Joseph
Advent 4 - Joseph: Matthew 1:18-25
They say that you wait ages for a bus to come along, and then two come along together. Well, here I am again for the second time in a month and, not only that, it’s the same Sunday as I talked on last year, The last Sunday of Advent, the last Sunday before Christmas.
Last year, the reading focussed on Mary, and I felt fairly out of my depth trying to identify with a 15 year old, unmarried, newly pregnant, woman. This year, the reading focuses on Joseph, which, on the face of it puts me in a better starting position. If it weren’t for the fact that Joseph was in a fairly unusual situation.
Let’s walk this through.
Joseph was a righteous man, a just man. So why didn’t he have Mary stoned?
How would you feel? Your fiancé comes to you and says she’s pregnant, but you know you haven’t slept with her, and not only that but she says and angel told her it was from God.
I’d be devastated, angry, lashing out, vindictive.
And the law says, in Deuteronomy that Joseph would have been well within his rights to have her stoned. But he didn’t. Not because he was merciful, but because he was just.
And not only that, I find the parallel with an episode in Jesus’ life striking.
John 8:1-11
1 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
2 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered round him, and he sat down to teach them.
3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group
4 and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.
5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?"
6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger.
7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."
8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.
10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no-one condemned you?"
11 "No-one, sir," she said. "Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."
(NIV)
In this episode Jesus follows the command of his heavenly father, and the example of his earthly father.
Liz and I went to a funeral of a friend of ours a couple of weeks ago. He was 44, and left a wife and 3 kids, 13, 19 and 21. No warning, his heart just gave out one Saturday morning. One of the many things that touched us about that service was the worship being given by his family to God in that situation, and the almost genetic spirituality of that family, that traces it’s roots all the way back to John Knox.
Now I’m not saying that you inherit your faith, but I am saying that it laid on Liz’s and my hearts the possibility of a spiritual dynasty through our kids.
And actually that’s what the Angel was also saying to Joseph in the greeting he made, “Joseph, Son of David...”
In these four words Joseph was reminded of his spiritual heritage, of the fact that he was in a directly descended line from David, that there is a king to come, and and and
As a dad I would love nothing better than for one day someone to say of my Tabitha and Nathaniel that they follow the commands of their heavenly father and the example of their earthly father.
How does that happen. Well, a verse that I’ve loved for a long time has been driving itself into my conciousness recently. We have a couple of CDs of memory verses, set to music by Ishmael in the car, which are absolutely superb for getting some Scriptural foundations into your kids lives, and yours at the same time. One of my favourites is:
Micah 6:8
8 He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
(NIV)
To act justly. In all things apply the highest standards to your own behaviour.
To love mercy. In all things to apply the most generous interpretation to others behaviour.
To walk humbly with your God. In all things acknowledge God as our Lord.
This verse is so rich I could preach on it for hours. If you have time over this Christmas, if it’s all getting a bit raucous, I encourage you, find a but of peace and quiet and just sit and think about this verse. In fact if you lose track of what I’m saying at any time this morning, or jsut want a bit of time to sit, let me droning on be the background and just ponder on the words on the screen.
And Joseph personifies it. He acted justly, loved mercy and walked humbly and obediently before his God. And was blessed with the privilege of being the earthly father to the Son of God.
So to the other thing I wanted us to think about this morning -names
Jesus and Immanuel -Saviour and God with us.
Imagine being told what you’ve got to call your son?
Jesus - Yeshua is what his mum would called him. A common name, in the Bible and in the Hebrew nation. common because it is a summary of the central theme of the whole Jewish faith - God Saves
From egypt - God saves
In the desert - God saves
From exile - God saves
And so, in Jesus, it has become one of the central themes of our faith - God saves
From our sin - God saves
From our fears - God saves
From our wounds - God saves
And the other name - Immanuel - God with us a much less common name - more a title, that appears in the prophecies of Isaiah and here in Matthew, a quotation of that prophecy.
A specific example of how God saves - God with us.
On our side, in it with us, God became man and dwelt among us.
How awesome is this concept?
God calls us to this scary standard of behaviour- act justly, love mercy, walk humbly with your God.
God saves us in all the situations we are in. God saved Mary from stoning by giving Joseph salvation from his dilemma.
And God does this saving by being with us. Walk humbly WITH your God.
More Tim Carter Sermons
CarterClan Blog
Want to talk about it? Email me.
\\