Do I Fear What I Hear?

Scripture

Matthew 1:18–25 NRSV

Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.” When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.

Introduction

These are the top fears of 2018. I am kind of surprised at what made the list. I conducted a survey on facebook and here is what I got back: Clowns, people finding out I got arrested for streaking in high school, kids not ending up happy and helpful adults, mental illness, my daughter bless her heart said she was afraid of preachers of short stature, failure, being sane but everyone else thinks you’re insane, being evil or corrupt, children not having a relationship with Jesus, heights, snakes, I could go on.

Personally, I am afraid of drowning. I didn't learn how to swim until I was 12 years old. I was thrown into a pool when I was a small child and had a fear for the water until I was 12. Still have that fear now.Consequently I was never a strong swimmer and never had much confidence in my ability. I am still somewhat afraid of the water.

Jesus is telling his disciples that they must give up wanting to do a full gainer; that to gain the whole world is to forfeit their soul. 

What are you afraid of?

What was Joseph afraid of, really? Was it the appearance of the Angel in a dream? Or something else?

Exegesis

These 7 verses follow a very long and boring genealogy that proves that Jospeh is a descendent of the Royal family of David. Matthew transitions from that boring, but important list, and in seven verses describes Jesus birth.

We learn that Mary has been found to be unwed Mother and her betrothed is not the Father! Maybe we ought to talk for a minute about how Jewish people got married in the first century.

It wasn't romance it was an arrangement by parents. It was usually done pre pubescent. Once the children reach child bearing age they became betrothed. They were referred to as husband and wife but were still living with their parents. At the proper time a dowery was paid to the groom and he took his wife into his home and consummated the marriage while folks waited outside. Then there was a big party.

Divorces were common, not at all unusual. There were pre nuptial contracts between the parents. Written ones, we have copies of them. If a marriage ended up in divorce the husband had to pay the dowery back to his bride’s parents. Thus, divorce among the upper classes were less, the dowery becoming a form of velvet handcuffs if you will. In Greece it was common for poor parents of girl babies to leave them out in the elements to die because they could not afford to pay a dowery!

Biblical marriage is not what a lot of people make it out to be. It was purely cultural.

I do not like the NRSV’s use of engaged here. The translators make this arrangement look 21st century. It was not.

It was quite a scandal for Mary to be found pregnant and Joseph had every right to divorce her and even make her stand trial. He could have divorced her quietly with just 2 or 3 witnesses to the event. He could have taken her before the Sanhedrin and had her tried and possibly put to death, although they rarely chose the death penalty; it was usually a public shaming of the woman and the man caught in adultery. A trial would have been a spectacle and Joseph wanted no part of that. In fact there would been an investigation into who Mary’s male partner would have been! Even worse for Mary!

Matthew comments that Joseph was a righteous man. He was, but he doesn’t follow the letter of the law here! Instead he shows justice and mercy, which is greater than the law. I am afraid that there are many Christians who do not model justice and mercy for everyone. Joseph does. Joseph is a righteous man.

It seems that he has his mind made up and goes to bed. While asleep he has a dream. Not an ordinary dream, a supernatural dream where he sees an Angel. Now this Angel doesn’t give Joseph a choice. He tells Joseph not to be afraid to marry Mary. She became pregnant in a way that goes beyond any kind of human understanding. The child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a Son who will save the world from their sins.

Matthew then quotes Isaiah saying all this is the fulfillment of a prophecy.

Isaiah 7:10–14 NRSV

Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying, Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test. Then Isaiah said: “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.

So we have 2 names for Jesus now. Jesus which is Greek for Joshua or Yeshua and means YHWH saves. So God is with us and God saves! What good news this is!

Joseph then wakes up and takes Mary as his wife.

Let me point out that the genealogy of Joesph was important because for Jesus to be a descendent of David, Joseph has to adopt him. The Angel instructed Joseph to name him. By doing this, under Jewish law, Jesus is legally an heir and part of the Davidic line.

Application

Now let’s take a closer look at

Matthew 1:20 NRSV

But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

;

The word afraid is used some 218 times in the NRSV, most of the time in the phrase “do not be afraid.” For the first time the phrase is used in

Genesis 15:1 NRSV

After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.”

and finally in

Revelation 1:17 NRSV

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he placed his right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last,

;

The first thing out of the Angel’s mouth is “do not be afraid” to take Mary as your wife. Well now, I can see why Jospeh would be afraid. He might have to pay the dowery back. He will open himself up to ridicule. Mary is in real trouble here, her life is ruined and her life could even be taken. He is afraid of being associated with a scandal!

We already see that Jospeh is a courageous man. By quietly divorcing Mary, and not putting her on trial, he would have to pay back the dowery however meager it may have been. He knew the story would get out, but much slower than if a trial had been conducted. He knew he would face some ridicule and gossip for what he was going to do.

However, keeping her and marrying her was a tremendous act of courage in the face of fear. Not to mention the Angel tells him he and Mary will be responsible for raising the Messiah! Don’t be afraid? What an understatment by the angel.

These few verses would have brought much hope to Matthew’s audience. Jewish Christians who were not following the letter of the law. Jewish Christians who were taking quite a risk to be Christian. Regarding Matthew’s community one scholar commented:

“As Jewish Christians who had always reverenced the Law, they sometimes found themselves torn between strict adherence to the letter of the Torah and the supreme demand of love to which their new faith called them . If they neglected the Law, they were accused by others, and perhaps by themselves, of rejecting Bible and tradition as the “unrighteous.” But Joseph is pictured as “righteous,” even though he had decided to act out of care for another person’s dignity rather than strictly adhere to the Law. As it turned out, Joseph did not have to carry through on his decision, but the point is made: Matthew wants to instruct his church in being “righteous” (just, committed to justice) in a way that respects both the Law of the Bible and the Christian orientation to love, even if it seems to violate the Law.”

This is the same message for us today. We have to have the courage of Joseph to risk doing what God calls us to do, even if on the service it seems crazy!

Let us not overlook the fact, however, that Jesus, yet to be born is already changing lives. Joseph must have been extremely conflicted as he tried to figure out how to handle this bad situation. But it is the fact that the Angel delivers the good news to him that the one who saves, the baby Jesus is God incarnate Emmanuel. This changes everything for Joseph.

Is God calling you to do something that scares you? Have you had that happen in the past and you took the leap of faith to do what he called you to do? Trusting in God, like Joseph here, saying yes to God when everything in us is telling us to say no, will ultimately bring us joy. I know this to be true in my life and you may have experienced the same thing.

As Adam Hamilton writes on this passage: “God says over and over in Scripture, in essence: “Don’t be afraid! Don’t surrender to your fears! I’ve got something important for you to do. And I’m going to do something great, if only you will put one foot in front of the other.”

Joseph may have feared what he heard, but he did not let the fear stop him from doing what God called him to do.

As a community, you didn’t let your fears stop you from doing what God is calling us to do. As we go into 2020, may we continue to risk for Jesus, because when we risk we grow, and when we grow we become more of what God wants us to become. I hear we will be moving. I hear we will be building a new building. I do not fear what I hear. Do you?