The Characters of Christmas - Joseph

Ever had one of those days where you encounter a situation where, in hindsight, you wished you handled it better?

Years ago, before we had kids, Abby and I were moving from Calgary to Nanaimo, to start my first job as a youth pastor. In Calgary, we rented a U-Haul truck, packed it to the gills with all our stuff and we rented a trailer to tow our car. The drive in a U-haul is about 15 hours or so at the best of times, and we were doing it in February. We made it to my parents' house in Vernon, which was about halfway or so, and we stayed the night. My parents had a driveway that you could drive through and do a circle in, which I thought would be no problem with this U-Haul and trailer.

As I attempted the sharp corner, I realized that I was not going to make this turn, so I stopped, backed up a little to get a better angle and then tried again. What I hadn't thought through was that the ground hadn't frozen underneath the thin layer of snow. When I stopped the truck and turned the tires, they dropped down into the mud, and I was stuck.

I tried everything I could to get it out. I couldn't detach the trailer because of the weird angle the truck sat at, and I couldn't unload the truck to make it lighter because the trailer was in the way and I was so completely flustered, having fallen in the mud, hurt myself a little and couldn't find a way out. It wasn't long when a string of non-church approved words erupted out of my mouth as my frustration built with every failed attempt to free the truck. We eventually had to get a tow truck to come and winch us back on to the paved road, which they did easily, which made me even more frustrated.

"In great matters men show themselves as they wish to be seen, in small matters, as they are." - Gamaliel Bradford

I would take it farther and say that not only in the small matters, but in the painful, the challenging and the frustrating matters that we endure is our character revealed. For me, the struggle with the truck - the physical pain to some degree but primarily the frustration at continual failure - showed a significant character flaw within me.

This idea that hardship reveals our character is the crux of our Bible passage for this morning, as we continue in our series "The Characters of Christmas." Today, we look at the character of a character - Joseph, the step-father of Jesus - and see if we can learn something from how he handled the hardship he faced.

To begin, as we look at the passage Simeon read, we need to recognize that the first sentence is crucial to our understanding of not only this passage, but to the whole book of Matthew. Matthew's goal is to present Jesus as the Messiah: the anticipated saviour of Israel.

Most Jews at the time were looking for the Messiah. As I had mentioned last week, Israel had been conquered by at least three different civilizations in the previous 400 years and were living under Roman oppression at the time of Jesus' birth. The Roman soldiers often used violence and coercion to enact their will upon the Jewish people, including over-taxing them economically, forcing them into servant roles and other oppressive acts.

The Messiah, who was prophesied about in the Old Testament over and over again, was to bring them freedom from Israel's enemies. It's why many Jewish scholars today reject still Jesus as the Messiah; because he did not free them from Roman rule. They misunderstand that the real enemy of Israel wasn't Rome but was sin and death, and Jesus came to give them and us freedom the real enemy.

Matthew goes to great pains to establish Jesus as the Messiah because, to the original readers of this gospel, it was an essential doctrine and the primary reason many Jews followed Jesus. For them to accept Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah, Matthew had to establish Jesus' lineage going back to King David.  

Jeremiah 23:5–6 NLT

5 “For the time is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will raise up a righteous descendant from King David’s line. He will be a King who rules with wisdom. He will do what is just and right throughout the land. 6 And this will be his name: ‘The Lord Is Our Righteousness.’ In that day Judah will be saved, and Israel will live in safety.

Because the Messiah had to come from the line of David, Matthew's entire story of Joseph is, in reality, an adoption narrative, showing Jesus' legal adoption into the line of David through Joseph. And that’s a beautiful and wild thought: that the God who adopts us into His family was, himself, adopted by Joseph as a child.

And Church, I want you to know that just as Joseph adopts Jesus as his beloved son, so God loves you and chooses you. If you believe, if you put your faith in Jesus and decide to follow him, then God adopts you as his beloved daughter or son and he relates to you as a good father: one who is always there for you, who adores you, who provides for you, who protects you, who loves you.

And if you came here today, unsure about Jesus, Christianity or faith, know that this adoption is at the heart of our beliefs. We believe that our sin prevents us from having a relationship with God, but Jesus' sacrifice on the cross restores us, and when we choose to follow Jesus, God adopts us as his beloved children.

And the offer of salvation is for each of you today. All you have to do is decide to put your faith in Jesus and say, "Jesus, I surrender my life to you." And if that is your heart's desire today, I would love to talk to you after our service about what's next for you in building a relationship with God.

But as we continue in our narrative of Jesus' adoption, Matthew tells us that Mary was engaged.

Matthew 1:18 NLT

18 This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Engagement is different today than it was for Mary and Joseph. Today, engagement is when you agree to marry someone and then spend your time as an engaged couple planning a wedding. Some will, wisely, do some counselling to prepare not just for a wedding, but for marriage as well.

Engagement, or more accurately, "Betrothal" in first-century Israel was a very different thing. According to Edward Visser's commentary "The Birth of Jesus the Messiah,"

"…betrothal was a legally binding contract, broken only by divorce. Once betrothed, the couple were legally husband and wife, but couldn't cohabitate together or be involved sexually. Unfaithfulness during this time period was considered adultery, punishable by stoning (although it was rare by that time). A formal ceremony was held a year after a betrothal, after the groom built a home, or at least a room on his father's house, for his bride."

Understanding this context is so important because it underscores the moral dilemma that faces Joseph. Although Matthew tells us, the readers, that the child is from the Holy Spirit to protect us from falsely judging Mary as immoral, Joseph did not know that at first. His natural assumption is that his betrothed wife, Mary, has been unfaithful to him and is pregnant by another man. This assumption would not only feel like a personal betrayal, as any infidelity would, but would be supremely embarrassing in the community in which they lived.

In a small town like theirs, the gossip mill would be churning voraciously, with people believing that either they "jumped the gun" and had sex before the betrothal time was finished, which was a sin to them, or that Mary had engaged in adultery. Both of these assumptions would destroy both of their reputations.

This predicament puts Joseph in a tough position. According to the common interpretation of Jewish law, he cannot go ahead with the marriage, no matter how he felt. So what should he do? His options would be to:

Out Mary as an adulteress, thus preserving his character. At worst, the elders might stone her for adultery. At best, her reputation, her future, and any chance of marriage would be ruined.  

Grant a private divorce, thus putting the matter aside quietly.

So what does he do?

Matthew 1:19 NLT

19 Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly.

Matthew describes Joseph as "a righteous man." This phrase isn't just a nice description, but it is a title. The Hebrew word is "tzaddik," and to be called a tzaddik meant that you were a law-keeping Jew, upright and generally obedient to God's commands. Either of the options that Joseph could do to Mary would be considered "righteous."

But Joseph is not just righteous; he is also merciful. To be a "tzaddik" is not only to emulate God in regards to justice but also in mercy. Joseph chooses the compassionate route within the law and decides to offer a letter of divorce quietly, thus preserving her life and some of her dignity.

Matthew 1:20a NLT

20 As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit.

Why would Joseph be afraid? As a devout Jew, he would have considered marrying Mary, now that she is pregnant, a sin because, in his mind, she defiled herself by adultery. He would be afraid of the consequences between himself and God and himself and the community. His character before God and his reputation amongst man was at stake here. No wonder he is afraid. In essence, the angel tells this righteous man not to be afraid to do the "unrighteous" thing.

Now, typically, when someone has a dream, it’s kind of non-sensical, with shifting scenes and is open to a wide variety of interpretation in terms of any sense of meaning. But in this case, the angel's words to Joseph in this dream legitimize Joseph's actions.

Matthew 1:20–21 NLT

20 As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

Good News! Mary has not been unfaithful to Joseph; she has been faithful to God! The child is not a result of sin but is a result of the power and plan of God. The Holy Spirit, agent of creation in the book of Genesis, is again engaging in creation. He overshadows Mary, resulting in Jesus - God incarnate, the prince of peace, the king of kings, the Light of the World. Hallelujah!

Joseph’s adoption of Jesus culminates in the role the Holy Spirit asks of Joseph - to name him "Jesus." A name to first century Jewish people was very important. Part of a legal adoption process was that the father would give the child his or her name, just as a natural father would in those days.

My father actually named me. He chose the name Kirk because it is the four initials of the first names of my grandparents: Kathleen, Irma, Raymond, and Kenneth. No, it has nothing to do with Star Trek, although my middle name is the same as Captain Kirk’s first name, James.

What my dad didn't know was that my name means "The church" in Scottish. Very apropos. The name "Jesus" was a common name at the time, and it means "Yahweh is salvation." For all the other boys named Jesus, their parents may have used that name to remember that God would save his people. But for Jesus, he embodies the name. He is salvation. He is Yahweh, and he brings salvation through his sacrifice on the cross.

Matthew then moves the narrative out of Joseph's dream and summarizes the experience with a quote from the First Testament:

Matthew 1:22–23 NLT

22 All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet: 23 “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’ ”

With this quote from Isaiah 7:14, Matthew is trying to show his readers that Jesus is the true Immanuel - God with us - and therefore, he is the Messiah. He is God who is also fully human, and he walks with us, talks with us, loves us, teaches us, corrects us, and ultimately saves us.

How often do we feel alone in this world? How often do we feel misunderstood, anxious, or frustrated? We can take comfort that no matter what the circumstance is, Jesus is our Immanuel - God with us. He is with us in our joys, in our victories, in our struggles, and our pain, and if we can remember that and look for him in every circumstance, we will find more peace and more to praise him for than we could possibly imagine.

Matthew 1:24–25 NLT

24 When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. 25 But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus.

The end of this narrative depicts Joseph's obedience to God. He believed that a real angel spoke to him in his dream (which was a common belief in both the Jewish and the Greco-Roman cultures of first-century Palestine), and he acted on it. He gave up his reputation for righteousness to obey the will of God.

From Matthew's narrative about Joseph's legal adoption of Jesus, I notice three aspects of Joseph's character that we, as followers of Jesus, would do well to embody for ourselves:

1. Righteousness

The Hebrew concept of righteousness is challenging to summarize into a single English word. More than just a way of behaving, it involves relationships - It means to be in right relationship with God - with no sin in the way. The problem is that we can't become righteous on our own by our good behaviour. We are all, every one of us, incapable of being morally perfect; of being sinless.

For us to have a "righteous" relationship with God, we need someone to act as a mediator. That someone is Jesus, whose death on the cross in our place changes the nature of our relationship with God. Instead of seeing our sin, God sees the righteousness of Jesus when he looks upon us. We are made righteous, not by how we act, but by putting our faith in Jesus, who is our righteousness.

And yet, there is an active form of righteousness that we must remember, as well. In addition to the state of relationship bestowed upon us by God when we put our faith in Jesus, righteousness also means to live according to God's standards out of a sense of adoration and worship. That means, in order to live out the righteousness that has been bestowed upon you by God, you need to try to honour God in all you do.

1 Timothy 6:11 NIV

11 But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.

From how you react when you come home from a tiring and frustrating day, to what websites you visit, to what you turn to when you are lonely and feeling low, to how you respond to the bad drivers that seem target you, you reveal your righteousness by the circumstances you face every day. God calls you and I to die to ourselves and instead live righteous lives - lives that honour God no matter the circumstances.

It is also important to remember that part of being righteous in our relationship with God is to be in right relationships with others. Righteousness means letting the character of Christ overflow into your relationships with your co-workers, with your supervisors or employees, with your family members or your friends. It means promoting and working for justice for the poor and oppressed. It means your interactions with others are marked with honesty, with integrity, with godliness, with mercy, with what Galatians 5:22-23 calls “the fruit of the Holy Spirit.”

Joseph is called a righteous man because that was how he lived - he did his best to follow what God said. May the church today be filled with men and women who are righteous, both positionally with God and relationally with God and others.

Another aspect of Joseph's character that I believe bears emulation is his mercy.

2. Mercy

Mercy - the act of not punishing someone for what they have done - is central to this narrative. It is the act of offering compassion when there has been a trespass. Joseph was within his legal and biblical rights to bring Mary to the town elders for punishment. He could have allowed his sense of righteousness and a desire for justice to rule over the situation. But he chose mercy. Just like God does for each of us. To fulfill his justice, God could have just wiped us all out of existence. But in mercy, he saved us.

Titus 3:4–6 NLT

4 But—When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, 5 he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. 6 He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior.

When we see how much mercy God has shown to us, it drives to our knees in worship of the God who forgives us so perfectly. Joseph Addison, an English essayist,

"When all thy mercies, O my God,

My rising soul surveys,

Transported with the view, I'm lost,

In wonder, love and praise."

Mercy should overflow out of us. It should overflow vertically in worship and it should overflow horizontally to others, offering to them the same forgiveness that we have received from God himself. How merciful are you? Do you look at the mistakes of others and judge people for them? Or do you see an opportunity to reveal God's love and compassion to them by practically helping them? If you find yourself too harsh, too critical, too judgmental of others, maybe you need to re-examine how much mercy God poured out on you, and continues to pour out on you every day.

Joseph was righteous, and he was merciful. If we want to live as disciples of Jesus and truly represent God, we also need to be both righteous and merciful.

In addition to being both righteous and merciful, Joseph was also obedient.

3. Obedience

In the most basic of definitions, obedience is doing what you're told. But for there to be real obedience, there must be a recognition of authority. We pull our cars over when we see red and blue flashing lights because we recognize the authority of a police officer over us.

When we were kids, we were told to do certain things, usually chores. When we asked, "why?" we were told the most obvious answer, "because I said so." And for many of us, that was enough because we recognized the authority our parents had over us. There was no bargaining or negotiating as if we were equals. We weren't, and we knew it. They were the authorities over us, and we did what we were told and did it right away. Delayed obedience was the same as disobedience.

I think the same is true of God. He, as creator of the cosmos, has the ultimate authority. God is not subject to us, as if he has to justify his actions to us. We are subject to him, and we are called to obey him, and because God is so good, our best lives are found when we are in obedience to his will as revealed in the Bible. When we do what he says, we experience more joy, more peace, more fulfillment, even if the circumstances that are out of our control threaten to overwhelm us. Obedience to God leads to peace in our life, just as obedience to our parents meant there was more peace at home.

2 John 6 NIV

6 And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.

Joseph was a man who recognized God's authority in his life, and when God said something to him, he did it. When the angel, speaking on God's behalf, told Joseph to take Mary as his wife, even though it would be scandalous among his community, he did it. When he was told to name the child Jesus, he did it. Even later, when God speaks to him again in another dream and tells him to leave immediately and move his family to Egypt, he gets up right away and leaves. He didn't wait until morning, he just obeyed.

What is God calling you to? Maybe God is calling you into a ministry or to a life marked by greater righteousness, or perhaps He's calling you to come home to him. Will you walk in obedience to him or let your fear keep you in disobedience? Your best life is found when you walk in obedience to God.

Conclusion

We all encounter trying circumstances, hard realities and dilemmas that, more than SHAPE our character, they REVEAL our character. But if we can learn anything from the life of Joseph, it's that he approached life with righteousness, mercy and obedience to God and because of that, God used him in a powerful way: to be a father to the Son of God. Like Joseph, may our lives also reflect righteousness, mercy and obedience because you never know what God may want to do in you and through you.

Pray.