December 1998 Issue

Isaiah 7:10-16
Romans 1:1-7
Matthew 1:18-25

I walked out one night this past week to look at the nativity scene in front of our church. A spotlight lite up the faces of all the characters there. I saw them all there at the manger - the angels, the wisemen, the shepherds, Mary, the little Christ Child, even the angels. But lastly my eyes fell upon the man at the manger, whose face was slightly in the shadows. This man at the manger was Joseph.

A worried mother phoned the church office on the afternoon before the annual Christmas program to say that her small son, who was to play the role of Joseph in the Christmas play, had a cold and had gone to bed on doctor's orders. "It's too late now to get another Joseph," the director of the play said. "We'll just have to write him out of the script." And they did, and few of those who watched that night realized that the cast was incomplete.

Joseph, the man at the manger, is easy to leave out and overlook. Most all the other characters, even the animals, seem to be better known and remembered. Even in the Gospels themselves, Joseph is mentioned only a few times. In fact, he's not mentioned by name at all in the Gospel of Mark! It seems that Joseph, the quiet man at the manger, just isn't as important as the others.

But in today's account in Matthew, we see that Joseph was indeed a central character. That he had an important role to play in God's plan. And we also see a depth of love and character in this man at the manger which would serve as a model for men and women.

"Joseph" - his name reminds us of the great patriarch in the Old Testament who was turned over as a slave by his own brothers. Isn't it interesting that like that Joseph of old, this Joseph was also a righteous man, influenced by dreams, and who also would go to Egypt?

Joseph was a craftsman. He worked with his hands. He is called a "tekton" in Greek which means "carpenter, builder, or mason. It is likely that Joseph made his living with wood and stone (which was more plentiful than wood). I have a feeling that Joseph was a kind of handy-man, the person in the village, just like we have today, who could build you just about whatever you needed. Some scholars think that Joseph travelled a great deal in his work. In fact, some suggest that when he was taking Mary to Behtlehem, he was actually moving there. We know that there was a stonemason's guild in Bethlehem which would have been useful in helping Joseph secure employment.

Did you notice that the angel in our text addresses Joseph as "Descendant of David" or literally as "son of David." In chapter one of Matthew, the lineage of Jesus is traced through Joseph back to David and Abraham. Joseph was not the biological father of Jesus, but he adopts Jesus or becomes the foster father of Jesus and, like a father would, as we see in the text, gives the child the name "Jesus." Thus, Jesus becomes in the eyes of the law a descendant of David. This was important for it was believed that the Messiah would be born in David's lineage. Some scholars suggest that perhaps Mary herself was also a descendant of David.

At the time of our passage from Matthew, Mary must have been around 12 to 13 years old. We do not know how old Joseph was. A tradition that goes back to the Middle Ages suggests that he was considerably older than Mary and must have died perhaps before Jesus began his public ministry. This explains why there's so little about him in the Gospels. But there is no evidence in the Gospels that he was much older than Mary. Death then, as now, can come to young and old.

It is possible that Joseph and Mary had been chosen for one another since their childhood. Many marriages in those days were arranged by parents. How would you chldren like that - having your parents chose who you would marry? This was the engagement period. There were two other steps for a Jewish mariage in those days. The next step was betrothal. This took place when the children had come of age - about 12 or so. It was a kind of ratification of the arrangment made in childhood by their parents. At this point Mary or Joseph could have nullified the agreement, that is, decided not to marry. But if they agreed to be married, they were then considered betrothed, that is, in the eyes of the law, legally married. Betrothal could only be undone by divorce. Betrothal lasted about a year, and during this year they did not live together as husband and wife. After that year, the third step took place - the marriage itself. With great ceremony and festivity, the man came to the home of his fiance and then took her back to his home.

In today's text we see that Joseph and Mary were in step two - they were betrothed, that is, legally married, but were not yet living together as man and wife.

I think all his life Joseph had loved Mary. He could hardly believe that it was almost time for her at last to be his wife. He had made all the arrangments, got the rabbi ready, the elders of the city perhaps to witness the wedding and pronounce their blessings, and perhaps had hired the best caterers. Maybe, like all husbands to be, he was nervous but also very happy.

There is a story told of a little girl who drew a picture of the nativity scene. Her father, looking at his daughter's drawing, asked, "Why is one of Joseph's legs so much longer than the other?" "He's stomping his foot," the little girl explained. "He wanted a girl!"

I don't know if Joseph stompled his foot, but he sure must have felt like it when he found out Mary was pregnant. The woman he loved so much was going to have a baby, a baby who he knew was not his own. We don't know how he found out. Mary probably told him. Maybe she tried to explain to him how it all happened and what the angel said to her. If she did, Joseph must not have believed it at that time. Joseph, like any man would be, was deeply hurt, confused and even angry. And think of how people would talk. This matter would bring great shame and humiliation on him and his family.

Verse 19 says that "Joseph was a man who always did the right thing." Literally it reads, "Joseph was a just man." This means he was a godly, righteous man. He loved God and God's laws. He tried his best to follow God's laws in his own life. So, he turns to that law for guidance in what to do with Mary. According to the law, he had two options:

Option One - Bring charges against her in public. Accuse her of adultery. This might well result in her death for the law called for the death penalty.

Option Two - to divorce her privately. In the presence of two witnesses, he could write out a paper of divorce and present it to her. This would not involve pressing charges against her.

Joseph had decided to take option two. That says much about him. In his anger and hurt, he could have lashed out at her, tried to make her suffer as he was suffering. But Joseph loved her too much for that.

Joseph may have spent many sleepless nights, tossing and turning, troubled by all that had happened, praying, wanting to do the right thing. One night, when he finally does manage to fall asleep, he has a dream. And in his dream an angel tells him, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. The child she carries was conceived by the Holy Spirit. The child will be a son and you will name him Jesus - for he will save his people from their sins." Joseph obeyed.

I tell you that this is as remarkable and beautiful example of self-sacrificing love as you will find in the Bible, apart from that of Jesus himself. The law stated his options clearly - both involved judgment and punishment. But Joseph here learns of a new and even greater law - the law of love.

Is it not interesting, my friends, that the child to be born would set forth that law of love in even a greater way? Love was the essence of the life and teachings of Jesus. The religious leaders of his day were always putting the law, as least how they understood it, above people. But not Jesus. No healing on the Sabbath. That was considered work and a breaking of the commandment. But Jesus healed on the Sabbath anyway, because there was an even greater law which applied. When the woman who was brought before Jesus and accused to adultery, the law cleary stated that she was to be stoned. But Jesus saw an even greater law - the law of love. And Jeus goes on to the ultimate act of selfless love - the giving of his life on a cross for a guilty, sinful world.

I wonder, my friends, could it be that Jesus learned something of such love, not just from his Heavenly Father, but also from the man at the manger, his foster father who must have modelled such love for Jesus?

And I wonder something else. No one ever talked so much about God as a loving Father as did Jesus. Jesus even taught us when we pray to say, "Our Father..." Surely this image came from Jesus' own sense of closeness to the Heavenly Father. But is not possible that Jesus could speak so lovingly of Father because Joseph reflected the fatherly love and care of God in his relationship with Jesus?

Who has not carolled Mary, And who her praise would dim? But what of humble Joseph: Is there no song for him?

If Joseph had not driven Straight nails through honest wood: If Joseph had not cherished His Mary as he should;

If Joseph had not proved him A man both kind and wise, Would he have drawn with favor The Child's all-probing eyes?

Would Christ have prayed "Our Father," Or cried that Name in death, Unless he first had honored Joseph of Nazareth?

-Gilbert Thomas.

Joseph, the man at the manger, often overlooked and thought of as not that important. But he was important to God. He had an vital role to play in helping bring the savior into the world. And he did so with great love, faith and obedience.

I think one of the things this story is telling us is that we are important, too. God has a role for each of us to fulfil in his redeeming work in the world.

A Sunday school class in which we were members used to make lovely, large blue bows or ribbons at Christmas time. You see, there was a custom in that part of North Carolina to put a ribbon or bow on your door or mailbox when a child was born in that home. Blue for a boy and pink for a girl. This class suggested that we all place a blue bow on our doors to let our neighbors know that the Christ Child had been born in our hearts and homes.

That's a big part of our role in God's saving work - to really see that Christ is born in our hearts, in our marriages, in our homes. That Christ - his love, his teachings, his presence are real and vital for us. That our children and grandchildren come to know and love him.

We have a role to play in God's saving work. May we fulfil it as faithfully and with as much love as did Joseph, the man at the manger.

Bass Mitchell
bassm@va.tds.net
Hot Springs, VA