Advent: Joy - Quiet Obedience

We are in the Season of Advent, the time of anticipation before the coming of the Christ,

We have been looking at the people who heard about the coming of Christ in the order that they heard

First was Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth, with God senidn an angel to speak to Zechariah and breaking 430 years of Silence, which then was extended several months because Zechariah doubted the words of the Angel

But yet he and Elizabeth found Hope in the words of God, and gave birth to John the Baptist who would herald in the Messiah,

Next was Mary, Who at the age of 14 or 15 was told by an angel that she would be the mother of the Messiah, the Son of God. This was crazy impossible news

But she found peace in trusting that God would be with her, Immanuel - as foretold

Today we look at Joseph.

Now Joseph is unique in that none of his words are recorded, in a sense Jospeph doesn’t even speak, he lets his actions speak for him.

To find Josephs story we look to the Book of Matthew

And Matthew begins with a Geneaology detaiing the family tree of Joseph.

Im not going to detail all of it here but lets look at the last few parts of it.

Matthew 1:16–17 ESV

and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ. So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.

What this geneology tells us, in addition to key figures in Josephs family Tree, lets us know that Joseph is decended from the line of Davidic kings, and as such his son, or in the case of Jesus his adopted firstborn son has a blood right to the throne of israel.

There is also symbolism in the numbers mentioned.

Many numbers in the Bible are symbolic,

In this case we have the number 14, which is double the number 7 - seven equals completeness, fourteen is a doubled completeness.

this 14 is repeated three times - which has ties specifically to God, being a three in one being

So Jesus at the end of this geneology is a three-fold doubled completeness, the Son of God comeing at the perfect moment.

Then if you are like me and you do a little bit extra math, you find the between Abraham and Jesus there are 40 Genertation

40 is a number that can mean testing, trials, and recreation.

In this way we see that Jesus is the fully realized recreation and relaization of promises God gave to Abraham.

And that is only possible when looking at Josephs family tree,

There is another geneology for JEsus in the book of Luke and it is quite different, and that is supposedly Mary’s family tree.

In any case We are looking at Joseph. Who was just as much chosen to parent Jesus as Mary was.

Matthew 1:18–19 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.

It cannot be understaded how shameful it was back in those days for a young unmarried woman to be found to be pregnant.

Mary is in a unique situation though, she is not exactly unmarried, she is betrothed, which means that there are a couple of options.

1. Joseph could claim the child as his own, basically saying that he and Mary couldn’t wait for the wedding, and spend the rest of his life being judged by the people who look up to him.

2. He could say that Mary was unfaithful, in which case he could be stoned in the street.

3. He could not say anything, and quietly call of the marriage, and therefore not condemn mary, and uphold his own honor. With no one condemning her mary will not leagally be able to be stoned for adultery.

This is what he chooses to do, upholding his honor, and her honor, despite the fact that the truth was much more miraculous.

So he gets ready to call off the wedding.

Matthew 1:20–25 ESV

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.

Joseph has a dream. and in the dream an angel speaks to him, telling him 1. that Mary is telling the truth, the Baby is the Son of God, that Joseph himself will name the Child JEsus - or Yeshua - God is Salvation

this fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah

Imannuel - God With Us. We discussed this last week.

So Joseph does what God commands.

He claims the Child as his own, which would ruin his reputation as a righteous man.

Reputations are overrated, choosing to follow God and do the right thing is true righteousness.

In fact the bible often states how true joy comes from following God despite the trials we face

James 1:2–4 ESV

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Matthew 5:11–12 ESV

“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Sometimes Church, doing the right thing leads to suffering and persecution

But even as we suffer, we know that God has greater things in store for us,

So we should count our suffering as joy, and be joyful in our suffering.

This is what Joseph does:

So Joseph in choosing to care for Jesus is an example of finding joy.

And Notice that Joseph names Jesus.

This is Joseph adopting Jesus as his own son.

I’ve just had a son, and it has been some of the most trying times, but it has also been some of the most Joyful.

It is trying to try and get a baby to fall asleep at night,

It is a stuggle to clean up after a baby’s mess

It is a stuggle to try and make sure the baby is okay every minute of ever day.

But when i see my son look up at me and smile, it is all worth it.

And i cant wait to teach him things

I cant wait to teach him to ride a bike, or play catch, or play games. THats the joy I am looking forward to as a father.

Im sure baby jesus woke Joseph and mary up during the night.

I’m sure Joseph had to clean up after Jesus made a mess

Im sure joseph went through all the stuggles fathers do with thier children

But we also know that Joseph taught Jesus his trade.

Mark 6:1–3 ESV

He went away from there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.

Notice how the people of Nazareth refer to Jesus as a carpenter, just like Joseph was,

Joseph got to teach Jesus his trade.

And the people take offecne at Jesus, because they know him and his family, and there is still a stigma around his family,

Mary and Joseph the couple who didn’t wait for marriage

even when they did.

and now the supposed illegitamte child of Joseph and Mary is trying to preach to them.

They do not realize that Jesus is the Son of God.

We do not know much more about Josephs story

We know that he had several dreams,

Much like his namesake in the old testament

When he revieced a vision in a dream he acted upon it, he didn’t doubt like zechariah, he didnt question like mary,

no he did what God told him. And in doing so he fulfills prophecy after prophecy of the Messiah.

After Jesus was born

Matthew 2:13–15 ESV

Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

Matthew 2:19–23 ESV

But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee. And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.

By Joseph listening to and obeying God he took mary as his wife,

Which meant when the census came they would be in Bethlehem

THe Prophets said the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem

He Escaped with them to Egypt

The Prophets said the Messiah would come out of egypt

He went back to nazarteth for Jesus to grow up

The Prophets said the Messiah would be a Nazarene.

In simply obeying God without question, Joseph managed to synthesize three prophecies that would have otherwise have been seen as contradictory.

God moves when we are obedient to his word,

and seeing God move, that brings joy.

Joy is not just a feeling or emotion

True joy comes from Following God, even when things get hard.

Joseph gave up his reputation, his comforts of home, his own hopes and dreams, having to spend time as refugees in a foreign land, all because he was chosen to be the adoptive father of Jesus.

And I doubt he had any regrets. Because he Obeyed God without question, and when you follow God and his plan for your life, you find joy.