Title: Joseph, The Husband Who Kept The Faith (Advent Two

Date: 2007-12-09

Reference: Matthew. 1: 18-25

As we consider the nativity of Jesus, Joseph was really the man in the shadows. Most of the great paintings of the nativity show Joseph off to one side in the shadows. He is always one step out of the limelight, just beyond the candle’s glow. Joseph is pictured calmly watching over Mary and the baby Jesus. He provides silent stability amid the joyful confusion of the Christmas Story.

Two years ago Time Magazine published it’s Christmas addition. Of Joseph the article said: “After a few brief mentions of Joseph in the Gospels he is marginalized.” When it comes to Joseph’s story there really isn’t much there. What there is describes a real man with a real faith who struggles with his role in the birth of Jesus.

The Bible says Joseph was a righteous man who lived as best he could according to Biblical law. The law said when Mary turned up pregnant that she should be stoned to death. If Joseph had been only righteous Mary would have been killed. We read in the

Bible how Joseph was unwilling to publically disgrace, or humiliate the girl he loved. He planned to dismiss her quietly. Joseph respected the law but acted in mercy to save Mary.

Joseph was a simple, hardworking, carpenter. His faith was visionary. Joseph showed us faith isn’t afraid to believe the improbable even the impossible. None of this was easy for Joseph. Throughout the Christmas story we see how God moved through the lives of very ordinary people who became central characters in the story.

A 15th century paining called “The Adoration of the Shepherds” shows an interesting side of Joseph.

In this painting the faces of the shepherds are actually the faces of the donors who paid for the painting. Joseph’s face is the face of the artist himself. Unlike most paintings, Joseph is at the center of this picture. Instead of looking at the child Joseph is looking up toward an angel who is floating nearby. With his left hand Joseph points to the Christ Child and with his right hand he is scratching his forehead. It’s as if Joseph is asking the angel: “What in the world is going on here? I don’t understand it.”

Joseph was the husband of Mary of whom Jesus was born. Our faith tells us a miracle of the Holy Spirit allowed Jesus to be conceived in the womb of Mary. Both Joseph and Mary belonged to the house of David. The Old Testament Prophecies indicated that the Messiah would be born of a human mother, a descendent of Abraham, through the tribe of Judah and the family of David. Mary and Joseph were engaged but had not consummated their marriage. She told her husband she was pregnant by a miraculous act of God. Joseph sought to break the engagement quietly. He really did not want to embarrass or endanger Mary which tells us much about the kind of man he was. Trying to understand all of this or make sense of it would cause us to scratch our heads.

The angel came to Joseph and explained Mary’s situation.

God who created human beings in the beginning from nothing now created Jesus through Mary without a human father. Many good people have lost their faith at this point. My purpose today is not to try and prove the Virgin Birth, but to look at the faithfulness of Joseph. Joseph was a simple man who was thrust into the limelight, a place he usually avoided.

Just because Joseph acted on his faith doesn’t mean he understood it. Just because Joseph was faithful doesn’t mean he had all the answers. Joseph was a simple, ordinary man who was willing to be used by God in an extraordinary way.

I believe the questions and doubts that made Joseph scratch his head in the stable were with him the rest of his life. Joseph trusted God. He understood the Christ Child was Immanuel, God With Us. Joseph demonstrated how faith is obedience to God.

It’s interesting how Joseph never speaks. All the other characters have speaking parts. Elizabeth, Zachariah, Mary all have something to say. The angels sing. The wise men ask questions and directions. But Joseph never speaks. He acts. He follows God’s plan into an unpredictable future.

The missionary David Livingstone once prayed: “Send me anywhere only go with me. Give me any burden only sustain me. Break every tie except the tie that binds me to you.” This could have been Joseph’s prayer. Joseph the man in the shadows was willing to do what God called him to do. Following the example of Joseph this Advent Season we listen for God’s call and we follow wherever God would lead us.

The birth of Jesus is unlike any other in the human race. This child had no human father. Mary and Joseph lived in the hill country of Galilee. Joseph was an ordinary flesh and blood man. Mary was probably still a teenager. The two of the were engaged to be married. Mary was found to be with child. According to ancient law she could have been put to death. Joseph decided to break it off in secret and spare Mary. While he was thinking about all these things an angel appeared and explained the situation to Joseph. It took great faith for this good man to put away his suspicions.

He believed God and was married to Mary. He said yes to God. Joseph was used by God to protect Jesus at a very vulnerable time in Jesus’ life. God allowed Jesus to come to the world a helpless infant. The word would not have survived without the care and love of his parents. Joseph filled a very important role in the Christmas Story. God has a role for each one of us to fill as well.

During this season we light candles, Advent candles against the vast darkness all around us. Our candles are our way of saying we hope for the dawn. Our candle offers a feeble light against the darkness. It is always better for us to light one small candle than to curse the darkness. Our candle will eventually burn down and burn out but not before it has pierced the dark world around us.

Christmas reminds us of the depth and tenacity of God’s love for each of us. The Incarnation is not primarily a theological issue. It cannot be contained or confined by our categories. It was motivated by the deepest desire in the heart of God to be with us. This was not a matter of philosophy or theology but of love. The Bible says: “In the beginning was the word and the word was God, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. The Word who was God became the Word who was human. God accomplished His intense longing to be with us. Christmas is a reminder that we are never alone.

From the very beginning God’s most ardent yearning is to be with us. God searched for Adam in the Garden. God pitched a tent for Himself in the midst of the Israelites’ camp. God came to dwell in the Temple. Now He comes to us in Jesus Christ. What God has longed for since creation is realized in Jesus Christ. Immanuel, God with us. God here on earth with us.

An early church father Bernard said: “God was incomprehensible, inapproachable, invisible. God became a human being and came close to us in a manger so we could see and understand Him.” Augustine wrote: “If the word had not become flesh and dwelt among us we would have to believe that there was no connection between God and humanity. We would have been in despair.”

If Christ had not come the world would still be a hopeless world, a lost world with no access to God. No forgiveness, no Savior. On the night Christ was born, God motivated by love, entered the human family. This message becomes the most significant part of Christmas.

There is nothing wrong with our festivities, gifts, parties, decorations, so long as they don’t crowd out what belongs in first place. Christmas is about God breaking through to humanity.becoming life and hope to His people. Jesus did something that had never been done before. He enabled human beings to see God in a new way. The Old Testament People could not look upon the face of God and live. Even Moses whom the Bible says was “a friend of God” was not allowed to look upon the face of God. The Bible says: “In this the love of God was made manifest among us. That God sent His only Son into the world so we might live through Him.

No matter who we are in the eyes of others we need Christ. And no matter what we have done in life Christ loves us and stands ready to welcome us. Jesus came on a mission of love and mercy. An angel announced His conception and gave Him His name. The heavenly host sang at his birth. An extraordinary star indicated His coming. No sooner did he enter the world than Herod attempted to kill him.

Joseph was warned in a dream to take Mary and Jesus to Egypt. We don’t know much about Joseph, except that he was very faithful and made himself available to God. God worked through Joseph to bring the Word to the World. God works through each of our efforts as well. May we be faithful even as Joseph, the man in the shadows was faithful.