“Joseph’s Story”
Dr. Bill Groover
Tallahassee, Florida
© 1998, 2002, William A. Groover Jr., Ph.D. Preachers may use this sermon or any part in worship if no publication is involved. No credit to the author is required, but an e-mail to DrBillGroover@aol.com will be appreciated. I’d also appreciate hearing any improvements suggested, and be allowed to incorporate those in the next revision. Thank you.
I am Joseph, Son of Jacob, the King of Israel! I am the rightful heir to the throne of my ancestor King David. So why am I dressed more like a Palestinian carpenter than a king, you ask? Because king or no king, I am a carpenter. My Mother wanted me to be a Doctor, but would I listen? I am afraid another, a usurper, sits on MY throne. Being a descendant of David in my country was about like being a descendant of George Washington in your country. People are interested, but it gets you nothing.
My wife Mary, too, is a descendant of King David. The only problem is, though royal blood flows through both our bodies, we’re just common poor people.
There are three classes of people where we live: the rich, the poor, and slaves. Often, the slaves had better than the poor--at least they had someone rich looking out for their investment and feeding them! But even though we were poor, we hardly knew it. Everyone we knew was poor, and we had the same things everybody else had: family, friends, and our faith. And we were happy!
Except when there was a drought and a famine, we really only had two problems: the Romans, and our religion.
The worst things about being occupied by Rome was just knowing they were there, and paying their taxes. They allowed us to govern ourselves--to an extent. And just so we wouldn’t hate them so much, they hired Jews to do their tax collecting (you may have heard of two: Levi or Matthew, and Zacchaeus). The Romans even let us keep our own religion and worship in the Temple. They did want us to acknowledge their religion was also true and Caesar was also Lord, but they learned not to press that one too much in Judea. Other peoples considered it fair and mutually respectful, but to a Jew, "The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!" So we prayed and prayed and begged the Lord to send his promised Messiah, his deliverer who would reestablish the Throne of David. And okay, if I wasn’t going to get to sit on it. At least I should be a member of the royal court, right? Oh, for Messiah to come!
And that brings me to our other problem, our religion. Well, our religion wasn’t exactly the problem. The people running our religion, they were the problem! We had two kinds of priests, and they were always at war with each other. You think Baptist preachers know how to fight, you guys know nothing, nothing I tell you!
We had the Pharisees who pushed the Law of Moses to ridiculous extremes, and especially the Sabbath laws. Why, even the LORD worked six days and even he rested on the Sabbath! They believed the Messiah would not come until all of Israel kept one Sabbath perfectly--then The LORD would send his Messiah and set us free. Now to keep the Sabbath means many things. For one, it means you cannot do any labor. Okay, so what then is labor? Labor, they decided, was to carry the weight of a two dried figs. Dried figs, mind you. What kind of lazy oaf says carrying a couple of dried figs is labor? A Pharisee, that’s who! Now think of it. Do any of you wear dentures? Don’t tell me already, I don’t want to know. But if you wear dentures, and they weigh more than two dried figs, you’re breaking the Law--and it’s because of YOU Messiah isn’t coming this week! Now, how would you like that preached at you regularly? You should thank the Lord you have such a wonderful preacher as Rabbi Groover, you should.
But you could do worse. You could have a Sadducee. These people I’m not sure believed anything. They didn’t believe in angels, prophecy, or the resurrection of the dead. I tell you what they believed--they believed in getting along with the Romans, they did! “Hear, O Israel! Go along, and get along!” that was the Sadducees’ creed. I really don’t think they wanted Messiah to come and upset the pomegranate cart for them.
So, what was a fellow to do? I was neither a Pharisee nor a Sadducee. I just wanted to worship the Lord, obey his Law, and wait for his promised Messiah.
Well, at least I found a young woman who wanted the same things. Oh, what a wonderful girl she is, too. Beautiful, sweet, and oh!--so pleasant to be around. But let me tell you about our marriage customs. Rich people arranged marriages to keep power and wealth within their families. But we were poor; there was no wealth or power about which to be concerned. So we were much freer to choose for ourselves. So when a young man was somewhere between 18 and 30, he chose a wife, usually a girl between 12 and 15. First they would be engaged or betrothed--espoused to be married we called it--sometimes for a whole year! It was as legally binding as the marriage itself. To break off the engagement, you had to get a divorce.
Mary and I had just become engaged--espoused--when all of a sudden she leaves without any notice to go visit her cousin Elizabeth. I wondered why the sudden plans. But Mary’s family said she was going to help Elizabeth with her new baby. I asked, “Is this the same Elizabeth that is older than my Mother, or is there another Elizabeth in your family?”
"Aye," they said, "tis the same! It’s a miracle, but Elizabeth and old Zechariah are with child.”
Three months I waited for Mary to come home. Now an odd thing happened while Mary was gone. Do you remember the text from the Prophet Isaiah where the Word of the Lord comes to the Prophet saying: "Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel"? (Isaiah 7:14) For three months I couldn’t get that passage out of my mind. Finally she returned and I went to see her.
Now Mary was always a very pious young girl that was one of the things I liked about her. But now just being in the same room with her felt more like I had gone in the Holy Place at the Temple. Something was different.
Well Mary told me about Elizabeth and old Zechariah. It seems they had prayed for children when they were younger, but none came. Then when they were well past child-bearing years, an angel of the Lord visited Zechariah in the Temple. This angel told Zechariah they would have a son and to name him John, and that he would preach in the power and the spirit of Elijah.
Elijah already. Hosea wasn’t good enough, for him it had to be Elijah.
I can’t tell you what mixed emotions I had. I wanted to believe in angels, but who has ever seen one? Not me. But the Lord was watching. Surely he has sent angels before, and who is to say just because there hasn’t been an angel or a prophet in hundreds of years, there couldn’t be one now. But others were watching, too, and I didn’t want to be called crazy. Well, sometimes nothing is the best thing to say, and I thought this was one of those sometimes. So I said nothing.
And then she tells me the rest of the story.
One angel wasn’t enough. There had to be another.
So, Mary tells me, the Angel Gabriel visited her. "Did he, now?" says I.
"Oh, yes," says she, "and he said I’m going to have a baby."
"I know we’re going to have many babies."
Then Mary looks at me: "Did I say ’we’? No, Joseph, I am having a baby. We will have others, but I am having this baby."
I was stunned--shocked. How could this be? My betrothed and I had not even kissed--it wasn’t proper yet. And now she is pregnant? Is this what happened while she was out of town visiting Elizabeth, another man forced himself on her? A Roman dog, no doubt! I’ll kill him! But, “NO!” she said. It was the Spirit of the Lord that came upon her. She was still a virgin and would be to the day of her delivery.
Now, I ask you, seriously: would YOU have believed her?
I staggered away from her house. I didn’t know what to do. The Law said I had every right to stone her to death. There were people in our village, followers of the Pharisees, who would do just that. But no, I couldn’t stand that thought. So I resolved to quietly divorce her. Maybe send her back to live with Elizabeth. I didn’t know what to do. I lay down on my bed and wept and sobbed until, exhausted, I feel asleep.
Now is the point in my story where you might think me as crazy as old Zechariah. But while I slept, to me an angel appeared also! And he said: "20b 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." (Matthew 1:20b-23) The MESSIAH!
I leaped from my bed, tracks from my tears still plain on my face and I ran all the way to Mary’s house. "Forgive me," I cried, "I believe you! I believe Zechariah! I don’t care if nobody believes me, but I too have seen the angel of the Lord!" Was Mary surprised at this change of heart? Of course not! She was expecting me any minute.
The next thing we know, Caesar is taxing us again. This time we have to travel back to the town of our family origin, which for the House of David, is Bethlehem. Normally this 100-mile trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem takes three, maybe four days. But have you ever traveled with a woman who is ready to give birth any day? You think traveling in an automobile is hard, you should try a donkey! You’ll never complain again! Ten days, ten it took us! Plus a Sabbath on which we couldn’t travel! Though we had the Messiah with us, we still didn’t think it was such a good idea.
We finally got to Bethlehem just before dark. Tired, dirty, hungry, ready to wash three inches of road dirt off us and crawl into a clean bed. But do you think there was room for us at any of the inns? We should be so lucky! Do you think being a direct descendent of King David got us a room in our own hometown? In the very city of David? Everybody was a descendent of David! It got us nothing.
Finally one innkeeper offered us a stall in his barn. "Take my pregnant wife to a barn!?" I wanted to strike the man for suggesting it, but Mary stopped me, ever so humbly accepted his offer and thanked him. So there we were. Exhausted, and I’m raking out sour hay, spreading fresh on the ground for my wife, and feeding the cows—that was part of our agreement. Talk about feeling inadequate. Talk about being humbled in the presence of the most gracious woman the Lord ever gave a man. "Joseph," she says, "As long as I’m with you, I couldn’t be happier if we were in the governor’s palace." And then, . . . her waters broke!
You that have been through childbirth know, the first thing to happen is the Father losses his mind! I go running through the inn yelling, “My baby’s having a wife! My baby’s having a wife!” The innkeeper grabs me, stops me, and sends a boy for a midwife.
Then after several hours of waiting, we heard a slap, and a baby’s cry! Jesus had been born! The Messiah had arrived!
Later that evening shepherds came. They told me they had been watching their flocks when suddenly it looked as though the sky itself caught fire. More angels than they could count were singing praises to The LORD. And one of the angels spoke to them and bid them to come and worship our baby. The shepherd told me the angel had said: “{11} For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. {12} And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.” (Luke 2)
It was then I looked up and noticed the star. It was the biggest and brightest star ever seen--and it appeared to be directly overhead, shining down on us. Later three magi from the east came. At first I was scarred. I had never been in the presence of such wealthy or noble people. They were bowing down before my son, well, Mary’s son, Jesus. And they brought presents: gold, spices, and frankincense.
I thought, “Now we can buy our own inn!”
But Mary, precious Mary, said: “No, give it to the poor.”
I said, “Mary, have you not noticed? We are the poor!” At least she let me use some of the frankincense to cover the smell of the stable!
Before the Magi left, we talked. They told me Herod had instructed them to tell him where the new king had been born so he, too, could pay homage. But they didn’t trust Herod and were going to leave Judea by another route.
We all knew Herod was a murdering madman who had killed several family members, even his son and heir Antipater because he thought Antipater wanted the throne too quickly.
My first thought was to leave with them. But, no--I had learned--so I went straight to bed. Sure enough, no sooner was I asleep than I began to dream. In my dream an angel told me to take Mary and Jesus to Egypt for a time.
I could tell you more, but Rabbi Groover said you might start getting restless after 12:00 O’clock. So let me just tell you three things I learned:
1. The LORD measures greatness differently than we do. Who would have chosen to have their child born in a stable? Anybody would choose a palace over a stable. We would choose to wrap our babies in the finest Egyptian linens. But not The LORD. He chose used clothes. Who would we choose to have celebrated the birth of our children? Shepherds? No. But The LORD does not look at the physical and the material the way we do. The LORD does not look at the social status of the people the way we do. He looks only at the heart.
2. The LORD will do exactly what he says. Eight hundred years earlier The LORD spoke through the prophet Isaiah and said a virgin would conceive a child. You have records of this prophecy and other prophecies and the history of fulfillment. And you have other prophecies—promises of the LORD—that he will send his Messiah back! You, too, should know: The LORD will do exactly what he says.
3. The LORD will tell us what he wants us to do. Twice the LORD spoke to me through dreams. More often he speaks to me the same way he speaks to most of you--through his Word, through prophets, and sometimes through other believers. We must all always listen, and obey when we know it is The LORD who speaks to us.
Well, my story continues, but you know that, don’t you? The baby Jesus grew into a man, he gave his life to take away your sins, and The LORD raised him from the dead--evidence The LORD keeps his promises. So I leave you with this promise of the Lord: just as the Messiah came once to take away your sin, so The LORD says he is coming again to take you away! Are you ready? Shalom, Peace be unto you!
Laus Deo,
Bill Groover
Christmas, 2002
