Joseph—Good Man, Bad Reputation
Matthew 1:18-24
Just over a month ago Benedict Cumberbatch announced his engagement. The news that the actor who plays a very modern Sherlock Holmes would be marrying his longtime girl friend Sophie Hunter was big news for several days.
Of course, when a celebrity gets engaged people notice. Maybe it shows our shallowness or maybe it betrays a desire to hear about something other than wars and murders. For non-celebrities engagement is pretty common. Sound Vision reports “2.3 million couples wed every year in the US. That breaks down to nearly 6,200 weddings a day.”
Though a wedding is a pretty significant affair for those getting married, it is hardly rare in our culture.
With that in mind, let’s begin our look at Joseph’s story.
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ happened this way.
As the young church grew, people wanted to know more about this Jesus to whom they had committed their lives. At the same time, it may have been necessary to sort fact from fancy. Luke is better known for his interest in history but Matthew also demonstrates his desire to ground what he says in fact.
While his mother Mary was engaged to Joseph,
We are immediately introduced to Jesus’ mother. We aren’t told much about her. She was probably no more than 18 years old, probably younger. And she was engaged to a man named Joseph. Again, we don’t know much about him. He was of “the house and lineage of David,” which means he was a descendent of Israel’s great king. (So, too, was Mary.) He is described as a “carpenter,” a term broad enough to mean either a worker with wood or a stone-mason. Joseph may have been somewhat older than Mary. Jewish men sometimes postponed marriage until they had established themselves in some kind of trade, but he may have been only a few years older. Unlike the way artists have often depicted him, he was not necessarily a venerable old man with a grey beard. He certainly wasn’t 92 as one tradition suggests.
Mary and Joseph were “engaged,” a term used in many translations, but it would be misleading to define the term as we define it. “Espoused,” to use the term from the Authorized Version, meant their families had entered into a formal agreement for the two to be married. This agreement could not be ended by one partner admitting a change of heart and wishing the other person all the happiness they deserved. Ending their relationship required a legal action. We can call it a “divorce.”
but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.
As binding as the betrothal agreement was, it did not include the freedom to have sexual relations. That freedom would have to wait until they were actually married.
Some Jewish villages had built-in safeguards to protect engaged couples from temptation. Couples were prohibited from being alone until married. Whether Mary and Joseph followed this custom isn’t certain, but the story makes it plain that nothing had happened between them to violate the moral code the custom sought to uphold.
But one day, Mary revealed she was pregnant. That changed everything. Now, Matthew tells us she was “pregnant through the Holy Spirit.” We don’t know if Mary tried to explain her situation to Joseph. Even if she did, it would have been a difficult story to believe. It would have been much easier to believe the young woman had been unfaithful to her pledge. That, after all, was the way of the world, not supernatural pregnancies.
19 Because Joseph, her husband to be, was a righteous man, and because he did not want to disgrace her, he intended to divorce her privately.
It is also the way of the world to retaliate, to attempt to hurt the person who has hurt you. In Joseph’s world publicly divorcing Mary would have been evidence of his righteous character. Craig Keener points out that Jewish men in Joseph’s situation were expected to repudiate the woman who had broken her vows of commitment to him. The legal system would have allowed Joseph to keep her dowery, if there was one, and demand the return of any “bride price,” had he paid one. The more public the divorce, the more likely she would have never found anyone to marry her. This would not have been considered being hard-hearted, it reflected how seriously that culture took the matter of sexual purity.
Before I move on, let me point out that if Joseph was disappointed about Mary’s pregnancy, she was absolutely shocked. Mary, according to Luke’s account, had been just as chaste as Joseph. She lived with integrity as a young woman in a society were, despite the best efforts of her elders, there were plenty of temptations. So, while Joseph knew he had been faithful, he didn’t know that about Mary.
In the end, though option to embarrass Mary was open to Joseph he chose not to pursue it. Why?
We are simply told “he was a righteous man.” That means he tried to live rightly before God even if that meant ordering his life by the tough demands of the moral law. But, as Micah made clear, being good also calls us to “love mercy.” So, he resolved to act in a way that would spare Mary public disgrace. He would divorce her but do it privately, with as little notice as possible.
Did he do this so she would be free to marry another, the baby’s father? We don’t know what he may have been thinking.
There’s an implication here we don’t want to miss. Critics who mock the notion of the Virgin Birth because people in the ancient world were so gullible they’d believe anything, should remember that the principals in this story knew where babies came from.
20 When he had contemplated this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream
While Joseph was pondering this, something dramatic happened. An angel appeared to him. Of course, angels played a crucial role in the Christmas story, as both Matthew and Luke make clear. This was fitting. The Jewish tradition made much of angels. They were seen as God’s agents, carrying God’s special messages to men and women.
Angels don’t show up on every page of the Bible. But they are often present at significant moments in the history of God’s People. This was one of those moments.
No doubt when Joseph realized what was happening, he was ready to listen.
[The angel] said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife…
I have never seen an angel. I’ve known people who claim to have seen an angel but that’s never been my experience. I think most believers go through life without being in a situation that demands a visit from an angel. This points out how significant Joseph’s decision regarding Mary was.
The angel addressed Joseph as “son of David,” recognizing he was a descendent of the great king. Now, as far as I know, I have no famous ancestors. No one is going to address me as “son of George Washington” or “son of Abraham Lincoln.” In fact, it was Lincoln who said, “I don't know who my grandfather was; I am much more concerned to know what his grandson will be.” But for the first-century Jew, knowing you were descended from King David was something to be proud of. Also, there was the knowledge that God had promised a descendent of David would become God’s Anointed Redeemer. Joseph probably didn’t harbor any notion that his son might be that Messiah but he certainly would have never thought the son of his apparently unfaithful fiancé could be the God’s chosen.
Several years ago, John Goodman appeared in a comedy called King Ralph. The movie’s plot was the story of how the entire British royal family was destroyed in a terrorist bombing. The search for an heir to the throne led to a third-rate LasVegas musician name Ralph. So, we were treated to the unlikely image of uncouth Ralph (played by John Goodman) being groomed to take the throne of England. Mary’s Son becoming the Messiah was even less likely.
But never mind any dreams of being the father of the Messiah. Mary’s actions, as Joseph perceived them, had made him question his judgement in simply choosing a fit mother for his children.
So, the angel intervenes with the message: “Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife.” To a degree that addressed Joseph’s hesitancy. But he needed to hear more than the typical “you just have cold feet” talk. Moving ahead with the marriage was a big deal. So, the angel continues…
because the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son and you will name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
Mary’s pregnancy was not to be explained in any ordinary way. She had become pregnant through a Divine overruling of the natural processes. This “virginal conception,” to use the proper term, was an act of God. To talk about it is to enter the realm of mystery.
Neither Mormons, who believe the Child within Mary was conceived when God had physical relations with her, nor Muslims, who believe Jesus was born of a virgin but that this in no way specially distinguished him from other human beings, are true representations of either the Bible or Christian doctrine.
Jesus was to be born in this miraculous way to accomplish God’s purpose. Jesus would “save his people from their sins.”
That Matthew didn’t intend that to mean Jesus’ work would bless only the Jews is clear when he introduces the “Wise Men” whose involvement shows Mary’s Child will have an impact far beyond the narrow boundaries of Israel.
“Jesus,” derived from the name “Joshua,” means “Yahweh is salvation.” The very name “Jesus” reminds us God yearns to bless us with salvation. God wants to free us from the death-sentence brought by sin. God wants us to have the liberated life that comes from a relationship with him.
That Child, born to Mary and raised by Joseph as if He were his own, would be the source of that salvation.
Matthew fills in the backstory on what was happening to Mary and Joseph.
22 This all happened so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled: 23 “Look! The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will name him Emmanuel,” which means “God with us.”
I don’t intend to elaborate on Isaiah’s prophecy. Many believe the prediction had an immediate fulfillment during Isaiah’s lifetime and, another, with the birth of Jesus. Whatever the scholars finally conclude about the verse, Matthew cites it because he believes the birth of Jesus to have been a clear example of God’s intention to bless. In Jesus, it was clear God was with us and for us.
Matthew concludes this part of Joseph’s story in this way…
24 When Joseph awoke from sleep he did what the angel of the Lord told him. He took his wife, 25 but did not have marital relations with her until she gave birth to a son, whom he named Jesus.
Joseph heard and responded with obedience. It shows the depth of his faith.
Remember I said moving ahead with the marriage was a big deal. Even if Mary had successfully hidden “the baby bump,” their neighbors could count. They would have known Jesus was born fewer than nine months after the wedding.
Joseph was surrendering his reputation. That is sometimes demanded of Christians. The biology professor who affirms belief in a Creator—regardless of how she thinks that Creator chose to work—risks her opportunities for advancement. The businessman who publicly affirms his Christian commitment risks being painted as narrow-minded and bigoted. I could go on but it happens more often than we think. Resolve to be more than a nominal Christian and you risk your reputation.
Joseph was willing to surrender his reputation, to be falsely accused, because he was part of God’s work in the world.
Conclusion:
There are many ways to deal with this passage. I could talk about fulfilled prophecy. I could deal with the Virgin Birth in depth. I could focus on God’s faithfulness in keeping his promises.
Instead, I want to comment on something we might easily miss just because of the significance of Joseph’s story.
Mary and Joseph were two good, godly people who were engaged to be married. They were doing what thousands of other couples were doing. They were getting on with their lives, doing the things many other young people were doing in their culture and society.
Jesus once commented on the days before Noah’s flood. He said, “they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark.” So, life was going on pretty much as usual. Mary and Joseph were going on with life as usual. Then God intervened.
There’s a lesson to take from this. Mary and Joseph were living for God while pursuing the ordinary activities of life when God interrupted them for his special purpose.
You don’t have to be involved in doing especially “religious” activities before God can call you to service. When the corrupt priest Amaziah challenged Amos’ right to preach, he responded:
“I was no prophet, nor a prophet's son, but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs. But the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, ‘Go, prophesy…’”
You don’t have to be in seminary, living in a monastery, heading off to the mission field to be recruited by God for his purposes. Joseph and Mary discovered God could find them in the ordinariness of life. So might you.
