I’ve chosen to speak about Joseph’s story, which is told in Matthew’s gospel. We don’t hear much about Joseph in the Bible, as he is only mentioned four times by name in the New Testament, twice in Matthew, twice in Luke, and another reference in John’s gospel as the carpenter husband of Mary, mother of Jesus. So Joseph doesn’t get very much press. These seven verses we heard today truly reveal a lot about him, once you start digging into it.
Matthew’s gospel was written for a primarily Jewish audience, so he begins his gospel with a complete genealogical lineage of Jesus’ forebears. Matthew takes pains to ensure his readers know of Jesus lineage. And then he describes how the birth of Jesus actually took place. Matthew describes Jesus as the Messiah. Messiah is the Hebrew term for “the anointed one”, the one chosen by God to lead God’s people—much in the way that David was chosen King by God generations before Jesus was born, so Matthew is taking care to place his gospel and Jesus within the history of Israel. The Hebrew word we translate to Messiah is Christos in Greek, which is where we get the work Christ from.
Matthew then goes on to tell us the story of Jesus birth from Joseph’s perspective, how Joseph is engaged to a woman named Mary, the mother of Jesus, the Messiah. But before Mary and Joseph actually live together as husband and wife, Mary gets pregnant—but not in the usual way, but is with child by the Holy Spirit. Somehow, we’re not told how, Joseph becomes aware of Mary’s pregnancy. I’m going to speculate that Mary has told him, after all we know from the annunciation story in Luke that Mary was very aware of what has happened to her. Can you imagine that conversation between Joseph & Mary? How difficult that would be for Joseph to hear, a woman whom he has not had intimate relations —the woman he’s engaged to be married to-- is with child—and she says that its by the Holy Spirit. If you were in Joseph’s shoes, how do you think you’d react? It would give me pause, to say the least! --- Would you even believe her? Would you wonder if Mary was maybe not quite emotionally stable?
Or would the thought of being in the presence of someone who has that close a relationship with the Spirit of God be frightening? For Jews of the time, the Holy Spirit was perceived as the creative spirit from the book of Genesis, the Spirit of God that swept over the formless void of the earth and created day and night, earth and water, vegetation and animals, and woman and man, the same spirit that reveals the truth of God to the prophets—that same spirit has impregnated the woman Joseph expected to marry, it’s created a child within her. This child to be born will reveal the truth of God in his very person.
And Joseph’s reaction? Well, Joseph is a righteous man: a good man, a man who is a faithful, believing, a devout Jew. But--his rights as a betrothed man were, in essence, dishonoured. His fiancé is pregnant. But really, by the Holy Spirit?? In a society and culture in which it was acceptable and legal to stone women to death for infidelity, Joseph chooses not too assert this right, he resolves, to “dismiss her quietly”. Joseph doesn’t want to create any public disgrace for Mary, so he decides to quietly break off their engagement, after-all she is pregnant and not with his child. What a difficult decision that must have been for Joseph! Joseph had a tough problem to think through, Matthew says Joseph “resolved” to quietly dismiss her. This implies that Joseph took some time to decide how he was going to handle this problem: He didn’t go off on a tirade, making a public issue of it, as was his legal and “manly” right in this case. He chose to keep it quiet. This Joseph is a thoughtful man, a caring man, he wasn’t thinking of himself, just considering his own feelings, but Mary’s too. He wants no scandal for her. Sounds like a kind of a nice guy—just the sort of man you’d like your daughter to marry!
And just as he’s about to act on his decision--well—Joseph has dream,—he’s told not to be frightened to take Mary as wife, for the child truly is of the spirit of God. And its a boy child, and he’s to be named Jesus, Joshua in Greek, Yeshua in Hebrew — the name means the ‘Lord saves or helps’: this child to be born from the woman he is to take as his wife, he will save his people from their sins.
Wow, now there’s a responsibility. We don’t often think about Joseph’s role in the life of Jesus. Joseph is somewhat of an unsung hero, in my estimation. By marrying Mary, he is accepting the responsibility of being of the husband to the woman who will give birth to the Messiah, the savior of the Jewish people, Joseph’s people. He is to take on the responsibility of being the defacto father to this child of God’s Spirit, to provide for him, to see to his education, his training, his upbringing. And this is not a man with great financial means, he’s just a carpenter.
Joseph’s first born child will not his own, and in a society where the first born son is the heir, the one through whom the family line is passed on, this is really a big issue. And he’s been told what to name this child, that too is the right of the husband, naming of the child, and he won’t be able to name this boy, this first born who is not really his. It truly is a lot to ask.
Well, we know how this story ends, Joseph takes Mary as his wife, he accepts all the responsibility God has asked him to take on. Joseph truly was a righteous man; an incredibly righteous man. Joseph “did as the angel of the Lord commanded him” (Matt 1: 24b). I wonder if I were in the same situation if I would have so quickly changed my mind, and did as the Lord commanded. After all, no-one would have known about the dream if he hadn’t told anyone about it. He could have dismissed it as a crazy dream! And he was within his legal rights to simply walk away from a pregnant Mary, and leave her to it. It really wasn’t his problem. He had a choice. But he didn’t. He chose the harder option, to do as the Lord commanded. And in his choices, the Lord was with him. We read about Joseph a couple of more times in Matthew, when the Lord appears to him again in 2 different dreams to flee from Herod to Egypt, and again after Herod’s death to go to Israel after Herod’s death. The Lord was with Joseph in his chosen role as husband and father. The Lord protected them, the Lord guided them out of trouble, the Lord was with them. If this story was a movie, I would say that Joseph would get the Emmy for best supporting actor!
There is a question when I lead a bible study that I often end with. Is there anything in the ancient story that we can take out of for 21st century Christian life? I think so. Each of us who call ourselves Christians are called to be support people in the community that makes up the Christian Church. Not many of us are called by God to take on a as role as heavy as the one Joseph was called upon to perform. Most of us don’t even get our names on the play list, as it were. What we can learn from this story about Joseph is that when we take time to think it through and prayerfully asked for guidance, looking for resolution to a tough concern or problem, the Lord will be there for us, and provide for us the answers we need. It may not be the answer we necessarily want or hope for, but as God was with Joseph, God is with all of us, the supporting cast, in our decision making, and sticks with us as we go forward living our way through the challenges in the play that is our lives. And sometimes the righteous decision, the really right way of living or doing isn’t always the easiest and may be counter to the way that our culture tells is the right way to go.
I’m reminded of Jesus’ words also from Matthew, in chapter 11:
“Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart… for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (28)
Sometimes the right way, the Christian way isn’t the easiest or most popular way. But when we’re yoked to Jesus, we can be assured, Jesus is walking with us. The presence of the Lord with us will make the burden light.