Sermon Tone Analysis

Reprise for Christmas 2007

*Mary Did You Know?*

Matthew 1:18-25

 

The streets always seem busier this time of year.

Beginning with the Friday after Thanksgiving, the Christmas season officially began.

At least, that’s what the retailers tell us.

I look at the crowds and wonder, where have these people been all year?

Traffic jams, no parking places, crowded malls, congested interstates, busy airports, neighborhood gatherings, office parties.

The pace is dangerously fast.

There seems to be no time for leisurely enjoying even the lights of the season.

The whole world seems busier as Christmas time approaches.

I wonder if that’s how Joseph and Mary felt as they approached the outskirts of Bethlehem.

As they draw near, this typically sleepy Judean village has been wide-awake for days.

The mandatory census of Rome has created an economic boom for city merchants.

There are thousands of new people in the city.

But the little town can’t process the heavy traffic: pedestrians and mules, wooden wagons, camels, goats, and baggage… lots of baggage.

And every room in every inn is filled to capacity.

Joseph and Mary finally made it.

But their journey was far from over.

They aren’t even married yet.

They were betrothed—engaged.

She’s a virgin.

But she’s pregnant… very pregnant.

The journey that led them to this place is the prelude to the greatest story ever told.

Our text is Matthew 1:18-25.

Last week, we read these verses from Joseph’s perspective; this morning I want to cover this from Mary’s perspective.

Let’s begin with these verses and keep them before us as we go through the exposition.

In honor of God and His word, I invite you to stand.

18* *Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows.

When His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit.

19 And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man, and not wanting to disgrace her, desired to put her away secretly.

20 But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for that which has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.

21 “And she will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins.”

22 Now all this took place that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, 23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which translated means, “God with us.” 24 And Joseph arose from his sleep, and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took /her/ as his wife, 25 and kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus.

[NASB]

 

[Prayer] Several years ago, the song “/Mary Did You Know?”/ was co-written by two popular Christian artists.

That song is (in my opinion) one of the most moving pieces of Christian music written in recent years.

It is so contemplative, yet so profoundly accurate theologically.

The song asks the young Virgin Mary some unimaginable questions as she holds her Creator in her arms.

Listen again to these questions:

 

Mary did you know that your baby Boy will one day walk on water?

Mary did you know that your baby Boy will save our sons and daughters?

Did you know that your baby Boy has come to make you new?

This child that you’ve delivered will soon deliver you.

That’s rich.

That’s the essence of Christmas—Almighty God became a baby having gone through all the natural stages of gestation, to be brought forth nine months later with angel visitation in the most humble of surroundings.

Think of it!

The Lord of all creation honored life in all its stages by becoming an embryo, a fetus, and an infant.

All of life is sacred.

At no point of the process is life any more or less sacred.

Sovereign deity, who spoke and the universe by /fiat/ leaped into existence, now lies in a crude wooden trough beneath the very stars He Himself created.

We cannot fully contemplate the essence of this wonder.

So our text takes us back to the conception: Mary, while yet a virgin, (a /parthenos/) was found to be with Child by the Holy Spirit.

This is what our text confirms in verse 18.

This prophecy, like more than half of all prophecies recorded in Scripture, has already been fulfilled /literally/; just as God said it would be.

This is He of whom it was written in Isaiah 9:6 –

 

            “For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be                      upon His shoulder.

And His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty                         God, /the Everlasting Father/, the Prince of Peace.”

“Everlasting Father” is a Hebrew idiom meaning “Father of eternity”.

This doesn’t mean that God the Son /is/ God the Father.

There’s no confusion of person here.

Both the Father and the Son are co-equal and yet distinct.

“Father of eternity” speaks of Christ’s relationship to timeless eternity, rather than His relationship to the Godhead as the 2nd Person of the Trinity.

/A child is born, but a Son is given/.

That is, the Son didn’t come into being in Mary’s womb; but that’s where the eternal Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

Although a child was born, the Son has always existed as the second person of the Trinity-- that’s why the Son was /given/, not born.

/A child is born, but a Son is given/.

The theological term for this is /incarnation/… to become flesh.

When the text says that Mary and Joseph were /betrothed/ it’s what we commonly think of as engagement.

But a Jewish betrothal was far more contractually binding than an engagement.

It required a certificate of divorce to break it off.

Betrothed couples were often referred to as husband and wife (as the text indicates).

They didn’t live together during this phase, which lasted one year.

It was during this year of faithful celibacy that Mary became pregnant.

/She was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit/.

The Bible tells us that Joseph was a /just man/, who didn’t want to embarrass Mary by making a public spectacle of what he must have surely perceived as her unfaithfulness to him.

Don’t minimize that aspect.

Joseph was no fool.

The Bible doesn’t tell us that Joseph was a /gullible/ man willing to believe the most incredulous stories.

No.

Joseph was “a /just/ man... not wanting to make her a public example.”

Here was a man who was ready to handle this delicate situation with as much compassion as the law would allow.

But even as God intervened in Mary’s life, He also stepped into Joseph’s life and prepared him for the miraculous events that were swirling around them.

Whenever God begins to do something wonderful in a life, that work is often accompanied by /confusion/, /disorientation/, and /misunderstanding/ on the part of others.

God is not the Author of confusion, but family and neighbors and bystanders are often the publishers of it.

So God condemns gossip; and He abhors the rumor mill.

For Joseph, he felt betrayed by the woman he loved.

I know this because the text says he was minded to put her away privately.

He didn’t have to do that.

He could have made this an ugly, public divorce.

Yet, Mary was right in the center of God’s will for her life.

Yes, even in that awkward, embarrassing moment.

She couldn’t explain it, she had to trust.

You and I will never experience what this couple faced.

But sometimes God’s will can put you in the most uncomfortable of circumstances before you can tell what He’s doing... and sometimes He doesn’t even disclose that.

Joseph must have gotten to a place where he could be alone... where he could think and untangle the mess of what seemed to be the abrupt end of his betrothal to Mary.

Look at verse 20...

 

20 But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for that which has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.

21 “And she will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins.”

[Matt 1:20-21]