Joseph's Faithful Response

Josh Elliott

Faithful Response to Christmas • Sermon • Submitted a year ago

Matthew 1:18–25

Faithfulness

Christmas

Joseph (husband of Mary)

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Looking at Joseph as an example of a faithful response to God's revelation.

Notes

Transcript

Introduction

How many of you are familiar with the term “trope?” A trope in tv, movies, literature or other mediums is when a lot of different stories use the same plots and devices. This is probably most noticeable in movies and television, where often you can guess the whole plot of a movie just by knowing the genre. Perhaps one of the worst offenders for over use of tropes are Romantic Comedies. One of the more common ones is the “Third Act Misunderstanding.” For some of you this is going to sound very familiar. Usually this is set up by having one of the characters we’ll call Fred keep some important information from their love interest we’ll call Wilma. Near the end of the film Wilma catches Fred doing something she misunderstands and she blows up at him and they break up. Later some old friend of Fred’s shows up and explains what really happened just before Fred shows up to do some big romantic gesture to win Wilma back and everyone lives happily ever after.

Well what if I told you that the story of the first Christmas sort of had it’s own “third act misunderstanding?”

Matthew 1:18–25 ESV

18 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. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 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. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

You see Joseph had a bit of a misunderstanding here. He thought he knew what was going on, and I guess you can say that it was understandable. He was engaged to a young woman, and she’s pregnant. He knows it’s not his baby, so what’s the natural conclusion? He assumes there was unfaithfulness on Mary’s part.

Now Joseph and Mary were ‘betrothed,’ which is similar to being engaged. Things worked a little differently in their time, however. See marriages were mostly arranged. So, Joseph and Mary’s parents decided that they were a good match and should be married to one another. Then once they were old enough to be married they were considered married and were referred to as husband and wife. They would not, however, immediately begin their lives together. Instead, as a demonstration of the woman’s pledge of purity they would live apart for a year. If the woman was found to be pregnant than the marriage would be called off. If not, than the husband would go to the wife’s house and lead her in a large festive processional back to his house where they would begin their lives together. (Barbieri 1985)

So at this point in time, Joseph and Mary were in the midst of this one year waiting period. So when Joseph found out that Mary was pregnant, he assumed she had failed to keep pure. This turns out to be a misunderstanding of literally Biblical proportions. So the angel appears to Joseph in a dream to keep him from making a big mistake.

Interesting that Joseph hears from God in dreams just like his name sake. You’ll remember that the Old Testament Joseph, son of Jacob, also heard from God in his dreams. That’s just an aside.

I think Joseph is a bit of an unsung hero of the Bible. When we talk about Christmas we understandably focus on Jesus. Even so Mary gets a lot of deserved credit and a lot of undeserved credit for her role in the birth of Jesus. What about poor Joseph? He’s often forgotten, but I think that Joseph serves as a great example of Biblical faithfulness for us to emulate today. So for that reason I want to look at Joseph and see how the story of the birth of Christ from Joseph’s perspective in the gospel of Matthew teaches us three things:

1. Justice should be tempered by Mercy

2. Jesus was born to save us from our Sin

3. When God calls we should obey

1. Justice Should be Tempered by Mercy

Now as I’ve already alluded to, when Joseph first hears about Mary’s pregnancy, he jumps to an understandable conclusion. His response to this perceived sin however is an excellent example of how we should treat other people who have wronged us, even if in this case it turns out Joseph wasn’t really even wronged.

The first thing you need to understand is that Joseph was entitled to some serious retribution under the law. Like I said before, betrothal was just as binding as marriage in their time, so the punishment for infidelity in both cases weas the same. We read in Deuteronomy 22:23-24a

“If there is a betrothed virgin, and a man meets her in the city and lies with her, then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones...”

So Joseph if he had wanted to could have brought Mary to the gate of the city to have her stoned to death. Now in the time of Joseph often instead of this punishment people would bring their unfaithful partners to the city gate not to stone them but just to publicly shame them. So if Joseph had wished he could have taken this route instead and still been merciful. Yet Joseph goes even further. He goes so far as to decide to just quietly divorce Mary rather than have her even shamed for what he had supposed she had done.

Joseph is described by scripture as a righteous man. Here his righteousness (keeping the law) is brought into conflict with his desire to be merciful. There is some debate between Bible commentators about whether Joseph's righteousness conflicted with his mercy, or if his mercy was simply an aspect of his righteousness. I lean towards the former. Joseph would have been right (under the limits of his knowledge) to seek the full punishment for Mary's sin. To say otherwise is to call God’s law sinful. His mercy however tempered his desire for justice.

"[Joseph] is a moral man who stands for rightness, but he is also merciful, which is a rare combination. Most people are either moral or merciful. God, make us men like Joseph! Give us his morality, but also his mercy." - Jon Courson, Jon Courson’s Application Commentary (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2003), 6.

In this way Joseph is reflecting the image of God well. God would also be right to punish sinners fully for their sins. We’ve earned condemnation and eternal separation from God. Yet God’s mercy has tempered his justice. For this reason we should seek to emulate both Joseph and God by giving grace and mercy to others just as it has been given to us.

Jesus makes this explicit in the parable of the unforgiving servant found in Mt 18:21-35

Matthew 18:21–35 ESV

21 Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times. 23 “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. 24 When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. 26 So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ 27 And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. 28 But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ 29 So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ 30 He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. 31 When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. 32 Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33 And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ 34 And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. 35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

For reference, the servant owed his master about twelve billion dollars worth, and the other servant owed him about eight hundred dollars.

10,000 Talents = ~$12,000,000,000

100 Denarii = ~$800

The point is, that because of the massive debt God paid on our behalf it’s just plain silly to hold any body else in debt against us. Joseph is a small picture of what this mercy looks like. It doesn’t mean that Joseph ignored or enabled Mary’s supposed sin, he was still planning to divorce her, but it does mean that he needn’t seek the highest punishment she’s due. Instead he extended to her grace.

Thankfully the story doesn’t end there. Before Joseph can do what he’s resolved to do and divorce Mary, an angel of the Lord intervenes with the big reveal: Joseph, you’ve got the wrong idea! That brings us to the second thing Joseph’s story teaches us; that Jesus was born to save us from our sin.

2. Jesus Was Born To Save Us From Sin

Now while we are today focusing on how Joseph serves as a good example of a faithful response, we cannot overlook the bigger message here, which isn’t about Joseph at all, but about Jesus his adoptive son. If we return to our text, in verses 20-23

Matthew 1:20–23 ESV

20 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. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).

Whew! Mary didn’t cheat on Joseph after all. That must have been some relief. It must also have been an intensely surprising revelation. Not only has Mary actually been faithful to Joseph, but she has been chosen as the mother of Messiah, the man the Hebrew Bible predicted would come and save His people from their sins.

Matthew’s gospel is sparing when it comes to Joseph’s reaction. Perhaps because he received the message in a dream he wasn’t reacting in real time to the news. Perhaps Matthew just didn’t think it was important to know how Joseph reacted. What we do know is that the Israelites had been waiting for Messiah for around 400 years. That’s a long time. Joseph would have grown up in a culture that was already waiting, and maybe even beginning to lose hope that He ever would come.

The Israelites were very aware of their dire situation. They had their scriptures to teach them about how God had blessed them and given them His law, but that Israel had repeatedly failed to keep it. No matter how many judges, kings or prophets God gave them to lead them in the way, they were hopelessly lost in sin.

We can’t look down on Israel because we are the same. Apart from God we cannot do what is right. Romans 3:23 says “[that] all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” We know this well. I’m sure every one of us here has tried and failed to do what is right, and have felt frustration like Paul’s when he wrote in Romans 7:19 “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.”

So when God sent the prophets to announce the coming of the anointed one who would save the people from their sins, they would have rejoiced and waited eagerly to see how God would finally free them from their slavery to doing wrong and failing. So when Joseph was told that his wife would give birth by the Holy Spirit to a child named Jesus, which come from the Hebrew name Yeshua meaning God saves, than he would have known that God’s fulfilled promise had come.

Not only that, but the angel also tells Joseph with the words of Isaiah 7:14 that this child will be called “God with us.” Now the Israelites had a lot of ideas about who Messiah would be, but as far as I am aware none of them expected Him to be God Himself, born as a man. Now in retrospect it makes such beautiful perfect sense. We cannot save ourselves, so no mere man could have truly saved us from our sins. God Himself had to come down to do what we could not for ourselves.

This is all that Joseph knows, but on the other side of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection we now know just how Jesus would save us all from our sins. He would lead the perfect sinless life, teaching us God’s will and being our example, and ultimately being executed like a criminal on our behalf. He died so that we would not have to pay the penalty for our own sins. Not only that but He raised from the dead to prove His victory over death and be the firstborn of the resurrection so that we can one day share in eternal life with Him if we put our trust in Him, repent of our sins and get baptized. In this way we can all be saved not just from the penalty of sin, but our slavery to sin.

But this is all in the future. A future that it seems from His absence in the rest of the gospels that Joseph didn’t even live to see. All that Joseph knows is that God has revealed to Him that the Messiah would be born from his wife Mary. What does this mean for Joseph, and how does Joseph respond? That leads us to point number three:

3. When God Calls We Must Obey

So we have seen today in the story of Joseph that first, mercy should temper justice. Second, we see that God sent Jesus to save us from our sins. Third we see that when God calls, we must obey. It’s natural to ask the question, what is the angel asking of Joseph here? If we return again to our text we read in verse 20 “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.”

That’s it. One not-so-simple request: take Mary as your wife. Now at first that might seem to modern ears to be an easy request. We might be tempted to think that the angel is asking very little of Joseph. We must again remember that the times we’re reading about are not like our times. There are actually very high stakes here, and Joseph is being asked for a lot.

First the stakes: In the first century single motherhood was a lot more challenging than it is today. That’s not to minimize the struggles of single mothers, it’s to by contrast show just how dire Mary’s situation would have been if she’d been divorced by Joseph. Though Joseph sought to bring her as little shame as possible by divorcing her discreetly, people would have known about their engagement and her pregnancy and their divorce no matter how quiet they tried to keep it. This means that in a culture much more sensitive to honour and shame Mary would have been subject to a great deal of shame and ostracization. She would have been forever branded an adulteress thus limiting any support she would receive from the community. She would also have been vulnerable as a single mother to abuse and poverty. This in turn would have led to a significant amount of danger to baby Jesus as well.

By marrying Mary Joseph was protecting her financially as well as protecting her from this public shame. Instead of assuming she was an adulteress, now the public would likely assume that they had both failed in keeping themselves pure. Thus Joseph took on some of the shame Mary would have faced and lessened the total amount of shame due. By Marrying her he also took on the husband’s responsibility to provide for and protect his family, which we see him faithfully do in chapter 2 of Matthew’s gospel when he flees with them to Egypt to avoid Herod’s wrath.

When the angel asks Joseph to Marry Mary and name Jesus he not only asks him to be Mary’s husband, but asks him to take responsibility for raising the son of God, Messiah, King of kings and Lord of lords. The naming of a child was the explicit duty of the father. We can see this from the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth in Luke’s gospel. When the angel Gabriel tells Zechariah that his wife will conceive and give birth the angel strikes him mute, so when it comes time to name John Elizabeth tries to tell the others present that the baby’s name is John but they react negatively and ask Zechariah what the name should be. So by asking Joseph to name Jesus the angel is asking him to take up the official role of father.

So Joseph is being asked to take on great risk and responsibility by the angel in his dream. How does he respond? “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.”

God asks, Joseph obeys. It’s as simple as that. And so Joseph serves as an excellent example of how we ought to live.

Now to be certain there are times when it’s difficult to be sure that you’ve heard from God. This is a unique instance in that there seemed to be something about the quality of this dream that gave Joseph immediate certainty that he had heard the voice of God. Sometimes when we pray and seek God’s direction things are a little less clear. This is why John cautions us in 1 John 4:1 “… do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.”

So how do we know what we ought to do to live obediently as Joseph did? We know how to obey God by knowing His scriptures. This is the key for two reasons:

1. God has given in His Scriptures, our Bibles, truths and commands for us to live in obedience to. So the first step is to be obedient to those things we are certain are God’s will because He gave them to us in the Bible

2. Knowing the Bible is knowing what God’s voice sounds like. If we know His word really well, than we will be able to tell if something we believe God is telling us is really from Him. If you think you’re hearing from God but what you hear contradicts the Bible, than you know it can’t be the voice of God.

For the sake of time if nothing else I will acknowledge but not address that there are some who believe that Christians shouldn’t expect to hear from God. There may be some people here today who feel that way, but my advice to know the Scriptures well is just as important for them if not more, because if you believe God no longer speaks to Christians today than the Bible is all you have to know God’s will.

A reminder is essential here that we don’t just learn God’s Word for the sake of learning it.

Imagine, if you will, that you work for a company whose president found it necessary to travel out of the country and spend an extended period of time abroad. So he says to you and the other trusted employees, "Look, I'm going to leave. And while I'm gone, I want you to pay close attention to the business. You manage things while I'm away. I will write you regularly. When I do, I will instruct you in what you should do from now until I return from this trip." Everyone agrees.

He leaves and stays gone for a couple of years. During that time he writes often, communicating his desires and concerns. Finally he returns. He walks up to the front door of the company and immediately discovers everything is in a mess--weeds flourishing in the flower beds, windows broken across the front of the building, the gal at the front desk dozing, loud music roaring from several offices, two or three people engaged in horseplay in the back room. Instead of making a profit, the business has suffered a great loss. Without hesitation he calls everyone together and with a frown asks, "What happened? Didn't you get my letters?"

You say, "Oh, yeah, sure. We got all your letters. We've even bound them in a book. And some of us have memorized them. In fact, we have 'letter study' every Sunday. You know, those were really great letters." I think the president would then ask, "But what did you do about my instructions?" And, no doubt the employees would respond, "Do? Well, nothing. But we read every one!"

Charles Swindoll, Living Above the Level of Mediocrity, p. 242.

Conclusion

So then, this Christmas season when you’re thinking about the birth of Jesus, spare a moment to reflect on Joseph and give him some respect. Let’s read our Scripture passage again, Matthew 1:18-25. Here we learn from the story of Joseph’s interaction with the angel of the Lord three important things:

1. Mercy Should Temper Justice

2. Jesus Was Born to Save us From Sin

3. When God Calls We Must Obey

The question that comes to mind is, would God call me a "just man"? Would he call you “just”? Would I listen so immediately and completely to God's messenger? This passage challenges us all to step up and be more like Joseph. So let us all together this day pledge in earnestness of heart that we shall go and do likewise.