Joseph's Dream

We focus a lot on Mary and what she went through in the events leading up to Jesus’ birth.

Rightfully so.

I want us to consider this morning, how the news of Jesus’ birth affected another person in the biblical record.

How did Mary’s pregnancy affect her fiancee, Joseph?

Luke and Matthew are our two sources for information regarding Jesus’ birth.

Luke gives us Mary’s lineage and perspective on the events.

Matthew gives us Joseph’s lineage and focuses more on his perspective of the events of Christmas.

The events leading up to Jesus’ birth occurred during the middle stage of Joseph and Mary’s marriage process.

A Jewish marriage took 3 steps to complete.

A betrothal.

An espousement.

Consummation

Joseph and Mary were in the midst of their 1 year espousement.

Legally they are husband and wife.

The only way to get out of an espousement is to get divorced.

Should one or the other die, the survivor is considered a widow or widower.

They do not, however live together or enjoy any of the other benefits of marriage.

This is a special time for new couples, but in this situation, it becomes a very tricky situation.

Joseph is forced to make a decision about what to do about Mary’s condition.

In the case of an unexpected pregnancy, he has three basic options available to him.

He can publicly divorce her and bring immeasurable shame onto her.

He can privately divorce her, giving no stated reason, thus sparing her some of the public attention.

He can forgive her and marry her any way (this would have made the child legitimate as his own).

Joseph’s actions, when he hears of Mary’s condition, are governed by his just/righteous character.

There is no record of how Joseph became aware of Mary’s baby.

Perhaps she told him before she left to go and stay with Zacharias and Elizabeth.

Maybe she didn’t tell him until she came back and the pregnancy was more apparent.

Regardless, we can be sure that Joseph experienced a wave of conflicting emotions.

Hurt

Distrust

Confusion

Betrayal

Despite all of this, Joseph knows that he doesn’t want to do anything to publicly defame Mary.

Verse 19 tells us that Joseph was “minded to put her away privily.”

The greek tells us that these thoughts were new to Joseph.

This was not something that he had been dwelling on, it was a recent development in his meditations on what to do.

Though putting Mary away was within his rights, this was not God’s will for the birth of Jesus.

While Joseph thought on these things, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream.

I’m curious who shared this information with information with Matthew.

Joseph was dead (most likely) by the time Jesus met Matthew.

Was this a story that Joseph had shared with Jesus?

Or, did Mary share it with the disciples who were probably just as curious as we are about what Jesus was like as a boy?

The angel comforts and directs Joseph regarding his next steps.

Joseph need not fear taking Mary as his wife.

There is no human father that has defrauded him.

The baby that she carries was conceived miraculously by the Holy Spirit.

She will bring forth a son, and you will call him Jesus.

Jesus was a very common name at that time.

The angel gives Joseph the responsibility for naming the baby Jesus.

It is the greek form of Joshua.

He will live up to this name because He will save His people from their sins.

Joseph may be wondering why he, of all people, had to deal with this.

The angel tells Joseph that the events which have overtaken his life are all occuring in fulfilment of prophecy.

He was playing a role in God coming to earth.

The child that would be born into his life would be known as Emmanuel.

As the dream comes to an end, Joseph wakes up with a clear sense of direction.

He immediately turns God’s direction into actions.

He takes Mary as his wife.

This means their year-long espousement was over before the birth of Jesus.

He withheld from participating in the privileges of marriage until after Mary had birthed Jesus.

As directed, he called the name of the baby, Jesus.

By taking these actions, Jesus was able to be born a legitimate son to Mary and Joseph.

Throughout Jesus’ life he was known unquestionably as the son of Joseph the carpenter.

Having rehearsed the well-known tale of Joseph’s obedience, can we imagine for a second if he had not obeyed God?

How different would this story have been?

God was working out the grandest plan that has ever been worked out on this earth.

This plan was the provision of salvation and forgiveness of sins for all the peoples of the earth.

God was fulfilling His promise to address the greatest need of every man and woman that has ever lived.

Joseph had a special role to play in this ordeal.

At first it seemed like he was being forced to react to impossible events in his own strength and wisdom.

Then God shined a light on what Joseph was to do.

He was required to exercise humility and self-control.

After this it became a decision not “what do i do?” but “will i do it?”

Joseph fulfilled his role in a way that all of us should take notice of.

You and I also have a role to fulfill in this life.

Too many times we lose sight of our purpose and we feel like we are being tossed about by life.

Like Joseph we feel like all we can do is react to the impossible situations that life throws at us.

We may even begin to consider abandoning the calling that we were at one time convinced of.

We cannot allow the unexpected situations of life to derail us from continuing on the path that God has planned for us.

He wasn’t ignorant of what would happen to you when He chose you for this task.

Marriage isn’t what you thought it would be.

Parenting isn’t what you thought it would be.

Empty nest isn’t what you thought it would be.

God knew, though.

You have a role to play that is not dissimilar to that of Joseph.

We all play a role in God’s plan to bring salvation and forgiveness of sin to the world.

This is the purpose of every child of God.

The things that you and I see as impediments to serving God are actually the details