A PORTRAIT OF JOSEPH
MATTHEW 1:18-25
MATTHEW 2:13-23
INTRODUCTION… My very first dream (p)
I would like to begin this morning by telling you about the very first dream I can remember. It is not a long dream. I honestly do not know how old I was when I had this dream, I think I was in first or second grade. The setting of the dream is my back yard. I am sitting at a picnic table playing and all of a sudden I feel the vibrations of large steps coming toward me. One large stomp after another. Pretty soon, Godzilla or King Kong or some other huge monster comes over the trees and spots me sitting at the picnic table. I scream in fear and wonder where I should go. I naturally duck under the table to hide from the monster. The monster walks over to the table, stares down, and steps right on the table… squishing me. Then I woke up. Exciting huh? While I was talking, you may have thought of a recent dream that you had. We all have dreams. In the passages we are going to read today, dreams are used by God for His purposes. Let’s read.
READ MATTHEW 1:18-25
18 This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. 19 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. 20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"--which means, "God with us." 24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
READ MATTHEW 2:13-23
13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him." 14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called my son." 16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. 17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: 18 "A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more." 19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead." 21 So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, 23 and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: "He will be called a Nazarene."
I. THE SITUATION
The situation we are going to look at this morning centers around a man named Joseph. So let’s begin by looking at what we know about this man named Joseph, not just from the passage that we read, but from the Gospel of Luke as well.
We know from Luke 3:23 and other associated passages that Joseph’s father’s name was Heli and he came from the line of King David which means he was related to a whole lot of people in the town of Bethlehem. His family was a royal line.
We know that his profession was one in which he worked with his hands. Matthew 13:55 tells us about some comments made when Jesus preaches in His hometown, “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas?” The Greek word that describes Joseph’s profession tells us that he was a wood-craftsman, but was probably so much more. He was probably more like a general contractor able to work with wood, stone, and build anything needed. It was a well respected profession. He was a well respected person (Matthew 1:19).
We also know about Joseph’s character and to me this is the most important thing for us to know about. Verse 19 in Matthew 1 tells us that he was a “righteous man.” I wonder who else in Scripture is described in this way and what that means for this man Joseph? Does looking at their lives inform us on what a “righteous man” looked like?
Noah in Genesis 6:9 is described as, “a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.”
Abel in Hebrews 11:4 is described “as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings.”
David in 1 Samuel 24:17 is declared righteous by King Saul because “You have treated me well, but I have treated you badly.” Solomon also describes David as righteous in 1 Kings 3:6.
What does it mean to be righteous? What does it mean to be like Noah and Abel and David and Joseph? Habbakuk 2:4, Hosea 14:9, and other passages tell us that those who are righteous are those that walk with God. Hosea 14:9 says, “The ways of the LORD are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them.” A person who was righteous was someone who conforms to the will of God. A righteous person is someone who looks at the standard God had set and meets that standard. A righteous person is someone in a right relationship with God. A righteous person is someone who acts godly in ungodly situations.
This is Joseph… he is a righteous man. This is who we are dealing with. This is the man who is pledged to be married to Mary. But then, there is a problem… isn’t there… a huge complication.
II. THE COMPLICATION
The complication that we find Joseph in is one that makes us shake our heads sometimes and was probably less common in his day than it is in our day. And it was indeed a problem. You see, verse 18 tells us that Joseph was pledged to be married to a young woman named Mary. They seem to be a good match. They are two good people… or so it seems. Mary is found to be with child before they are married. Mary is a single woman who is pregnant.
ILLUSTRATION… Statistics (http://www.flpublichealth.com; www.floridacharts.com)
According to the Florida Department of Health, almost 100,000 children were born to unwed mothers statewide in 2005
In our county, from 2003-2005, births to unwed mothers was up 42.1%
Mary, the one pledged (which means they were still engaged) to Joseph, is found to be with child and it is not Joseph’s… he is quite sure of that. Can you imagine his disappointment? Can you imagine his broken heart? Can you imagine what Scripture verses he thought of when he found out? I can tell you what verses came to his mind… Deuteronomy 22:23-24, “If a man happens to meet in a town a virgin pledged to be married and he sleeps with her, you shall take both of them to the gate of that town and stone them to death-- the girl because she was in a town and did not scream for help, and the man because he violated another man’s wife. You must purge the evil from among you.”
Joseph’s life is not going as he had planned. He had planned to meet a girl, fall in love, get married, and have kids. That was the plan. But Mary had messed that up! And what was her excuse?! What was her excuse?! I would like to have been a fly on the wall in the room when Mary told Joseph that, “The Holy Spirit came upon me, and the power of the Most High will overshadowed me” (adapted from Luke 1:35) and the child that I bear is the Son of God. Usually it is “the devil made me do it,” but this is a new one for the books! Mary explains to Joseph, but we do not know what he thinks of this explanation.
ILLUSTRATION… UPI News Item (http://www.bible.org/illus.php?topic_id=509)
The Metropolitan Insurance Company received some unusual explanations for accidents from its automobile policyholders. The following are just few:
“An invisible car came out of nowhere, struck my car, and vanished.”
“The other car collided with mine without warning me of its intention.”
“I had been driving my car for 40 years when I fell asleep at the wheel and had the accident.”
“As I reached an intersection, a hedge sprang up, obscuring my vision.”
“I pulled away from the side of the road, glanced at my mother-in-law, and headed over the embankment.”
“The pedestrian had no idea which direction to go, so I ran over him.”
“The telephone pole was approaching fast. I attempted to swerve out of its path when it struck my front
end.”
“The guy was all over the road. I had to swerve a number of times before I hit him.”
“The indirect cause of this accident was a little guy in a small car with a big mouth.”
He is supposed to report her, take her to the gates of the town, and have her stoned. He is asking her to tell the truth and she is giving what sounds like excuses. He loved her. Verse 19 tells us that Joseph was going to quietly take care of things so that no one would be disgraced. She would be safe and his reputation would also not suffer.
And then he had a dream.
And then he had a dream.
Matthew 1:20 tells us that an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and told him what to do. The angel confirmed everything that Mary had been telling him. The power of God did indeed come upon Mary and the child she was carrying was Immanuel, which means “God with us.” This child would be God on Earth! And then Joseph woke up.
I hope that you realize that Joseph had a choice. It is the same choice that we all have. Joseph was faced with a most difficult situation and he had two choices to make. He was facing a fork in the road. One way was quite easy. Joseph would divorce quietly and Mary would go back to her family and they would have to deal with her and his reputation would be safe. This would be easy. The other way was quite difficult. He could take Mary home as his wife and endure the barrage of social and family insults that would come. He could do what he wanted… which was easy. He could do what God wanted… which was hard.
As I was thinking about this man Joseph and the complication that he finds himself in, a very specific verse came to mind. It was two verses actually. I thought of Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
What does he choose?
III. THE RESOLUTION
We of course already read the verses and you know what Joseph does. If you know the Christmas story, you know what Joseph does. But what I want to know, is why he does that. Why does he listen to the angel and take Mary home as his wife? Why, later in Matthew 2, does he listen to the angel and flee to Egypt and later return? Why does he do these things?
And then I remembered Matthew 1:19. Matthew 1:19 tells us that Joseph was a righteous man. And that must be the key. You see, to describe Joseph as righteous means several important things about him. There is one thing though, that it does not mean. Being righteous does not mean Joseph was perfect. Ecclesiastes 7:20 tells us, “There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins.” Being righteous does not mean you are perfect, but it does mean other things.
#1 Joseph was a righteous man and so he was committed to the truth. Proverbs 13:5 tells us that the “righteous hate what is false.” The truth was is that Mary was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit and the child inside her was the Son of God. This was the truth and Joseph accepted that no matter the consequences to himself. So, Joseph, the righteous man, was committed to the truth.
#2 Joseph was a righteous man and so wanted to live his life always doing good and right. Proverbs 20:7 tells us, “the righteous man leads a blameless life; blessed are his children after him.” Joseph did indeed have a choice to make and two paths to take… but being the man that he was… would choose the good and right path over any others. The good and right thing to do is to take Mary home as his wife and obey the directives of the angel. So, Joseph, the righteous man, was committed to doing what was right.
#3 Joseph was a righteous man and so walked with God. Joseph received messages from God in a dream. He was a man who walked with God. He was a man who listened to God. We know that because when the Angel of the Lord tells him to take Mary home as his wife, he does so. We know that because when the Angel of the Lord tells him to escape to Egypt to protect the baby Jesus, he does so. We know that because when the Angel directs him to return home, he does so. Being righteous means we follow God.
CONCLUSION
