Joseph's & Mary's Response to God plan

Luke 1:26-56

We often overlook the part that Mary & Joseph played in God's great plan!

It is so easy to have a romanticised view of Mary & Joseph and we fail to appreciate their situation and the lessons that we should learn from them.

How would some of you men respond if your fiancee came up to you and said that she was pregnant, ....and God did it!

I would expect that your response would be similar to Joseph's.

Let's look at who Mary and Joseph were, before we consider their response to God's great plan.

The customs of their day indicate that Joseph would have been between 18 and 24 year old.

He would have followed in his father's trade as a carpenter.(Mt 13:55, Mk 6:3)

He would have been amongst the middle classes of the nation, which meant that his family would have been in a position to live week by week, rather than living a subsistence existence as many did.

Compared to our present day middle class they were poor, they probably lived in a small one or maybe two room mud brick house and relied on the family business for a living.

Mary could have been as young as 12 but more likely around 14 to 16 years old,

Her marriage to Joseph would have been arranged by the family, although she may have had some say in the matter.

Joseph and Mary were betrothed or engaged, this represented a permanent commitment, which was usually for 1 whole year.

During this time the girl lived with her parents.

Betrothal legally equalled marriage, and could only be broken by formal divorce.

The marriage would be completed when the groom, in a public ceremony came and took his betrothed to his home.

Only at this time was the marriage to be consummated.

So here we have Mary and Joseph engaged to be married.

Everything seems to be going on as normal, then God comes along with his great plan and makes things a little inconvenient for this young couple!!!

For Mary the legal charge would have been adultery and the penalty was death by stoning!!

The penalty seems to have been infrequently applied at the time, instead divorce was the usual practice; the reaction of the community would have been to make her a social outcast!!!

That's their social situation, lets look at their position before God.

(Lk 1:29) Luke tells us that Mary was "highly favoured" and that "the Lord was with Mary".

We can see that the Lord looked upon Mary in a positive manner, the sense of the words "highly favoured" indicates that God's favour rested upon Mary in that He is going to do something truly great.

And she has a part in his great plan!

Joseph is portrayed as "a righteous man" (Mat 1:19) who is concerned to save Mary from public disgrace.

He is a law abiding man concerned to do what is right as well as not wanting to put Mary through the shame of being made a public spectacle, as she would if he were to divorce her in a public court.

It is for this reason that he considers a private divorce, that is before two witnesses as allowed by the law.

His concern to do what is right can be seen in the fact that he not only had a right to seek this divorce (after all he knew that the child could not be his) BUT he also had a duty to his family.

So what was their reaction to God's great plan?

As we have already seen Joseph's first response is one of reaction against God's great plan.

I sort of have a sneaking suspicion that Joseph didn't believe Mary at first.

But the angel Gabriel sets him straight and lets him know that the situation is part of God's great plan. (Mt 1:20->)

Joseph's reaction is one that we would expect from a righteous man; his obedience to the Heavenly visitor also reflects his standing before God.

Joseph is obedient!

He takes Mary to his home as his wife.

This obedience is at great personal cost.

He knows that the rumours will get out sooner or later.

He will be labelled as the Father of the child; after all He took the girl as his wife.

He must be admitting guilt!

In spite of this, the record of Matthew's gospel tells us clearly that Joseph was obedient.

It is fortunate for Mary and Joseph that the census comes up when it does.

It gives an opportunity to escape the gossip of the town.

Mary would have known that she would have to face that gossip when she said to the angel "I am the Lord's servant.... may it be to me as you have said."

Mary's reaction was one of belief (Lk 1:45) expressed in action.

Yes, she asked how (Lk 1:34).

But once she understood that this child was to be divinely conceived and was to have a great place in God's plan, she got on with praising God.

We see Mary's belief and praise expressed in her song of praise. Lk 1:46-55

Luke 1:46–55 (NLT)

46 Mary responded, “Oh, how my soul praises the Lord. 47 How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior! 48 For he took notice of his lowly servant girl, and from now on all generations will call me blessed. 49 For the Mighty One is holy, and he has done great things for me. 50 He shows mercy from generation to generation to all who fear him. 51 His mighty arm has done tremendous things! He has scattered the proud and haughty ones. 52 He has brought down princes from their thrones and exalted the humble. 53 He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away with empty hands. 54 He has helped his servant Israel and remembered to be merciful. 55 For he made this promise to our ancestors, to Abraham and his children forever.”

(1:46) "My soul glorifies {magnifies} the Lord"

Mary's habitual action is to give praise to her God.

(1:47) "My spirit rejoices in God my Saviour"

Mary is praising God for a special act, probably the message bought by Gabriel.

Mary is also aware of her own need for salvation.

(1:48) Mary is aware of her position before God, both as a humble servant and as one who is blessed.

Mary trusts her Lord, at great personal cost.

She acts on his word and her belief is expressed in praise even though the situation was difficult.

It is this sort of reaction to God's great plan that we can learn from.

For Mary and Joseph responding to God's great plan was a huge commitment.

For Mary it required one of the biggest things that can be required of a woman.

It was certainly more than you can require of a man!

For Mary we are talking about total commitment.

It is total commitment that God wants from us!

There is no chance that the Lord will put us in the same circumstances.

After all there can only be one incarnation!

Ladies aren't you glad about that!

But He does require the same commitment from us as he did from Mary and Joseph.

That commitment is a total commitment to his great plan!

That total commitment means obedience in facing up to the personal cost.

Joseph faced public humiliation in accepting responsibility for Mary and a child that was not his.

Mary faced gossip and innuendo, as she trusted God to carry out his great plan!

God's great plan required Mary and Joseph to step out and act in obedience.

Their obedience cost them a lot!

Will God's great plan of bringing Jesus into the world, through the obedience of a young couple, teach you to trust God as He reveals his great plan for you.