(Based on a sermon preached December 15, 2024 at New Hope Baptist Church, Fulton, MO. This is not an exact transcription.)
Introduction: Two Sundays ago we looked at Zacharias and Elisabeth as two important people in the first Christmas story. Last week we studied the message of the angel Gabriel to Mary, a Jewish virgin who agreed to become the mother of the Messiah, Jesus! Today we look at one of the unsung heroes of the story, Joseph, the man who would be Mary’s husband.
To say the least, Joseph had a lot to deal with and resolve as he approached the day when he would actually be married to Mary and live with her as husband and wife. But he received some news that almost made him change his mind!
The text comes from Matthew, chapter 1, beginning at verse 16. We’ll read through verse 25.
Text: Matthew 1:16-25, KJV: 16 And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. 17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. 19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily. 20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. 21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, 23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. 24 Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: 25 And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.
1 The Pedigree of Joseph
Dr. C.I. Scofield, in his reference Bible, observed that the first words of the New Testament point back to the Old Testament. Matthew wrote this gospel, as many believe, to show the Jews, especially, that Jesus was not only the Messiah promised but also the fulfillment of any number of Old Testament prophecies.
One way Matthew did this was to trace the line of Joseph all the way back to Abraham, through David. And, if I read this correctly, Joseph was listed as the heir to the throne, or, crown prince! I mean, look at how, especially with David’s line, each son listed, down to Jeconias (he was known as Jeconiah, Coniah, or Jehoiachin in the OT), was king of Judah!
So then, Joseph had the lineage of being a great-great-whole lotta greats-grandson of David. This proves there were historical records, too, as there is no dispute that Jesus was a “son of David”. Look at how many times He is called this in the Gospels.
Something to keep in mind, also, is that this genealogy or family tree of our Lord includes some of the best and some of the worst in Israel’s history. All of the people listed here were sinners, yet, happily, at least some found salvation in the God of Israel (Ruth, for one)! Charles Spurgeon had some interesting comments about a number of people in this genealogy, found online at (https://godrules.net/library/spurgeon/45spurgeon4.htm) From David, one of the best (not counting Abraham himself); to Manasseh, one of the worst sinners ever, our Lord shows He is the God of all people, not just the righteous!
But in spite of his pedigree, Joseph was in no position to lay claim to the throne. And he seemed to know it. Now let’s take a look at his position.
2 The Position of Joseph
We’ve mentioned that Joseph was in the royal line and, again if I read the text correctly, he was the crown prince, directly in line to the throne. He’d never be king, though, for a couple of reasons: first, Rome was firmly in charge of the known world (including Israel, known then as part of Syria or Judea) and wasn’t about to allow any other king to be in power (neither would Herod, allowed the title of “King of the Jews” but that’s another story). Second, and even worse for every descendant of David through Jeconiah, God had placed a curse on that line or “dynasty” one might say: no other son of that line would ever be king. This was spoken by the LORD through Jeremiah before Judah was carried off to Babylon (Jeremiah 22:30).
Of course, Joseph might have had reason to be, well, fill in the blank: bitter, or philosophical, or resigned, or maybe something else. At the very least, this should remind us that sin, any sin, or all sins, have effects. Some may be only for a moment (we think); others cause results that may last forever. Again, we do not have to pay the penalty for our sins (the worst penalty being cast our of God’s presence forever in the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20—it would be very helpful to read the entire chapter). Jesus already paid it all! The only thing anyone needs to do is repent of one’s sins and accept this free gift of salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9)!
Joseph, then, had learned a trade in order to support himself. There is nothing wrong with this; after all, David had been a shepherd before God chose him to be the king of Israel. The word “carpenter” may throw some of us off for another couple of reasons: first, according to a pastor from North Carolina who spoke to our church in West Virginia around 1974, the word translated “carpenter” means “skilled builder”’ and, many structures were made of stone because wood seemed to be scarce in Galilee. In addition, many commentators observed that having an honest trade and using that trade to make an honest living was nothing to look down on or be ashamed of. Likely then as now, less than honest builders wouldn’t stay in business for long. Somewhere I remember a quote (by Matthew Henry?): “The best preparation for doing great, is to be great at doing the small things.” Absolutely true.
We never read of how much Joseph earned at his trade, but indirectly the evidence shows he had at least enough “wealth”, however managed, to be able to take a wife and support a family. This would be very important because Joseph was about to walk into a significant problem.
3 The Problem Joseph Faced
Remember how Matthew called Joseph a “just” man? This meant he was righteous, or, to use a more modern term, he was “saved”. He had placed his faith in God for salvation and as a result, he was considered a “just” man.
This doesn’t mean he was sinless or perfect—not by any means. The same could be true of any of us, for that manner. Even though Jesus saves our soul, we still have the old nature (the “old man”, as Paul calls it) and that old nature never gives up in its struggle to defeat the new man. Paul had a very graphic description of this in Romans, especially chapter 7.
But the problem Joseph faced here was that Mary, his beloved, his espoused, the one whom he wanted to love and live with the rest of his days, was pregnant!
And the baby wasn’t his.
Actually, then, Joseph’s problem was two-fold: first, other people knew that Mary was pregnant (she was several months along and it was obvious she was with child!); second, they likely jumped to conclusions and figured Joseph was the father of the unborn child!
Joseph knew none of this, of course, at first; Mary hadn’t told him—yet. After she “was found” to be with child, it didn’t take long, especially in a small town like Nazareth, for word to get around. We’re not told how long or how much time took place between Mary’s return from Judea and word reaching Joseph about Mary’s condition.
So that’s the first problem: Mary was pregnant, and the baby wasn’t Joseph’s. What could Joseph do? Well, he had a few options, living under the Law of Moses as they did in those days. He could have accused Mary of being unfaithful and have her stoned to death (Deuteronomy 22:23-24). He didn’t do that, though, because he didn’t want to cause her any more grief or discomfort than what she was already going through. Virginity was prized—being an unwed mother was not, in those days.
One thing, or another option not mentioned in the Law, was divorce. As Joseph and Mary were espoused, or married in all but the ceremony, he had the option to “put her away” or give her a bill of divorce. Dake’s Annotated Bible has a sample of a bill of divorce and once the blanks were filled in, and the other formalities were complete, the couple was considered officially divorced. Each person was then free to remarry or not as they wished. Joseph could have completed the bill of divorcement, presented it before two or three witnesses, and that was that. Of course, depending on the relative desire for revenge or anything else, these divorce proceedings could have been much greater or more of an insult to one of the partners.
And there’s one other thing that some of us may not consider. Insults, good-natured or otherwise, have been part of male life for a long time. Now imagine Joseph, innocent in this manner of Mary and the baby she’s carrying, trying to make a living as best he could in Nazareth. How many times might have he heard insults like these:
“How’s the baby and the little woman, Joe?”
“Couldn’t wait to get that family started, could ya, Joe?”
“Great-grandpa David would’ve been proud of ya, Joe! You’re just like him, aintcha, Joe??"
“Who’s the baby gonna look like, Joe? You—or somebody else, huh?” (Remember, Nazareth was a town with a less-than-stellar reputation.)
May we keep in mind that Jesus Himself bore the insults of many people over a long time. To list only a few of these, even while He was nailed to the Cross, people were insulting Jesus to His face. “He saved others, but He can’t save Himself!” Or, how about this one: “Come down from the Cross! Then we’ll believe!”
And Roman soldiers gambled to see which one would win the seamless robe Jesus wore: while He was dying on the old rugged cross. What unspeakable Love our Savior displayed!
No doubt Joseph was troubled about his problem, his situation, at the present time. Nobody knows for sure how much Joseph could or did know about the Baby and the future; yes, he had a lot on his mind and wrestled with how to make the best of this situation. Humanly speaking, there was no way he could win.
God, though, gave Joseph the answer he needed. Right on time.
4 The Promise Joseph Received From God
We remember from verses 19-20 that Joseph was troubled (implied) as to what he should do about Mary and her unplanned, unexpected pregnancy. We saw how he decided to divorce Mary as quietly as possible. After all, he loved her and didn’t want to make things as bad as possible for Mary, especially at that time.
I’m guessing that after another hard day of work (and, maybe, insults), he went to bed and promptly fell asleep. It was during that sleep when an angel of the Lord (see the copy or the transliteration of the Greek at https://biblehub.com/interlinear/matthew/1-20.htm) told Joseph not to fear about taking Mary as his wife, and that the child she was bearing was “conceived . . .of the Holy Ghost (Spirit, verse 20)”.
That wasn’t the only promise, either. The angel (unnamed) also instructed Joseph, even as Gabriel had given Mary this same instruction (Luke 1:31) to call the Baby’s name Jesus because “ / / /He shall save His people from their sins”.
Even better, this was the fulfillment of a prophecy and a promise made by the Lord in the days of Isaiah, nearly 800 years before! Think about it: suppose any preacher in the year 1224 would make a prediction that on December 15, many years in the future, that a group of about 25 people would worship together in a church in Fulton, MO—I know, it’s hard to believe, but that’s about the same scenario in Isaiah’s day. And you can believe it: the virgin, Mary, did conceive and when the Baby was born, He was called Jesus (but I’m getting a little ahead of myself).
Joseph awoke from sleep and seemed to be satisfied, then. He took Mary home to be his wife (more about that in a moment) and they stayed in Nazareth until it was time for the baby to be born. Now, remember how Joseph was so concerned about what he should do about Mary and the baby? There was another option and Joseph did this: he married her. Of note, Deuteronomy 22 also had a penalty: if a man sexually assaulted a virgin, he was fined a sum of money and he also forfeited all the rights to divorce his now-wife. We don’t know if Joseph was required to pay the fine, but we do know he intended to stay with Mary “till death do us part”!
5 The Patience Joseph Endured
Now, as we close this message, soon, may we remember that Joseph took Mary as his wife. What isn’t mentioned is the wedding ceremony itself. I’ve heard and read a few descriptions of Jewish weddings in those days and the general theme is that A, the groom-to-be proposed to the bride-to-be. If she said yes, then step B would be to make arrangements. I don’t know what kind of paperwork (well, parchment-work or papyrus) would be necessary but—remember, we’re talking about government here.
Then the groom would go to prepare a place for himself and his bride. According to a message by Dr. J. Vernon McGee around 1985, the next step would be Step C; where the groom would not take his bride for at least a year (there might well have been exceptions) to allow for the construction. Once the time was right, step D, the groom would come to claim his bride and actually be married!
As a reminder, it was all about the _groom_ in those days. For many years in this country, the wedding was and is about the _bride_! Every wedding I’ve seen had one thing in common: the groom and, usually, his best man and/or other groomsmen would stand at the altar and wait. And wait. And wait. And, did I say wait / / /for the bride to walk up the aisle toward her husband to be? By the way, you ladies, now, you never did that to your husband on your wedding day, did you? Of course not (audience was laughing here)!
Joseph, though, even after taking Mary as his wife, faced a certain amount of time before he could consummate the marriage. Remember, Mary was a virgin—pure, chaste, and had never taken part in the act of marriage before this time—and Joseph decided he would wait until after the baby was born.
Well, what can we take away from this? On the one hand, nobody here is a descendant of David, so far as we know. None of us are required to live under the Law of Moses—we live under Grace; the Law has no effect on us (it never did!). And most of us will not be bearing children as we’re past that stage in our lives. So, not much there.
But there a couple of things we can take with us. First, we can make sure we are true and truly believers in the Lord through faith in Jesus Christ. Second, like Joseph, Mary, and millions of other believers, we can follow God’s Word and God’s Will for our lives. Like Joseph, we can do exactly what the Lord leads us to do. And we can trust Him to bless us if we do it His way!
Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV)
