of Joseph toward Mary. He was a righteous man and it showed in how he treated Mary. Our righteousness will be exposed in our treatment of others. How we love others is a great indicator of how much we love God.
2) Joseph was an obedient man (Matthew 1:20-25). Joseph expected to live a quiet, unassuming life with his wife Mary. Joseph didn’t expect to hear what the angel told him. Joseph has his expectations dashed; he was given a divine disruption. And how did he react to this divine disruption? “He did as the angel said and took Mary home to be his wife.” This would take an incredible amount of faith to believe, act upon and stay true to. There would be ridicule and he would be tempted to not follow through with it. But, since Joseph was a righteous man he was a faithful and obedient man. Let’s look at another incident where Joseph had a divine disruption. Matthew 2:13-15. Out of nowhere Joseph is told to grab his wife and baby and escape all the way to Egypt and stay there. Joseph had an established residence and an established business as a carpenter but he was asked to leave that behind and go to this foreign land. Here again we see Joseph’s willingness to be obedient in an uncomfortable situation. How about us? How do we react when God gets in the way of our expectations? How do we respond when he “interrupts” our lives? How would we respond if in order to be obedient to God we would be thought of as a fool? How would we respond if we were asked to leave everything behind and uproot our family to a foreign land? Because Joseph was a righteous man Joseph was an obedient man. And he wasn’t just obedient; he was obedient when it was completely uncomfortable to do so. Joseph represents the level of obedience that we should all be striving for as Christians.
3) Joseph was a humble man (Luke 2:1-7). “No room in the Inn”. Joseph was rejected. The place he was hoping to be able to go so his wife could deliver the Messiah would not be an option. What was he supposed to do now? They had traveled a long way. They were tired; Mary could very well have started labor pains at this point. Where were they supposed to go? The clock is ticking; there isn’t much time. The Innkeeper suggests the stable nearby. How would we have responded? Would we panic? Would we scream at the innkeeper, demanding to be accommodated? Would we become angry at God saying, “Are you serious? You expect us to go and settle for that stinky old stable? You want your Son to be born in that dirty place around all those animals?” So how did Joseph respond? Perhaps he was confused, perhaps he was scared, concerned, etc. but he dealt with it. He turned and took his wife to the barn. How do we deal with rejection? How do we deal with difficulties when we are doing something for God? We tends to have expectations that things will go a certain way and when they don’t we get frustrated and come out of character. We may get upset at God because we don’t understand why he would allow problems to arise when we are doing his will. Will we abandon the project when we hit a roadblock or will we deal with it and stay faithful to the end? Joseph didn’t let a setback take him away from fulfilling his duties. He humbly accepted the situation and made the most out of it.
4) Joseph was a good father (Luke 2:21-24, 39-52). (21-24, 39-40) Joseph made sure they did everything according to what was required by the law of God-presenting him at the temple and making sure he took his family to celebrate the Passover every year. And I’m sure this wasn’t only when it was time to go to the temple but at home too. We see that Jesus grew and became filled with wisdom. Obviously this would come from God but I’m sure Joseph played a part in shaping the mind of Jesus by bringing him up in accordance with God’s word. Do we instill in our children the importance of spiritual obedience? Do we set the example of love and devotion to God and his ways? We need to do as Joseph did, take our children to church, teach our children the word, raise them up in the way they should go so that when they are older they will not depart from it. Joseph not only taught Jesus the way of God but he also taught him the way of carpentry. In Matt. 13:55 Jesus is referred to as the carpenter’s son. And in Mark 6:3 Jesus is referred to as the carpenter, showing that the trade was passed on from “father” to son. Joseph spent time with Jesus, teaching him his craft. How about us? Are we spending time with our kids; are we passing on our knowledge and skills? (41-52) This would be every parent’s nightmare-your child is missing. A thousand thoughts would race through your mind; the worst fears would paint their realistic pictures. Verse 44-“Thinking he was in their company…” Adam Clarke’s commentary, “Some have supposed that the men and women marched in separate companies on these occasions, which is very likely; and that sometimes the children kept company with the men, sometimes with the women. This might have led to what otherwise seems to have been inexcusable carelessness in Joseph and Mary. Joseph, not seeing Jesus in the men's company, might suppose he was with his mother in the women's company; and Mary, not seeing him with her, might imagine he was with Joseph.” “I thought he was with you.” “Well, I thought he was with you.” Like any good parent would do, when Joseph knew his child was missing he wasn’t going to stop looking until he found him. Those three days of searching must’ve felt like three years. You can’t eat, you can’t sleep; you can only frantically search. ‘We’ve been anxiously searching for you’ probably only begins to describe it. You know what this incident shows? Joseph wasn’t perfect. He lost his son. He goofed up; he had an accident. But this didn’t change the fact that Joseph was a good father. We need to remember that too. We’re not going to be the perfect parent; we’re not going to get everything right. God knew this incident would happen but he still chose Joseph to raise his precious son. God knows we’re not going to be perfect parents. However, God has placed our kids in our hands to love as he would love them; to nurture and raise them in the structure of his ways. We may not have been given the awesome responsibility of raising the Son of God but we have been given the responsibility to raise God’s creation; the special gift of life he has allowed us to have and take care of.
CONCLUSION: During the Christmas season you may sing some carols that reflect on the wondrous virgin birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus. And you might come across various nativity displays, and perhaps attend a Christmas play or two and that’s all good, but I hope that when you see those nativity scenes and view those plays your attention can be drawn to the seemingly insignificant guy standing behind Mary. And when you do I hope you are reminded of who Joseph really is; a man whose character speaks volumes.
