Faithful Fathers

Title: Faithful fathers

Text: Matthew 1:18-25

D.T: Let us be faithful even when our faithfulness is an overlooked part of the story.

Introduction: Fathers Day may be an odd time to mention Christmas. Believe me, I understand. It was hard to focus on “Christmassy topics” when it’s 95 degrees outside. Regardless Christmassy topics were on my mind this week. Specifically Christmas plays or pageants. As a male child who participated in my fair share of Christmas programs, I usually played 1 of 2 parts. I was either a Shepherd, or I was Joseph. The Shepherds always had a big part to play, however if you played Joseph you didn’t do much. You were basically just in the background, present by necessity. If you were really lucky you would have a brief line when you talked to the innkeeper. Otherwise it wasn’t an involved role. Which kind of tracks with how Joseph fits in the narrative. Every Christmas time we hear plenty of sermons about Baby Jesus, Shepherds, Angels, prophecy and Mary. How many times do we talk about Joseph? Joseph is an overlooked part of the story. However today, on fathers day, we are talking about Joseph the father of Jesus. The embodiment of a faithful father.

Read Matthew 1:18-25

Matthew 1:18–25 ESV

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

The bible doesn’t mention much about how Joseph processed the revelation that Mary was pregnant. Mary is found to be pregnant however she has yet to be married to Joseph. Joseph knows they haven’t been together. In Joseph’s eyes this can obviously mean only 1 thing. Marry has been cheating on Joseph with somebody else.

Did they have a conversation where Joseph gave Mary the chance to explain the situation? It never says that Mary attempted to explain things to Joseph, if she did, how could she possibly explain it in such a way that doesn’t come across as insulting to Josephes intelligence?. The baby I'm carrying was conceived by the holy spirit and is to be the manifestation of God in the flesh and provide salvation for all people and fulfill the ancient prophecies. People have said many things to try and cover an unplanned pregnancy, but this would probably be a first, and something Joseph would not have believed. This would have put a strain on the relationship. Mary’s pregnancy would have also destroyed his reputation.

Joseph would have had great shame placed on his shoulders for not being aware of what was occuring behind his back. He would have been viewed as a person if he didn't have his affairs in order, and how could he be responsible for anything if he cannot even manage his own household. It’s a twisted concept, Joseph and Mary would both have the same amount of shame on their shoulders. Joseph was a carpenter, this shame would very likely result in the loss of some of his contracts. In Joseph's eyes there was only one option. The only way for Joseph to save face was to Divorce Mary quietly.

Joseph’s choice to Divorce Mary quietly isn’t a small detail. If Joseph wanted to make this a public ordeal, he could have. The result would have been devastating for Mary. (READ Deuteronomy 22:22

Deuteronomy 22:22 ESV

“If a man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman. So you shall purge the evil from Israel.

Mary could easily be perceived as an adulteress,because of the fact that she is pregnant. In theory Joseph could be accused of committing adultery with Mary, but if Joseph were to deny these allegations and blame Mary for infidelity, people would have believed him. So all Joseph had to do was blow the whistle on Mary and she would be killed. Instead Joseph resolves to divorce Mary quietly (In the presence of 2 witnesses)This a generous act of love by Joseph, because he could have done a lot more, this gesture basically stated that Joseph wanted to part ways with Mary and be done.

(explain dream) Joseph took Mary as his wife even though she was already pregnant, her pregnancy in correlation with their marriage still would have caused speculation to their marriage. Mary and Joseph would have still possibly had their reputation tarnished, even after Jesus' birth and probably throughout Jesus' life.

When you live in a small town with tight knit communities, everything in your life is open for others to see. This is both good and bad, if you become engaged, everyone is going to know the next day, if you’re having a child everyone is going to know within a week. If you land a new Job, people are gonna know. If you have an illness, or some related health issues, people are gonna know. If the Jones’s dog keeps eating the Hendersons garden gnomes, people are gonna know. If your fiance becomes pregnant everyone is going to know, and the first thing they will notice is that the word fiancee isn’t wife for better or worse, word spreads in small communities quickly, sometimes that’s a welcome thing, other times it may not be as welcome.

This very well may have been a stigma that Joseph, Mary and maybe even Jesus lived with their whole lives. Joseph probably lost respect, he may have lost contracts because he was no longer respectable. All the questions surrounding the birth of Jesus would not likely stop with his birth. They likely continued, and Mary and Joseph probably lived difficult lives due to this. Joseph could have ended all of this b divorce Mary quietly; however Joseph did not do that. Instead Joseph chose to be the embodiment of a faithful father.

Joseph decides to be a faithful father at the expense of his reputation

The public would have seen him as not having his house in order

Joseph decides to be a faithful father despite not fully understanding

I think it’s safe to say Joseph would have trouble wrapping his head around this issue.

Joseph decides to be a faithful father despite the circumstances of Jesus birth

Joseph in many ways is like the modern fathers who raise children from their spouses previous relationships or marriages. Be faithful in that as Joseph was.

Joseph never lived to see the ministry of Jesus

Mary lived to see the age of the church and the completion of Jesus' earthly ministry. However Joseph would have died before this point

Joseph was faithful despite being an overlooked part of the story.

Conclusion On this fathers day let us imitate Joseph as an example of a faithful father. Let us be faithful even when our faithfulness is an overlooked part of the story.

We may not get recognition for sacrifices, for hardship, for what we endure, for what concerns lay upon our heart. Let us be faithful