Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction: Parents are always very important.

Called by God to raise children?

Joseph: The man called by God to be the earthly father of the Messiah.

There is very little about him, but what is recorded shows us enough to know that he accepted the call that God placed upon him.

Most of his story is found here in:

So what information about Joseph do we know from this bit of the story?

He was betrothed to Mary.

The betrothal is an engagement, the result of a public ceremony before witnesses by which a man and woman were legally considered married but did not live or sleep together.

At this stage the bride price had already been paid to the woman’s family, and the man had legal responsibility for the woman.

This engagement could be broken only through divorce.

Engagement usually lasted about a year, with the girl living with her parents.

Often the girl was only twelve to fourteen years old.

He was a Righteous man: morally right or justifiable; virtuous, very good; excellent

Joseph has a choice to make.

His bride to be is found to be with child before the two of them had come together.

So what to do?

He has to choose.

Does he make a big fuss, maybe even lead a stoning party to remove the evil from among them?

Or, does he divorce her quietly?

There is a third option - accept the child as his own.

Does he care for her enough to remain betrothed or break the deal.

What would you do?

We know he’s a righteous man but this is taking things a bit too far.

Well like lots of other people in this kind of situation it calls for sleepless nights.

Nights pondering the possibilities.

How will this look?

Is he willing to carry the burden and stigma this will cause.

And then one night.

Then one night the Angel appears.

An unnamed angel comes to him in a dream.

“20 But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.

21 “She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.””

There it is.

The confirmation needed to accept this calling from God to be the earthly father of the Messiah.

Do not be afraid.

Was it fear all along that kept him from accepting her and the child as his?

Fear because he didn’t know what was going to happen in the future, how this would all workout.

Maybe Joseph was the kind of guy that wanted everything to be orderly and neat.

Maybe his righteousness was based on his keeping to the smallest detail of the law.

But this doesn’t fit orderly and neat.

It’s messy and lots of people are talking and pointing fingers.

But now - now that the Angel has tidied the mess up a bit he knows that this was arranged by God.

Now he knows this is something special.

So he accepts the call to be the earthly father of the Son of God.

What a daunting task - it’s hard enough to raise a child - but the Son of God.

Makes me wonder just how much he struggled before the Angel appeared in his dream.

How much time did he consider putting her away quietly?

Which brings up the question: Just how long should someone contemplate a call from God before accepting it.

Minutes, days, years, until it is confirmed by an Angel?

So that brings us to Mary.

She is about to join a small list of women in the Bible who are recorded to have given birth to children through the miraculous intervention of God.

These women are:

Sarah, the mother of Isaac (Genesis 18)

Manoah’s wife, the mother of Samson (Judges 13)

Hannah, the mother of Samuel (1 Samuel 1)

Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist (Luke 1)

All four of these women were barren and unable to have children.

Three of the four women received a promise from an Angel that they would conceive a child in their old age; Sarah, Manoah’s wife and Elizabeth.

All of them bore a son that had a purpose for their lives from the beginning.

A purpose that would build God’s story.

Just like these four women, Mary, received a visit from an Angel.

She was given insight into the future.

That story is recorded in:

So what do we find in this passage?

The same Angel that delivered the message to Elizabeth delivered this message to Mary.

The Angel began the message with a greeting and this greeting is very unique in the Bible.

He says “Greetings, favored one.”

Favored one!

This is a Greek word χαριτόομαι - charitoomai which means: to bestow favor on; favor highly.

This is the only time in the Bible that this word is used.

So for some reason Mary is favored highly with an honor that is unimaginable.

A calling of great significance.

This brought about a lot of confusion - she isn’t sure how to respond.

We also know that she is betrothed to Joseph.

Legally contracted to him to be his wife - his virgin wife.

Which means she is expected to remain that way until the time they come together as husband and wife.

We can also tell the pronouncement of the coming child is puzzling to her.

She knows enough of how babies come about to realize that as a virgin she isn’t going to give birth to a child.

So Gabriel fills her in: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.” Well that makes since miraculous intervention by God.

Just like He did for the 4 other women in the history of her people who were shown favor by God.

So God has called her to be the mother of the Messiah.

He has also promised to make this thing possible.

All she has to do is accept the call.

All she needs to do is accept what this means for her life.

It’s going to get really messy, especially if Joseph doesn’t accept it.

Acceptance: She readily accepted the task of carrying and raising the Son of God.

Verse 38 says: “38 And Mary said, “Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.”

And the angel departed from her.”

There doesn’t seem to be any hesitation.

In fact she called herself a bondslave.

She was putting her life in God’s hands that He may do with her as He wished.

How many of you have willing made yourself a bondslave of the Lord?

How many of you have given up all control of your life and willing enslaved yourself to God?

So now that Mary has made herself a bondslave to the Lord she will conceive a child in her womb.

What is going through her mind.

Fear - in a short while she will start showing and people will start talking.

Fingers will start pointing and accusations will begin.

The truth will have to be told.

Who will believe that the Holy Spirit is the Father.

Will Joseph - will he still want her.