This is how Jesus Christ came to be born. His mother Mary was
betrothed to Joseph; but before they came to live together she was found to be
with child through the Holy Spirit. 19Her husband
Joseph, being an upright man and wanting to spare her disgrace,
decided to divorce her informally. 20He had made up
his mind to do this when suddenly the angel of the Lord appeared
to him in a dream and said, 'Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home
as your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit. 21She will give birth to a son and you must name
him Jesus, because he is the one who is to save his people from their sins.' 22Now all this took place to fulfil what the Lord had
spoken through the prophet:
a name which means 'God-is-with-us'. 24When Joseph woke up he did what the angel of the Lord had
told him to do: he took his wife to his home; 25he
had not had intercourse with her when she gave birth to a son; and he named him
Jesus.
1. God
powerfully uses folks late in their lives. Like Zechariah and Elizabeth, Joseph
was well established before God called him to his primary mission in life. The
same was true of Noah, Abraham, Moses, Job, Peter, and Paul.
2. Joseph
was a carpenter; that was his primary identify in the community where he lived.
See Matthew 13:35. We can learn several things from that:
A. Our
occupation may not be the primary import of our lives. We do not remember
Joseph because of his carpentry work.
B. God
powerfully uses folks from all walks of life, even if their occupations do not
give them great social status. We see that in Noah (farmer), Gideon (farm
worker), Moses (shepherd), David (shepherd), and Peter (fisherman).
C. Although
our occupation does not measure our ultimate worth, God uses it for His
purposes and hence expects us to do the best we can at it. Joseph’s work as a
carpenter supported Jesus and Mary, so he had to do good carpentry work to
carry out that divine mission. That dynamic is discussed in Preliminary Work; What We Can Learn from Joseph and
Daniel. That
is why scripture consistently tells us to take our work seriously, whatever it
is. Scriptures addressing work generally
are collected in Wisdom Principles: Diligence & Working.
3. Like
Zechariah and Mary, Joseph didn’t “get it” at first, he didn’t understand what
God was up to. See Luke 1:18-20, Luke 1:34, and Matthew 1:19. As was true with
Zechariah and Mary, Joseph’s misunderstanding did not prevent his effectively
carrying out God’s purpose. The same dynamic is seen in the lives of Abraham,
Moses, and Jesus’ first disciples. For more on this see Fear Does Not Equal Failure and Doubt Does Not Equal
Disqualification.
4. The pattern
of Joseph’s service parallels that of Joseph the patriarch. Both were called
via dreams. Both humbly served God in self sacrificial ways. Both ended up
doing great, great, good for God’s people and the world as a whole.
5. The
angel was correct to refer to refer to Joseph as “son of David,” and not just
for genealogical reasons. See Matthew 1:20. The underlying
Greek word for “son of” is “huios.” It means, among other things, to
be a follower of, to resemble, and to be worthy of the person/thing the subject
is a “son of.” The angel had good
reason to refer Joseph as a “son of David” in that sense. Both Joseph and David:
A. Went through
serious hardship/disruption in the process of doing what God called them to. Joseph
had his expectations of a normal married life upset, no doubt had to endure
ridicule/gossip over his spouse’s apparently illegitimate pregnancy, and had to
become a fugitive in Egypt. David had to go on the run from Saul.
B.
Faithfully followed God’s call, even though what was involved
did not make sense on a human level.
See, for example, David’s actions in 1 Samuel 17, 1 Samuel 24, and 1 Samuel 26 and
Joseph’s reaction to Mary’s apparently illegitimate pregnancy.
6. The angel
communicating with Joseph stressed the great good that was to come from the
sacrifice he asked of Joseph. Matthew 1:20 (“he is the one who is to save his
people from their sins”) (NJB ). We see the same pattern in the
annunciation. See Luke 1:32-33 . That seems to be an application
of the principle described in Sirach 2:8-9 (“You who
fear the Lord, trust him, and you will not be robbed of your reward. 9You who fear the Lord, hope for
those good gifts of his, everlasting joy and mercy”) (NJB).
7. The angel
also stresses Jesus’ divinity:
B. “they will call
Immanuel, a name which means 'God-is-with-us'” Matthew 1:24.
8. The
statement in Matthew 1:24 that Joseph “did what the angel of the Lord had
told him to do” (NJB, emphasis added)
brings to mind James 1:25's admonition
about being a “doer” of the word. Joseph certainly lived that verse out. If the
author of the Epistle of James was indeed Jesus' step brother, it seems
that he leaned well from his father.
9. Joseph and
Mary go through great stress as a result of Jesus’ birth:
B. Stress on
their relationships with their families and their community. That seems to be what
inspired the angel’s statement about being “afraid to take Mary home
as your wife” in Matthew 1:20.
C. But God heals/helps
them through those stresses.
10. Joseph’s initial
response to the dilemma he faced here, although mistaken, nonetheless shows
that he was a wise man. It exemplified at least two principles laid out in
wisdom literature.
A. Joseph was
not a rash man; Matthew 1:20’s statement that he “had made up his mind” about how to address Mary’s
seemingly adulterous pregnancy implies that he had given the matter great
thought. That is consistent with Proverbs 21:5. See also Proverbs 19:2.
B. He was considerate of Mary, even
though she had apparently done him wrong.
Matthew 1:19. That is consistent with Proverbs
20:22, Proverbs
24:29, and the other scriptures collected at Wisdom
Principles--How to Deal With Those Who Do You Wrong.
11.
Joseph literally accepts Jesus and makes Him lord of his life. Like Mary’s,
Joseph’s life is radically changed by his intimate relationship with Jesus. We
see the same thing with Peter, Paul and the other Apostles. All those folks:
A.
Were called.
B.
Answered
their calls, even though it took them outside their plans for their lives/their
comfort zones.
C.
Were part of
the delivery of tremendous, tremendous, good.
D. Their lives
exemplified the dynamic Jesus described in John
12:24 and Matthew
16:25, Mark
8:35, Luke
9:24.
12. It is interesting
to note how insistent the angel was that the Jesus was to be named Jesus, both here
and in the annunciation. See Matthew
1:21, Luke
1:31 .
Other meditations on Jesus’ nativity are collected at What We Can Learn from Jesus' Nativity: The Annunciation through Simeon & Anna
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