Matthew 1:18-21, 24-25; 2:13-15, 19-23.
 Joseph: A Model of Faithfulness

When we think of the birth of Christ, what are some of the important events that come to mind?  We might envision the angels appearing to the shepherds, the star of Bethlehem (which I contend is the same as the pillar of fire witnessed by Israel for 1200 years), the baby in the stable, the coming of the “wise men.” One of the most important players in this true drama is the one most often overlooked: Joseph.  Mary, the mother of Christ is venerated to the point of highest sainthood by many Christians, and Joseph is treated as an ornament in the nativity scene.  Such a view of the nativity robs us of some very important lessons that are an integral part of the event. 

Why do we tend to overlook Joseph? It might be because of the silence of the scriptures when it comes to Joseph’s state during the ministry of Jesus.  Most scholars presume that Joseph had died during Jesus’ early teens.  His absence might be the result of the tremendous disdain of Joseph by the self-righteous people of the day. 

We know very little about Joseph.  The genealogy that starts the gospel of Matthew is a list of Joseph’s ancestors, and is listed in the line of David, fulfilling the prophesy that the Messiah would be a son of David.  A similar genealogy is listed in Luke’s gospel, describing a quite divergent path from Joseph to David.  When reading scriptural genealogies, we must understand that very often those names that are listed are family groups, not individuals, and may represent several generations, only one of which is named in the list.  Forget trying to count generations between people; it is impossible; the documentation is simply not there.

We know that Joseph was a very righteous man.  God chose Joseph and Mary to be the parents of Jesus, parents who would raise the child in an environment that could be used of God to nurture the Messiah.  With this understood, we can start to see a picture of who Joseph was. 

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.

Mary was pledged, or betrothed, to Joseph.  This betrothal was similar to what we consider engagement, but had a much deeper import than the current practice.  We consider engagement as an announcement of intent to marry.  An engagement is announced by the two to be married.  Also, it can be easily broken off at a whim, and such a break is often encouraged if it looks like there could be problems making the marriage successful.  In their society a betrothal was often determined by the family, without regard for the relationship between the two to be married.  Sometimes this betrothal would be done when the couple were young children.  The bond of the betrothal was as strong as the bond of marriage, and to break up a betrothal required the same process as that to break up a marriage.

So, we find Mary, who is betrothed to Joseph, to be pregnant prior to the consummation of their marriage, prior to her having any sexual contact with Joseph.  What impact would such a discovery have as it relates the relationship to those around her? She would be despised as an adulteress.  How would their society expect Joseph to respond to this news? He would be expected to give her a letter of divorce, identifying the reason to be adultery.  According to their laws, she should be stoned, but there is little evidence that this punishment was used during the New Testament era, and stoning was illegal under Roman law.  She would certainly lose all of the rights of inheritance, and that loss would be passed on to her illegitimate child.  We start to see the sincere kindness of Joseph in his immediate response.

Though the Old Testament prophesy of Isaiah describes this conception as immaculate, there would be no reason for Joseph to believe it, or even think of it.  Joseph’s response clearly indicates that he did not.  He was in a terrible situation.  What would happen if he married Mary? He would be publicly admitting that he was the father of this child, that he had had relations with Mary prior to marriage, exposing him to a litany of degrading responses from the two families involved and from their society.

Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

Here, the scripture describes Joseph as righteous.  This word refers to sincere righteousness in the sight of God, a righteousness that comes only, yet fully, by Joseph's faith in God.  Joseph desired in his heart to be obedient to God and live his life within the context of that obedience.  It is that faithfulness that shaped who Joseph was, and would motivate his response to what is a profoundly tragic situation.

We do not have a lot of evidence as to whether this betrothal was arranged, or one based upon their love for one another, though traditionally such betrothals were arranged by the fathers long before the couple were formally introduced.  We do see that Joseph cared for Mary very much.  Rather than expose her to the consequences of the public knowledge of her adultery, he was thinking about how to give her the certificate of divorce without public disclosure.  It may be instructive to realize that Joseph fully believes that Mary has committed adultery, has been intimate with another man, and has become pregnant as a result of that most grievous sin, a sin against him, her family, herself, and her Lord.  How would Joseph feel? It is evident that he cared for her, so he must have been tragically hurt.  In this one announcement he sees his whole future radically changed.  The peace and joy of his immediate world is shattered.  Most likely, the woman he loves, appears to have been playing him for a fool.  Yet still, he cares enough for her to try to find a way to divorce her without hurting her in any way.  What does this say about this man?

Joseph was trying to figure out a way to deal with this tragic situation.  Surely, as a righteous man, he was praying to God for an answer.  God provided an answer, and certainly, it was one he did not expect.

But after he had considered this, an 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 what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  ²¹She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

An angel came to Joseph as he slept.  The Lord chose to use this angel to assure Joseph that Mary was being truthful in her testimony and it was appropriate that he would marry Mary because this child is from God, and that this would be a son who he is to call Jesus (Greek), or Joshua (Hebrew), more closely Y’shua.  Put yourself in Joseph’s position.  What would you think when you woke up from this dream? Would you believe the angel, or attribute the dream to a wildly vivid dream? Most of us would probably have waken with sufficient doubts to discount the message. 

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ²³“The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”^{Isaiah 7:14} - which means, “God with us.” ²⁴When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.  ²⁵But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son.  And he gave him the name Jesus.

Again, we see the faithfulness of Joseph by his response.  He confidently believed the angel.  He immediately went to Mary, told her of the visitation of the angel, told her of his belief in what she had told him was true, he most likely apologized for his distrust of her, and quickly married her.  Furthermore, he showed his respect for the sensitivity of her position, and his reverence for God by abstaining from sexual relations with her while she was pregnant with the Christ child.

First, we see here evidence of Joseph’s unquestioning obedience of God’s call on Joseph’s life.  The consequences of his taking Mary as his wife were great.  From the world’s standpoint, she was an adulteress.  It does not take a lot of research to see that Joseph was not recognized as Jesus’ father.  Throughout scripture, a man is referred to as the son of his father.  David, the son of Jesse; Joseph, the son of Jacob; etc.  When Jesus is described by people, His is called, not the Son of Joseph, but the “Son of Mary.”  Today's modern culture may see this as a beautiful description of the nativity.  In reality it is a grievous insult, a constant reminder that Jesus is an illegitimate child, a child without inheritance, a reminder that the man who calls himself his father is, in reality, only an illegitimate step-father.  Today's culture is characterized by broken homes and mixed marriages, so there is very little distain for children born out of wedlock.  However, these were despised in the legalistic and highly charged traditional society of the Jews.

It must have required a great amount of courage for Joseph to take Mary as his wife.  We see that he will be resigning the rest of his days to the whispers of the hypocritical and self-righteous, and a future with little opportunity for attaining any position of respect.  He would not be able to pursue any career that would be respected by the people.   Even as a lowly carpenter, he would be the last one to be considered for a job by most of the potential customers.

Furthermore, there was another difficulty associated with his acceptance of Mary.  Joseph had been told by God that Jesus would be the long-awaited Messiah.  Scripture described the Messiah as one who would be born of a virgin, and if he did not have a clear understanding that this was the fulfillment of that specific prophecy, it would not have taken him long to hear from Mary’s cousin Elizabeth and her husband Zechariah enough to complete his understanding of the situation.  Joseph was under tremendous pressure from both sides: he would be despised by the world, and he would be responsible for being the father of the Messiah.

What is it that motivates courage in a person? One of the greatest sources of true courage is a determination to defend what is right and what is true.  Such courage can be a part of any person’s character, and when inspired by the Holy Spirit, the Christian has a resource for courage that surpasses any other.  Even one who, by all appearances, may be meek and mild can demonstrate tremendous courage when pressed to defend what he firmly believes in.  All Christians have the capacity for such courage.  All that is lacking to inspire courageous behavior is that determination to stand with Christ in a world that has no interest in Him.

The next time we hear from Joseph is about two years later.  Jesus is between one and two years old when the Star of Bethlehem appears to guide those who are referred to as “wise men” to come to Bethlehem.  We would see unfolding a sequence of events that would fulfill a prophetic paradox.  In Micah 5:2, the Messiah is prophesied to come from Bethlehem.  In Hosea 11:1, the Messiah is to come from Egypt.  In several references the prophets spoke of him as being a Nazarene, which in Matthew’s time, was the same as saying he was the despised object of disgrace.  (Ps.  22:6-8; 69:8, 20, 21; Isa.  11:1; 49:7; 53:1-3; Dan.  9:26).  How could the Messiah come from three different places.  This paradox was never fully understood by Hebrew scholars, and even today when faced with the answer to this paradox, they still do not see it.

Joseph’s obedience to God would prove to be the one key component in fulfilling his prophesy.  The “wise men” came to Bethlehem after visiting a very evil King Herod, the Tetrarch over Judah serving at the will of Rome.  The Christmas story we most commonly recall focuses in on the three gifts they brought: gold for a King, myrrh for a martyr, and incense for a God.  We may tend to forget that these men had just told King Herod that the birth of the new King of Israel had just taken place in Bethlehem of Judea.

When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream.  “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt.  Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” ¹⁴So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, ¹⁵where he stayed until the death of Herod.  And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.” ^{Hosea 11:1}

Joseph had met an angel of the Lord in a dream before.  Tradition holds that this is the archangel Gabriel.  Joseph was told to leave his home and his place of business that he had established since coming to Bethlehem.  In what way did Joseph respond to the angel’s message? He did not even wait for the rising of the sun to get out of town.  He woke up, took the child and Mary, and left for a place in Egypt, a place that the angel had told him to go where he would be safe.  Again, tragedy enters Joseph’s life as he witnesses the consequences of his being married to Mary.  Herod sent his soldiers to the region of Bethlehem to kill every male child under two years of age in an effort to destroy any challenge to his throne.  The consequences of this event were great.  What the angel had prophesied immediately took place.

Many of us demonstrate faithfulness to God's call upon our lives, but may not be quite as responsive as Joseph.  Had Joseph delayed in his response to God's call, Jesus would most likely have been subject to the danger of being discovered by Herod's soldiers.  Often we respond to God's call with delay.  We may need assurance that the call is real.  We may prefer to take care of other business before we go about the business of the LORD.  How many opportunities and blessings do we miss when we fail to respond promptly to God's call?

When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.  ¹⁷Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:  ¹⁸“A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”^{Jeremiah 31:15}

Herod did kill all of the male babies in the region.  And, as far as he ever knew, he had succeeded in destroying what he perceived as a threat to his throne.  Herod was an extremely wicked and evil man, and the depths of his depravity were exceeded only by his son, Archelaus who succeeded the throne when Herod died in 4 B.C.  We have no idea of how long Joseph was in Egypt, but it is interesting that God provided for them while they were there.  How did they afford to live in Egypt, having left everything behind in Bethlehem?  They had opportunity to use all of the gifts that the Magi brought, including the gold to sustain them, the incense to worship with, and ultimately the myrrh that would be taken by Mary to the empty tomb. 

After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt ²⁰and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.” ²¹So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel.

Like the children of Israel, who followed the pillar of fire, Joseph is again following the instructions of the angel of his dreams.  Joseph is informed that the immediate danger to Jesus has passed, and they can now return home.  From all appearances, Joseph may have set his path towards Bethlehem.  He had established his carpentry business there when the child was too young to travel, and it would be reasonable to return to his own property, to the place where people knew him and knew of his trade.  Even still, his plans would be subject to God’s protection of the Christ child:

But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. 

Joseph heard that Herod’s son, who was worse than Herod himself, had risen to the throne.  What was Joseph’s response to that knowledge? He found himself in a position not dissimilar to that which he experienced when he heard of Mary’s condition prior to their marriage.  He had some deciding to do.  Would it be too dangerous to go back to Bethlehem where he would be assured of success in his carpentry career? If not Bethlehem, where should he go?  Again, because of his faithful nature Joseph would seek God for the answer, and God is always faithful.

Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, ²³and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth.  So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: “He will be called a Nazarene.”

Again, Joseph would listen to the message from God that came in a dream, and this time the angel would lead his family to the region of Galilee to a very small town of Nazareth.  Nazareth was considered a very poor place to live, a place that prompted Nathaniel to say, “Nazareth! Can any good ever come out of there?”^{John 1:45} Even the name "Nazareth" was used as an adjective to describe someone of no worth.  Such a non-descript community would be the perfect place to hide the Christ child from they eyes of this Herod.  Joseph would move to Nazareth and stay there.  Of the few times that Jesus is referred to as the Son of Joseph, it is in reference to his coming from Nazareth, the home of Joseph.  Nazareth became Jesus’ home, and as the “Jesus of Nazareth” he would be known to the region as the Teacher, the Rabbi, and ultimately, the Messiah.

Joseph’s obedience and faithfulness to God resulted in a miraculous fulfillment of the Messianic paradox.  He displayed faithfulness in his acceptance of this profound responsibility, doing so without regard to the tremendous negative impact it would have on his personal future.  He demonstrated courage when he faced the consequences of the decision to be faithful to the call that God had placed upon his life.  He displayed discernment as he continually listened to God’s message as he guided and protected the Christ child from the Jerusalem leadership that would ultimately put Him to death him as Herod had wanted to do.

How can we develop such faithfulness, righteousness, courage, and discernment? Peter wrote,

2 Peter 3-4.  “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.  ⁴Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”

God will produce in us those traits when we are faithful to Him.  Through our yielding to the Holy Spirit in the circumstances we experience, God can shape in us a character that can be used of Him in his Kingdom on Earth.  Let us not forget the example of righteousness that is set by Joseph, the husband of Mary, the mother of Jesus.  At the same time let us remember that we have the same resource for faithfulness to God.