The Messiah is Prophesied – to Joseph.
Notes
Transcript
Matthew 1:18-25
Scene 1/ Often we don’t think that we are anyone out of the ordinary, yet God uses ordinary people to do amazing things.
Amazing things happen when we make ourselves available to be used by God.
Because God tends to use ordinary people to achieve extrordinary things.
After William Booth died 150,000 people filed by the casket, and 40,000, including Queen Mary, attended his funeral.
It was a remarkable end for a man born into poverty and who worked in the midst of poverty his whole life.
William Booth was a remarkable man, who was given the title “The Prophet of the Poor.”
He is best known today as founder and first general of the Salvation Army.
Booth was born in relative poverty, in Sneinton, a suburb of Nottingham, England.
His parents were not religious and at best laboring class, with little education.
His father, “a Grab, a Get,” by William’s definition, died when William was just 14.
By that time, William was helping to earn the family income as a pawnbroker’s apprentice.
Sometime during his fifteenth year, William was invited by a Wesleyan couple to attend chapel, where he was converted.
He wrote in his diary, “God shall have all there is of William Booth.”
William Booth was an ordinary man used by God to achieve extrordinary things.
The woman he married, Catherine, was even more remarkable, a true pioneer driven by the conviction of Scripture.
131 Christians Everyone Should Know (William Booth)
Scene 2/ Joseph the carpenter was an ordinary person, he certainly wasn’t expecting anything out of the ordinary in his life, in fact he was hoping for a very ordinary life.
Joseph lived in a time of great social turmoil.
Israel was occupied by the Roman Army.
The population was taxed quiet heavily.
There was a great deal of resentment, nationalist fervour and concern about the Pagan Greek influence on the spiritual purity of the nation.
Some, called zealots were in favour of resistance.
Others, such as the Essenes wanted to withdraw and set up pure communities.
A notable example of this is the community of Qumran where the Dead Sea scrolls were found.
During this time there was a hope amongst most of the people that the Messiah would come in their time and set the people free and restore the Kingdom of Israel to its previous glory.
But even with all these things going on the common people hoped for what the common people always hope for.
Peace, stability and no surprises.
Joseph was one of those ordinary people.
No one special!
An ordinary carpenter wanting nothing more than a normal life.
For Joseph everything was going to plan.
We read in Matthew 1:18 that Joseph was engaged to Mary.
We read in Matthew 1:19 that Joseph was a good man.
For Joseph life was looking pretty promising
He would have been somewhere between 18 and early 20s.
A successful tradesman, a good bloke.
His marriage to Mary would have been arranged.
Her parents and his would have been careful to make a good choice.
He and Mary probably had some say in the matter.
The betrothal time was when the couple got to spend time together.
They would talk about their future together.
They would discuss their commitment to each other.
Like any young bloke Joseph would be pretty keen on getting to know this lovely teenage girl a lot better.
Life was looking good, ordinary no surprises
Scene 3/ But the angel of the Lord turned up and Joseph suddenly found himself right in the middle of God’s divine plan. (Matthew 1:20-23)
He has discovered that Mary is pregnant.
And she is claiming that it is an act of God.
A miracle.
As Luke tells us in his Gospel in 1:26-56
Mary had suddenly rushed off to see her cousin, Elizabeth.
Very unusual behaviour for a young engaged woman.
Now Joseph would have probably wondered why she had left in such a hurry.
When she returns 3 months later there is no hiding that she is pregnant.
Joseph world has been turned upside down.
That quiet ordinary life he is expected isn’t turning out so well.
And this is when God’s divine plan is revealed to Joseph.
An angel of the Lord appears in a dream.
Joseph has been considering divorcing Mary.
Betrothal had the same legal requirements as marriage, it was only after a one year period that the man would come and take the woman to his home where the marriage would be consummated.
This hadn’t happened and Joseph knew he wasn’t responsible.
There could only be one explanation, Mary had been unfaithful to him.
Joseph would have been heartbroken.
He feels betrayed and he is going to divorce Mary, quietly.
The shame could be minimised, maybe he could move on!
But God has different plans.
Joseph has a significant part to play in God’s divine plan.
Joseph is to be the legal guardian of the saviour of the people.
Matthew 1:20-21 tells us that Joseph is to take Mary as his wife.
He is to claim the role of Father to this child.
Even though he is not the Father.
Even though this conception is a miracle of the Holy Spirit.
He is to name the child Jesus and in naming the child he makes him his own.
Matthew 1:22-23 goes on to tell us that all this occurred to fulfil the Lord’s message through his prophet.
The prophet Isaiah had given this message 700 years earlier.
14 All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’).
Scene 4/ Joseph had to be receptive to God’s plan, it was after all a little inconvenient for him! (Matthew 1:18b-19, 24-25)
As Matthew 1:18b-19 tells us this plan of God wasn’t exactly easy for Joseph.
It certainly wasn’t part of his plan to have his betrothed turn up pregnant.
But then God often does things a little differently from how people expect.
A prophecy has been given.
A divine plan has been set in place.
But it has a cost!
The reality of Immanuel, God with us, is not one that can simply pass by.
Those whom God has chosen have to walk the path that this prophecy requires.
A path that requires dedication to God’s plan not their own.
Joseph has to carry the inconvenience.
This is going to attract attention, unwanted attention.
If Joseph takes God at his word then he will take Mary home as his wife.
And the village will make the perfectly understandable assumption that Joseph is responsible for Mary’s pregnancy.
A prophecy has been given
A divine plan has been revealed.
Joseph needs to receive that plan and accept it as his.
For it comes with a cost, more than an inconvenience.
Matthew 1:24-25 explains that cost.
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.
Joseph takes Mary as his wife.
He claims the child she is carrying as his own, with all of the implications entailed.
He shares her shame at being pregnant before she should.
He accepts the responsibility of raising a child not his own
And while the Scriptures do not tell us that any specific command is given, he is not intimate with Mary until the child is born.
Another cost for a young man.
All because a prophecy had been given.
All because Joseph was the one through whom this divine plan was to be fulfilled.
He has a role in God’s divine plan.
His life is no longer ordinary.
He had to be receptive to what God asked of him.
Scene 5/ Just as Joseph had a role in God’s divine plan, so too do we!
We need to be receptive to the fact that God wants to use us, even though we never could have imagined that he would.
For William and Catherine Booth, they would have never even dreamt that God was going to use them to found the Salvation Army, a ministry that to this day reaches out to the most marginalised and lost and gives them hope.
You see about 33 years after God’s divine plan was revealed to Joseph.
That unborn child that he accepted responsibility for.
That little baby which he named and claimed as his own.
Spoke these words.
The words of God’s Divine plan.
18 Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
The prophecy of God’s Divine plan was revealed to Joseph.
The command of the Divine plan is revealed to us.
It is inconvenient at times, certainly.
It certainly requires that we receive it.
And I promise you that truly lived it will turn your world upside down.
But it is God’s divine plan for you and I!
As the prophecy of the coming Messiah was given to Joseph, so the message of the Messiah is given to us.
Let’s be receptive to that plan and willingly play our part in it.
