The Ponderings Of Mary And Joseph

In Jesus Holy Name December 20, 2019

Text: Matthew 1:20b-21 Advent IV - Redeemer

“The Ponderings of Joseph and Mary”

Well, it's almost Christmas Day. I hope most of the rushing around is over for you. Therefore, I'm going to work under the assumption that your Christmas cards have been sent, the presents have been bought, your dinner plans are made. If you mind is still filled with your upcoming dinner plans or last-minute gifts, I hope you have a few minutes to slow down and ponder this pre-Christmas message.

Let’s take a few minutes to ponder the birth of your Savior and contemplate how that long ago event, impacts your todays and all your tomorrows.

I encourage you to ponder the words of the angel to Mary and Joseph, because I imagine is exactly what Joseph and Mary were doing on their journey to Bethlehem. It’s a 97-mile journey. Lots of thoughts can go though your mind when you are walking and riding a donkey for 97 miles, knowing that a baby is due any day. Let’s return for a moment to the events about 9 months earlier.

Matthew writes: 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. (Matthew 1:18) Was the news good? Yes. But that is hardly seeing things from Mary perspective. She was “pledged to be married” to a carpenter in her village. A young man named Joseph.

What our version calls “pledged to be married,” the older versions use the word “betrothed.” It refers to an ancient Jewish marriage custom, when most marriages were arranged by the parents. The two sets of parents would meet and draw up a formal marriage contract. When the contract was signed, the man and woman were legally “pledged” to each other.

This period of betrothal would last up to a year, at the end of which period they were formally married in a public wedding ceremony.

Now that sounds like our practice of engagement, but there were some major

differences. In the first place, the “pledge” was considered as sacred as marriage itself. During that year, the couple were called husband and wife but they did not live together. If the man died during that year, the woman would be considered a widow even though the wedding ceremony had never taken place. The only way to break the betrothal was through a legal divorce.

After the angel’s visit, in a few months, even with loose clothing, Mary”s condition was going to become noticeable. The tongues of the gossips in Nazareth would begin to wag. Joseph would know and he would also know that the Child Mary was carrying wasn’t his. She would have to explain her pregnancy to her father who would assume she had brought disgrace upon the family’s good name.

Ladies, let me ask you, what your father say if you went and said, “I’m pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit and my Son is going to be the perfect savior of the world?” No man would ever believe such a thing, and in those days, such an infidelity could end up with Mary being stoned. For Mary, those months before Christmas were not so perfect.

Let me continue. Joseph had entered into the engagement process in good faith. The agreement would have been made between families and he would have been proud to see the wedding preparations proceeding smoothly. He would have looked forward to the day when he could bring his new bride into their new home in Nazareth. But then Mary became great with Child. Some observers would have assumed the Child was his. Others would have spent a great deal of time trying to guess the name of Mary’s secret lover. But Joseph knew. He knew the child was not his.

Disappointed, Joseph decided although he wasn’t’ going to accuse Mary of infidelity, he wasn’t going to marry her either. I think Joseph cried harder that day than he had ever cried in his life. That is the way it was with this man until the Lord revealed the truth to him in a dream. Still, you can understand these days before Christmas were not perfect for the foster father of Jesus.

Joseph is the forgotten man of Christmas. The Gospel of Matthew tells his story. He is the husband of Mary and the foster father of Jesus. He’s one person from the first Christmas story I would like to meet. He acted on one dream.

When I call Joseph “the forgotten man of Christmas,” that’s not an exaggeration. Not much is said about him in the Bible. Not many sermons are preached about him. As a matter of fact, there’s just not much written about Joseph at all. Let me briefly list for you the things we know about Joseph: