Joseph

This morning we continue our series called Family Ties. Today is the third Sunday of Advent. Advent means “coming.” It refers to the season of waiting for God to fulfil his promise to send a Son, an offspring of Eve, who would crush the serpent’s head and set His people free from slavery to sin and death.

In the first two Sundays of Advent, we looked at some of the people who were waiting for the Messiah, people who were in Jesus’ family. They have literal ties, genealogical ties, blood ties to Jesus. The consistent thing we see in all these characters, not characters as in a made up story, but rather characters as in sinners in need of a Saviour. Some of these people were, by God’s standards, far worse than others. And yet, we know from the book of Romans, that if we break one commandment, we’re as guilty as having broken them all. So we don’t look at these characters to see how much better or worse than we are, we look at them to see how God fulfilled his promise through them.

We too are in a season of Advent. We are awaiting, especially now, Christ’s return. It is precisely in these tumultuous times that we find ourselves longing, longing for Jesus to return and make all things new. And in the time of waiting, we, by faith, are joined with and tied to Jesus. We too are members of his family. And we see in our lives how God is working in and through us, fulfilling his promises to a lost and hopeless world.

Today, we are looking at Joseph. Have you ever noticed how little attention is paid to him? Have you ever noticed how little information we have about him? I mean, with all the books on parenting, with all the emphasis on how and why parents are the most important influencers in children, with all the data showing how important it is for a stable family dynamic, how children need to have their fathers present, how dads play vital a role in the family, it is so fascinating we have so very little information about Jesus’ adoptive father, Joseph.

There’s a very good reason for this. Compared to Jesus, who is Joseph? Who is Mary? What is an earthly father compared to our Father in heaven?

So, what information is necessary? What do we need to know about Joseph, Jesus’ earthly father?

The first thing we need to know is that God knew him. God knew Joseph’s heart and he chose him. God chose Joseph to be part of his family, and he chose Joseph to be Jesus’ earthly father. God knew Joseph’s character and integrity. He knew what Joseph would do. He knew that Joseph would be faithful.

Joseph was a faithful man of God. He was a faithful disciple. He was obedient to civil authorities, travelling with a very pregnant wife from Nazareth to Bethlehem to register in the census. He loved Mary very, very much. He was determined to do the right thing, but with all care and concern. Like God’s love, Joseph’s love wasn’t reckless, he considered all these things carefully.

So, let’s consider Joseph’s situation for a moment. He was of the line of King David. It was true that he lived in the armpit of the Galilee region in the nowhere, not not very respected town of Nazareth. He was likely a carpenter or a stonemason. He wasn’t rich. But he was able to provide, and to protect, he was able to fulfil God’s call upon him as a husband.

He sought after and proposed to a woman in his town, also of the line of King David, named Mary. In those days, the act of a proposal was an act of betrothal. We must not understand it in terms of the way people get engaged today. There was no living together first. There were strict guidelines on how the marriage was arranged, the courting, and everything.

In many ways, it was and in parts of the world, still is, a better system than what we have in North America. Studies have shown that arranged marriages, over-all, are happier, more committed, result in far less divorce and provide the most stable home life. Naturally, the question asked is, why? Why is this true? And the answer is what these marriages start with: commitment.

Arranged marriages are built first on commitment to love each other. From that, or upon that foundation is built emotional love and friendship love. In North America, the reverse is true. Sometimes friendship love morphs into emotional love, and that eventually becomes commitment love. But so often, even that gets backwards, people start with emotional love, the feeling of being in love, but really all that is based on is pheromones, the essence of being physically attracted to another. This is why we hear all the time, that couples “fall out of love” or something like that. The emotional connection they had never developed further, never reached the commitment love level.

But when you start with commitment, then you’re starting on a firm foundation. This commitment love, it shows up all over the place in the Bible. It is God’s love. Jesus’ love for his disciples, Jesus’ love meant that he committed to die for sinners in order to save them. That’s the kind of love we’re dealing with here. That’s commitment love.

So, Joseph demonstrated his commitment love to Mary, when he heard that she was pregnant by another.

He believed Mary had been unfaithful to God, and unfaithful to him, and so he determined to divorce her. Marital unfaithfulness is grounds for divorce. Jesus himself cites adultery as being grounds for divorce according to the law.

But Joseph wasn’t merely just. He didn’t elevate himself and his obedience to God’s law at the cost of others, certainly not at the cost of his loving concern for Mary. Confronted with what he thought was sinful behaviour on Mary’s part, his love for her compelled him to divorce her quietly. His commitment to love Mary meant he would do everything he could to spare her as much shame as possible. Given that she was pregnant, she was in for a heap of shame.

Our passage describes Joseph as considering these things. I don’t know about you, but I have this picture in mind of Joseph, staring off into space, not focussing on his work, hitting his thumb with a hammer, measuring once and cutting twice or three times. I imagine him tossing and turning at night, looking at everything from all the angles. Wondering how he could have misjudged Mary. Wondering if he should go ahead and marry her anyway. Wondering what God would think of that. Wondering how best to honour God, to love God and to love Mary. For it is clear that he really was committed to her.

So, at the right time, God released Joseph from all his considerations, his wrestling, his agony about what to do. He sent an angel who assured him, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary home 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.”

Joseph demonstrated his faithfulness to God immediately. He obeyed the angel, took Mary home as his wife, but didn’t “know her” until after she gave birth to a son. And he called him Jesus. Joseph was an obedient, faithful, disciple.

A couple more things to point out. Joseph son of David is an honorific. This shows descent, and the claim to the kingship founded by God through David. Did Joseph wonder, even if for a moment, of taking the title for himself?

WWJD: what did Joseph do? He obeyed God. He obeyed the angel. He took Mary home as his wife, he waited for the baby to be born. Lo and behold it was indeed a boy, and he named him Jesus.

Joseph was a faithful disciple. But make no mistake, he thought the situation was totally wrong. Even after the visit from the angel, things were very difficult for him and Mary. People would have talked. They would have endured all kinds of comments. Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, were full of it: Guess who got knocked up! Who’s the daddy? Guess who else couldn’t wait for marriage? You get the idea.

Throughout it all, Joseph demonstrated God’s very own faithfulness. He obeyed the Lord, even though the path forward was very difficult. In fact, it was harder than most of us can imagine. Joseph trusted God’s messenger. Joseph prayed for and received character, integrity and wisdom. He demonstrated God’s character, he showed integrity toward Mary, both before and after the angel appeared to him, and he demonstrated wisdom in following and trusting God’s plan.

Everything's upside down right now. Humble yourself before God. Acknowledge your weakness. Ask him to help you trust Him and His plans. Ask him to give you His character, his integrity and His wisdom as we continue to navigate these difficult times. And ask him to reveal to you how he is fulfilling His promises in us! Amen.