The Obedience Of Joseph Series

Alba 12-11-2022

THE OBEDIENCE OF JOSEPH

Matthew 1:18-25

It is Christmas shopping time as we near the big day. Stores take advantage of this and come up with some clever signs to encourage people to shop in their stores.

Here are a few clever ones:

From a toy store: "Ho, ho, ho spoken here."

In a bridal boutique: “Marry Christmas.”

A reducing salon: "24 Shaping Days until Christmas."

In a stationery store: "For the man who has everything: A calendar to remind him when payments are due."

Buy a Hallmark card and it will picture a beautiful scene and give a positive message. But not everyone experiences a Hallmark Christmas. Some people have problems, and as we look at scripture, we discover that one of the original characters of Christmas has a big problem.

His name is Joseph. You could call Joseph “The forgotten man of Christmas.” That’s not an exaggeration because not much is said about him in the Bible. Not many sermons are preached about him.

And oddly enough, among the colorful cast of characters associated with Jesus’ birth, Joseph is the lone silent member of the cast. If someone were to ask you to play the part of Joseph in a Christmas play, don't take that as a compliment.

If you play Joseph, you won't be doing anything. If you go to any Christmas play and watch Joseph, all he does is stand by Mary. Joseph never talks. He never says any words. He has no lines.

Most of the people surrounding Jesus’ birth talked or sang or shouted in praise. But not Joseph. In fact, there are no recorded words of Joseph in all the Bible.

He makes his last appearance in Scripture when he and Mary lose Jesus around the temple area at age twelve (Luke 2:41-52). But through it all, Joseph is silent. No notable lines are attributed to him.

No sound bites. No quotes. Only silence. Yet, his actions speak volumes. Because Joseph was obedient to God.

By the time that Jesus begins His ministry, and within three years offers Himself on that cross to pay the penalty for our sins, there is no mention of Joseph being present. It is believed that he died sometime in the preceding years.

So very little is known about Joseph. While some think that Joseph was older and a widower, others think he was about 25 years old or younger. We really don't know.

What we do know is that he is a good example to the men of our day. We know that he was a worker, a carpenter by trade.

And even though being poor he is described (depending on what translation is used) as a righteous man, a good man, a just man, and a man faithful to the law.

And he was included in God's plan to bring us salvation because he was the one chosen by God to be the earthly father to Jesus. He was the man God chose to raise His Son.

When Joseph was engaged to Mary, he expected things to go “normally”. The custom of the time was for the parents to arrange the marriage. Then there would be a formal event to signify that the couple was promised to each other.

It was a legally binding betrothal. Even though the wedding might be a year away, if they were to break off their relationship at the betrothal stage, it would require a divorce.

And if Joseph had died before their wedding day, Mary would have been considered a widow. They did not live together as husband and wife as of yet because this would wait for the wedding ceremony.

It was at this time that the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and told her what was going to happen. She would become pregnant! It appears that Mary left shortly after the angel's message and went to spend at least three months with her cousin Elizabeth who then gave birth to a son, the one we know as John the Baptist.

Mary was probably known in the community as a “Good Girl”. And then all of a sudden the good girl was pregnant, and she was still engaged, but not married. I’m sure that Joseph felt more than a little betrayed at this point.

We don't know just when Joseph was informed of the angel's message to Mary, but by the time she comes home, it had to be obvious that she was “with child”.

If you have ever been gossiped about you can imagine what this couple went through. One can imagine the hurt that Joseph felt if he heard what people were saying about the girl he was planning to marry. Likely his hurt was accompanied with confusion and anger.

Finally, God spoke to him in a dream. An angel came to him and it is recorded in Matthew 1:18-25.